Piwnica pod Baranami Monument
Kraków Artists: Music
A monument in Decius Park in Wola Justowska, a work by Bronisław Chromy from 2000, commemorating the community of the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret. It consists of the heads of 51 artists of the "Piwnica" and people associated with it, among them Piotr Skrzynecki, Janina Garycka, Anna Dymna, Czesław Miłosz, Sławomir Mrożek, Andrzej Wajda and Grzegorz Turnau. The chosen monumental form is meant to recall the Wawel Heads of Kraków.
History
The monument stands in Decjusz Park in Wola Justowska, in front of the gallery of its creator, the sculptor Bronisław Chromy, and was unveiled in 2000. The idea came from Piotr Skrzynecki, the founder of Piwnica pod Baranami, to mark the fortieth anniversary of the cabaret, which was set up in 1956 in the cellars of the Pod Baranami Palace on the Main Market Square. Chromy was himself one of its founders.
The monument is made up of the heads of 51 "Piwnica" artists and people connected with the cabaret. Among others, the sculptor portrayed Anna Dymna, Andrzej Wajda, Czesław Miłosz, Sławomir Mrożek, Grzegorz Turnau and Skrzynecki himself, whose head can be recognised by its little bell. Each head grows out of a symbol of what that person was known for in life. Its monumental form is meant to echo Kraków's Wawel Heads.
Bronisław Chromy came from Leńcze near Lanckorona. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under Xawery Dunikowski and graduated in 1956. In Kraków he also created the Wawel Dragon sculpture near the Dragon's Den, dating from 1970, and the Musicians fountain on Wolnica Square, from 1974. Decjusz Park is the oldest park in the city: it was laid out around 1535, together with the villa, as a place of rest for Justus Ludwik Decjusz, secretary to King Sigismund the Old. In 1995 Chromy's own gallery opened in the old concert shell, and five years later the Piwnica monument was put up beside it.
Did you know?
Chromy had passions beyond sculpture too: from his first year at university he loved sailing and the Masurian lakes, and in Wielowieś near Ostróda he rebuilt a ruined house into his Summer House of Creative Work, where he mainly painted.