Krakow as a tourist centre is usually associated with important historic monuments, connected with the history of the city and Poland. Wawel, the Barbican and St. Florian’s Gate, the Main Market Square with St.Mary’s Church and the Cloth Hall, as well as Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University, are the main tourist attractions.
Krakow also features numerous museums with rich, often little-known collections. Tourists, both those who have already visited Krakow before and those who haven’t, are also invited to get to know the museum collections. Many collections may suit the tastes of visitors with special interests, be attractive to hobbyists or people interested in the history of a particular age.
In the present publication we would like to invite you to visit the museums whose collections present the colourful age of fin de siècle rooted in Krakow history, the Young Poland period art of Wyspiański and Mehoffer, the architecture of Stryjeński and Mączyński, and the history of cabaret in “Jama Michalika”.
the art of Young Poland, stained glass National Museum in Krakow
Main Building
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The Wyspiański Museum in the Szołayski House
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The Mehoffer House
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Stained Glass Museum (S.G. Żeleński Krakow Stained Glass Workshop)
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The Seweryn Udziela Museum of Ethnography in Krakow
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Stary Theatre Museum
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KR AKOW MUSEUMS’ ROUTES
the art of Young Poland, stained glass
National Museum in Krakow Main Building al. 3 Maja 1
Opening hours Monday: closed Tuesday – Saturday: 10.00 a.m.–6.00 p.m. Sunday: 10.00 a.m.–4.00 p.m. There is no admission fee for permanent NMK exhibitions on Sundays. Please consult the www.muzeum.krakow.pl website for details.
The
Main Building was built with pauses in 1934–1989, according to the project of Czesław Boratyński, Edward Kreisler and Bolesław Schmidt. It houses three permanent exhibitions of the Museum. The 20th Century Polish Art Gallery is the largest exposition of its kind in Poland, where one can get to know the chosen trends of Polish art of the last and the current century, from Young Poland to the present times. The Gallery of Craftsmanship is the greatest permanent exhibition of its kind in Poland. The collection presented here shows the richness of Polish and Western-European craftsmanship, from the early Middle Ages to the times of the Secession. It is supplemented by an impressive collection of Judaica. The Arms and Colours in Poland Gallery presents some of the greatest and most precious of Polish collections of militaria items, from the Middle Ages to the Second World War.
The 20
Century Polish Art Gallery comprises one of the most spectacular collections of Young Poland art. On display are the works of the most prominent artists of that period, who shaped the specific, decadent mood of Krakow at the turn of 19th and 20th century. The unsettling paintings by Witold Wojtkiewicz, Wojciech Weiss and Władysław Podkowiński leave a lasting impact and cannot easily be forgotten. The nearly miniature landscapes by Jan Stanisławski reflect his nostalgia for Ukraine. Worth seeing are the works of such masters as Jacek Malczewski and Leon Wyczółkowski. Extremely interesting are the designs of stained glass windows for Wawel Cathedral by Stanisław Wyspiański. Another example of stained glass window making technique is Józef Mehoffer’s project intended for the cathedral in Freiberg in Switzerland. Next to it is the stained glass window Vita Somnium Breve (Life is a Short Dream), made according to the design of the same artist. th
One can get to know the art of stained glass also in the Gallery of Craftsmanship. There is an outstanding set of them from the Dominican church of św. Trójca (Holy Trinity) in Krakow, from the 13th –15th century. Preserved in its original form, it astonishes with the richness and depth of colours.
Part of the Gallery of Craftsmanship is devoted entirely to the art of the Secession period. The common, everyday items made in the best Polish and European workshops are fascinatingly masterfully crafted. Twining, lithe lines of silver, glass and porcelain items as well as of furniture, bring to life the world from 100 years ago. Among the rarities in Polish collections are the works of glass by Emil Galle, and part of a coffee set designed by an architect from Vienna, Josef Hoffmann (1910). A symbol of the Polish ceramics of the Secession period is the vase with a procession of naked characters by Jan Szczepkowski.
