The building is an important element in the spatial layout of Kazimierz Dolny.

History

The granary is believed to have been erected somewhere around the year 1595 by Mikołaj Przybyła, replacing the wooden structure known as the Rogaliński granary. It is believed that this granary was the first brick and stone structure of this kind on the Bochotnickie (Gdańskie) Przedmieście street. Both its overall shape and its interiors were designed according to the best medieval traditions of granary construction. During the second decade of the 17th century, the building received its decorative gable coping, modelled after the local parish church (completed in 1613); as a result, the granary joined the group of newly-erected structures in Kazimierz which were designed in the Northern Mannerist style. The building was commonly referred to as the “High Granary”; later on, it was renamed the Ulanowski Granary, taking its name from its new owners. This is because, towards the end of the 18th century, the granary was acquired by Maciej Ulanowski, the erstwhile mayor of the town. During World War I, the building has suffered major damage, being left in a state of partial ruin. In 1926, the granary was adapted to serve as a tannery. Following the ravages of World War II, the structure was reconstructed in years 1946-1949 under the supervision off Karol Siciński. The building was then taken over by the “Farmers’ Self-Help” Communal Cooperative and, for many years, served as a warehouse for plastic products. Following a period of complete disuse, the building underwent a comprehensive restoration in years 1976-1986, being adapted to serve the needs of the Natural Museum, a branch of the Vistula Riverside Museum.

Description

The building is located on Puławska street; along with the neighbouring building known as the Feierstein Granary, it marks the course of the former frontage of the so-called Gdańskie Przedmieście street. The front façade of the building faces the north-west, towards the Vistula river. The building represents a local variant of Northern Mannerism.

Designed on a rectangular floor plan, the building is divided into two storage chambers with a transfer annex positioned on the axis of its front façade and incorporating a staircase leading to the first floor of the building. The building itself is a two-storey structure with a basement, covered with a gable roof with brick gables. The annex, reaching all the way to the base of the front façade gable, is covered with a shed roof. The building is made of limestone, its walls covered with plaster; all roofs are clad with roof tiles. The façade is divided into three levels and follows a four-axial design, topped with a triangular gable, the two middle axes of the façade being obscured by the annex. The gable, clearly separated from the rest of the structure and partitioned into three distinct levels by pronounced cornices, features a decorative coping adorned with volutes and pinnacles. In the very centre of the gable are two embedded panels; the upper one, vacant today, originally bore the date “1838”, while the lower one carries the hierogram of Jesus Christ. The façades, topped with a cornice and narrow skirt roof, are pierced by a number of windows, some of them rectangular, other taking the form of narrow slits.

The ground floor level of the annex features an arcade composed of semi-circular arches with a barrel vault above, the latter featuring intersecting lunettes. The entrances to the building are topped with segmental arches. The corners of the building, originally supported by buttresses, are now accentuated by faux sgraffito quoins, as are the major openings in its façades.

Accessible from Tuesday to Sunday between 9 AM and 4 PM

Exceptions: January 1 (New Year), Easter Sunday, Corpus Christi (until 1 PM), November 1 and November 11 and December 25 (Christmas Day). phone number: 81 8810326, website: www.muzeumnadwislanskie.pl

compiled by Anna Sikora-Terlecka, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Lublin, 26-03-2015.

Bibliography

• Husarski W., Kazimierz Dolnym, Lublin 1953.
• Kazimierz Dolny. Przewodnik po mieście i okolicach, Z. Nestorowicz (ed.), Lublin 2014, p. 231
• Teodorowicz-Czerepińska J., Studium historyczno-urbanistyczne Kazimierza Dolnego, Lublin 1974, Archive of the Regional Monuments Protection Office in Lublin, file no. 370 vol. II, pp. 154-156
• Teodorowicz-Czerepińska J., Kazimierz Dolny. Monografia historyczno-urbanistyczna, Kazimierz Dolny 1981, pp. 45-46
• Żurawski J., Spichlerze zbożowe Kazimierza Dolnego. Historia i Teraźniejszość, Kazimierz Dolny 1998
• Architectural monument record sheet. The Ulanowski Granary, compiled by A. Cebulak, Kazimierz Dolny 1999, Archive of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw, Archive of the Regional Monuments Protection Office in Lublin (file no. 4055).