The Wyspiański Museum in the Szołayski House KR AKOW MUSEUMS’ ROUTES
the art of Young Poland, stained glass
National Museum in Krakow
11 Szczepańska St. Opening hours Monday: closed Tuesday (only temporary exhibitions): 10.00 a.m.–6.00 p.m. Wednesday – Saturday: 10.00 a.m.–6.00 p.m. Sunday: 10.00 a.m.–4.00 p.m. There is no admission fee for permanent NMK exhibitions on Sundays. Please consult the www.muzeum.krakow.pl website for details.
The museum is located in the house of the Krakow Szołayski family, built in the 17th century, and expanded in the 19 th and 20 th c. It was granted to the museum by Włodzimiera and Adam Szołayski in 1904 and commissioned in 1928. In 2003, after a long renovation the tenement became the location of the Stanisław Wyspiański Museum, existing since 1983. The museum houses two permanent exhibitions. The Gallery of Stanisław Wyspiański’s Works has the greatest collection of his works in Poland. Among others are his original interior designs, and applied art, his self-portraits and portraits of his friends, works connected with theatre and stained glass designs. The second permanent exposition is devoted to Feliks Jasieński,
also know as “Manggha”. It recreates the mood of his flat in Krakow, and reminds visitors of the numerous friendships of this extraordinary collector and supporter of the museum with the prominent artists of the Young Poland period.
In the Stanisław Wyspiański Museum we get to know the world of the Young Poland period, and the works of one of the most prominent of Polish artists of the turn of the 19th and 20th century. His versatile activity connected with almost every branch of arts helps us to get to know the best examples of the Young Poland period paintings, stained glass designs, stage and theatre costume design, and also the furnishing of bourgeois houses in the Secession period. We can see the original, legendary pieces of furniture made at the request of Tadeusz Boy Żeleński and his wife Zofia for their flat in Krakow. Commanding attention are the designs of
some of the most beautiful stained glass windows of the Young Poland period – Apollo, a decoration of the Medical House Society, and God the Father from a Franciscan church in Krakow. Also on display are the self-portraits of Wyspiański and the portraits of his friends and children, which are representative of Secession painting in Poland. One of the museum rooms, called the “Sapphire workshop”, is devoted to the private life of the artist and the subject of motherhood. Furniture, sculptures, tapestries and trinkets once belonging to this great collector, give a good impression of how bourgeois Secession residential interiors looked.
The Mehoffer House 26 Krupnicza St. KR AKOW MUSEUMS’ ROUTES
the art of Young Poland, stained glass
National Museum in Krakow
Opening hours Monday: closed Tuesday – Saturday: 10.00 a.m.–6.00 p.m. Sunday: 10.00 a.m.–4.00 p.m. There is no admission fee for permanent NMK exhibitions on Sundays. Please consult the www.muzeum.krakow.pl website for details.
The museum is located in a house at Krupnicza Street, which
Józef Mehoffer – one of the top artists of Young Poland – bought and furnished with stylish pieces of furniture, works of art, and craftsmanship. In 1986 the house, according to the will of the artist’s family, was given to the National Museum in Krakow, where in January 1996 it was opened to the public.
The inside of the house, which is now a biographical mu-
seum of the artist, is furnished according to his original idea. The unit is a museum of interiors, where the rooms are filled with the same old furniture and common items as once before, and which are excellent examples of Secession craftsmanship.
The whole is completed with the works of Józef Mehoffer himself, i.e. stained glass, oil paintings and drawings.
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A beautiful garden by the house adds to the charm. Among the most treasured stained glass pieces are: Vita somnium breve; Caritas; Wiara, Nadzieja, Miłość (Faith, Hope, Love); a portrait of his wife – the “Florentine”; the landscapes Wisła pod Niepołomicami (Vistula at Niepołomice), and Czerwona parasolka (Red Umbrella); and designs – Nature and Art (for the Palace of Art in Krakow) and Flowers (polychrome motif of the Treasury at Wawel Cathedral).
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(S.G. Żeleński Krakow Stained Glass Workshop) KR AKOW MUSEUMS’ ROUTES
the art of Young Poland, stained glass
Stained Glass Museum al. Krasińskiego 23
Opening hours (earlier reservation is required) Thursdays: from 1.00 p.m.
In the only stained glass museum in Poland, apart from the items of the permanent exhibition, the process of making stained glass, unchanged for hundreds of years, can be observed. The tenement in which the museum is presently located was built specifically for the needs of the Stained Glass Workshop in 1906 according to Ludwik Wojtyczka and Stanisław Gabriel Żeleński’s design. The tour is organised in a “live museum” convention, and all the interiors and the equipment of the workshop have retained their original character.
The most important thing in the process of creating stained glass is, apart from the design itself, the contact of the artist with the workshop. The ability to cooperate with
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the craftsmen and with the workshop in which the piece is created is necessary to successfully realise the artist’s vision. The most renowned Polish designers, such as Wyspiański, Mehoffer, Bukowski and Frycz, on more than one occasion stressed the importance of cooperation between the artist and the craftsman in a properly equipped workshop, which not only helps in achieving the effect intended by the designer, but also allows him to alter the initial design during the course of creation of the piece, even if it means the exchange of half the glass pieces for new ones . . . Stanisław Gabriel Żeleński shared this view of a workshop when he decided to build a tenement to house his workshop on the outskirts of the city in 1906. Stanisław Wyspiański, who with utmost care worked on completion of his projects, spent a lot of time in this place, overseeing nearly every step of the process.
The Krakow Workshop was designed as a large, complex enterprise intended not only to produce stained glass, but also to train craftsmen, designers and stained glass
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creators, by showing them the potential of this technique. Huge commercial and artistic successes allowed for the rapid and brilliant development of the workshop, which for many years fulfilled an important, culture-forming role, receiving awards for the highest quality at local and international expositions. The most prominent Polish artists of the early 20th century cooperated with the workshop. It was here that the greatest of the Polish stained glass pieces were created. “The pride of the workshop is the collection of works by Wyspiański, made here (Medical House Society, Franciscans’ Church in Krakow, famous blessed Salomea) and the works of Mehoffer, who publicly thanked the workshop for the artistic recreation of his project for Wawel Cathedral. a whole range of great stained glass windows designed by master Mehoffer for Wawel Cathedral shall be made at Mr Żeleński’s workshop.”
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art, the idea of reviving this craftsmanship had its supporters, particularly among artists, who had already raised some crafts into the rank of arts. The best example of a certain integration of arts was Wyspiański, a poet and painter, creator of wonderful stained glass windows and moving dramas, architectonic visions and stage designs, but also of furniture, tapestries, wrought iron decorations, whole interiors, polychromes and book illustrations. An ever-growing circle of artists, university graduates, was interested in applied art. In 1901 the “So-
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ciety for Polish Applied Art”, which propagated its ideas in its own periodical, “Applied Art”, launched its activity. It consisted of painters, sculptors, architects, ethnographers and art historians, as well as admirers and patrons
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of craftsmanship. What they all had in common was a certain style, deriving from folk art. Therefore, next to the obvious influence of the art of the Secession, some concepts were born in Krakow that became an important contribution to its output. Also there appeared some characteristic elements that differentiate Krakow stained glass form general trends. From this perspective, the establishment and rapid development of the S.G. Żeleński Krakow Stained Glass Workshop should be regarded as a very characteristic phenomenon of that age. An artistic workshop integrated with a craftsmanship workshop – everything according to the expectations of ideologists of applied art.
In 2002 Piotr Ostrowski became the owner and the host of the workshop. Thanks to his efforts, after forty-eight years of pause, the workshop regained its original name S.G. Żeleński Krakow Stained Glass Workshop. In November 1999 the inheritors of the Żeleński family legacy unanimously agreed on returning to the old logo and name. Their consent was on the condition “that the business entity to be established, active in the sphere of stained glass making, will ensure high professional and artistic level of the output, in order to sustain the tradition of the renowned S.G. Żeleński Krakow Stained Glass Workshop, and that the business entity shall, apart from production and preservation activity, organise exhibitions of the workshop’s output.”
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In
2002, the 100 th anniversary of the workshop’s establishment, a Stained Glass Gallery was established in its premises. Based on that gallery, in 2005 Ostrowski established a Stained Glass Museum with the charter negotiated with the Minister of Culture. The museum, established in a tenement built in 1906, comprises exhibition rooms and an operating workshop, giving a lifelike impression.
In 2000–2008 many prestigious pieces, and preservation works, were created in the workshop, confirming the highest quality and the return to the best traditions of the oldest Polish stained glass workshop. The most interesting items include: a set of stained glass windows in the lifts of the office buildings Herbewo in Krakow, stained glass in a church in Dobczyce-Kornatka, adaptations of Józef Mehoffer designs, and the making of eight stained glass windows for a church in Turek. However, the most demanding and prestigious was the finalisation of the project for Wawel Cathedral, which was a combined effort of Ostrowski and Andrzej Wajda in 2002– 2007, and was based on previously unrealised Stanisław Wyspiański designs. These stained glass windows are presented in the Expositional–Informational Pavilion “Wyspiański 2000” in Krakow.
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KR AKOW MUSEUMS’ ROUTES
the art of Young Poland, stained glass
The Seweryn Udziela Museum of Ethnography in Krakow Main Building – City Hall, 1 Wolnica Square “Esterka” building, 46 Krakowska St. Opening hours Monday: closed Tuesday, Wednesday: 11.00 a.m.–7.00 p.m. Thursday: 11.00 a.m.–9.00 p.m. Friday, Saturday: 11.00 a.m.–7.00 p.m. Sunday: 11.00 a.m.–3.00 p.m.
The museum, established in 1911 at the initiative of Seweryn Udziela, a teacher, amateur ethnographer and collector, is located in an old city hall building of Kazimierz, built in the 15th c. in Gothic style, and in later ages expanded in Renaissance style. The city hall houses a Polish folk culture exhibition, while in the second building, the so-called Esterka, in beautifully vaulted 16th century cellars temporary exhibitions are held.
The museum collections, numbering over 80 thousand exhibits, most of which come from the end of the 19 th and the beginning of the 20 th century, originated from Seweryn Udziela’s own collection. Most of the collections are Polish, but there are also considerable ones from other European countries, mostly Slavonic ones, but also
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from beyond Europe, many of which were donated by Polish travellers and explorers. The museum also houses a vast archive with many thousands of photos, glass plates, manuscripts and drawings, as well as a specialist library, in which among 30 thousand volumes there are also unique works.
The main centres of literary-artistic life in the Young Poland period were located in Lesser Poland. Characteristic of this movement was the turning towards folk culture, which resulted in the so-called “peasant mania” – an artistic and ideological phenomenon which appealed greatly to the Polish intelligentsia circles. Seweryn Udziela – the founder of the Museum of Ethnography in Krakow – was probably under a strong influence of the Young Poland “fashion”, sensing that it was a favourable moment to start an ethnographic collection. For this reason, the museum is a prime example of the wide interest in and fascination with folk culture within society in the Young Poland period. Without this fascination there would be no social need for establishing such an institution in 1911!
A s soon as we begin our visit to the museum we come to a model of a hut by Błażej Czepiec, one of the guests at Lucjan Rydel’s wedding with Jadwiga Mikołajczykówna in 1900, supervised by Włodzimierz Tetmajer. Immediately after that, when we enter the Krakow chambers and admire the colourful folk outfits, particularly that of the bride, Stanisław Wyspiański’s “Wedding” naturally comes to mind.
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When we see the Podhale chamber, a model of a Polish highlanders’ hut, fulling workshop, shepherds’ shack and highlanders’ outfits, we realise that the Young Poland artists were fascinated by highlanders’ culture as well. It was in the Young Poland period that Stanisław Witkiewicz created the national Zakopane style, based on architecture and decorative art of the Polish highlands. The colourful, striped Łowicz outfits remind us of the characters of Jagna and Maciej Boryna, the protagonists of “Chłopi” (“Peasants”) by Władysław Reymont, one of the leading writers of the Young Poland period.
The
Seweryn Udziela Museum of Ethnography in Krakow, a ‘cradle’ of folk culture in Krakow, invites you to view its priceless collections. They will help you understand why the artists of Young Poland were so fascinated with the local folklore, its vigour and vitality, in which they sought a remedy for the stagnation and growing cultural crisis of the Polish intelligentsia of the turn of the 19th and 20th century.
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KR AKOW MUSEUMS’ ROUTES
the art of Young Poland, stained glass
Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theatre in Krakow
The Stary Theatre Museum 1 Jagiellońska St.
Until December 2009 the permanent exhibition will be closed due to the adaptation of part of the building for the needs of a new Museum of Theatre, which will make use of high tech methods of presenting the exhibition.
The Stary Theatre Museum is located in the main building of the Stary Theatre, at Szczepański Sq. and Jagiellońska St. It was opened on the 200th anniversary of the stage in 1981. The building of the theatre itself, established in 1799, has Secession decorations from the conversion of the building in 1903–1906. The architects, Tadeusz Stryjeński, Franciszek Mączyński, sculptors and painters, members of Polish Applied Art, created one of the most beautiful of the Secession buildings in Krakow. The ticket for a performance allows you to visit the interiors of the theatre one hour before the start of the performance on the Big Stage.
The collection of the Stary Theatre Museum includes precious memorabilia documenting the work of the most prominent actors, directors, stage designers and composers who are
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a part of the history of this stage, and due to the rank of the created art, the history of the Polish theatre in its entirety. Connected with the Secession culture of Krakow are first of all the items left after the staging of Stanisław Wyspiański’s plays, in the form of photographs, stage designs, costumes, video records (“Wyzwolenie” (“Liberation”) by Konrad Świniarski, “Wesele” (“Wedding”) by Andrzej Wajda and Jerzy Grzegorzewski), and the staging of “Z biegiem lat, z biegiem dni” (“As Years Go By, As Days Go By”) by Andrzej Wajda — a picture of city life.
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City Information Network (note that the opening hours of inquiry desks might be changed)
Town Hall Tower at the Main Market Square tel. +48 12 433 73 10, open: Mon–Sun 9.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m. Wyspiański Pavillion 2000 (adjusted for disabled persons) 2 Wszystkich Świętych Square tel. +48 12 616 18 86, open: Mon–Sun 9.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m. 2 św. Jana St. tel. +48 12 421 77 87, open: Mon–Sat 10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m. 25 Szpitalna St. tel. +48 12 432 01 10, open: Mon–Sun 9.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m. 7 Józefa St. (Kazimierz) tel. +48 12 422 04 71, open: Mon–Sun 10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m. os. Słoneczne 16 (Nowa Huta) tel. +48 12 643 03 03, open: Tue–Sat 10.00 a.m. – 2.00 p.m. John Paul II International Airport in Krakow – Balice (passenger terminal) tel. +48 12 285 53 41, open: Mon–Sun 9.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m. Tourist Information Call Centre tel. +48 12 432 00 60, open: Mon–Sun 9.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m. Common e-mail address of the city inquiry desks:
[email protected] Information for disabled tourists: www.niepelnosprawni.pl/ledge/x/2782 (pol)
Emergency numbers Safety phone for foreign tourists (during the summer season only): 0 800 200 300 (free of charge, from a fixed-line telephone) 048 608 599 999 (from any telephone) Emergency service Police Ambulance service Fire Brigade City Guard Roadside Assistance
112 997 999 998 986 981
Krakow Tourist Card Free of charge: • Museums • City Public Transport (MPK) Discounts: • Tours around the city • Restaurants • Shops, Galleries Outlets – Tourist Information Centres: • 2 św. Jana St. • 25 Szpitalna St. • 7 Józefa St. Main Market Square 1 (Town Hall) • Balice – Airport Card Publisher: Symposium Cracoviense Tel.: +48 12 4227600, 4310597, fax: +48 12 4213857 e-mail:
[email protected], www.krakowcard.com Illustrations are taken from museums’ archives. Editing: J. Lenczowski. Graphic design: P. Bytnar.
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