History

A brick building was built here in the second half of the 15th century. One hundred years later, the house was subject to alteration, traces of which can still be seen in the ground floor chamber with a rib vault and dainty keystones (the effigies of Casimir the Great, his sister, Hungarian Queen Elisabeth, and the coats of arms of the Crown lands). At that stage, the building was transformed into a grand residence (ca. 1370-1375). A stoop was installed from the side of the market square. Two large chambers were made at the front: a three-nave hall in the ground floor (currently in the basement) resting on four pillars and the aforesaid Gothic chamber. The size of the plot and of the building itself suggests that it might have been a royal property. Initially, it was suggested that the site had seated a royal tribunal or the Kraków Academy (this hypothesis has been rejected). Another remodelling took place after the mid-15th century, and the house was raised by one level. At the end of the 15th century, the house was in private hands of the Beer family, the operators of the Olkusz silver mines, although the royal treasury retained its share in the mining business. Gaspar Beer had the privilege of striking coins, hence one of the older names of the property, the Old Mint. After the establishment of a new mint (at no. 47) and the opening of many other mints in Warsaw, Lviv, and Gdańsk, the Kraków’s old mint was converted into a residential and representative building. In the second half of the 16th century, the house belonged to Italian settlers dwelling in Kraków. In the middle of the 17th century, it belonged to Krzysztof Ossoliński, the voivode of Sandomierz, who transformed the building into an early Baroque edifice. Further alterations, in 1733 (design by Jan Zygmunt Deybel and Gotfried Schulz as the contractor) and 1756 (design by Jan Henryk Klemm) were made by the new owners, the Branicki family: Marshal Jan Klemens of Ruszcza, Stefan Mikołaj, voivode of Podlasie, and Jan Klemens, military commander. The name of the building, which is still used today, was derived from those owners. The recently reconstructed attic with the Griffin coat of arms was made in that period. At the end of the 18th century, the Hetmańska house, the property of Elżbieta Poniatowska, Jan Klemens’s widow and King Stanislaus Augustus’s sister, was taken over by the occupation troops as quarters, although it had already been “ruined and desolate.” In 1796 Friedlein’s bookstore opened on the ground floor; in 1821 the building housed a lottery establishment collecting funds for the development of Planty Park. After 1816, at the request of the new owner, Anselm Dzwonkowski, major renovation was carried out according to the design by Jan Drachna and Szczepan Humbert. They also supervised the remodelling of the annexes. A contemporary record says, “the façades of the house have been altered; the windows have been adjusted; toilets and stairs to the second floor have been installed (not there before); the well and the cellars have been cleaned; the annexe, stable, and coach house, etc. have been upgraded improved to genuine admiration of the few inhabitants of the market square at that time.” In 1848 the building was the first seat of the Czas daily. The fire of Kraków in 1850 forced another renovation. An extra level was reconstructed, according to the design by Feliks Radwański, and house no. 18 was also temporarily attached to the complex. Ludwika Kopycińska rented the three-storey house to the Indemnification Commission (in 1854). Later, it was inhabited by some wealthy tenants, among them, Józef Dietl, who died here in 1878.

Description

A spacious, two-storey townhouse with a grand attic and Baroque portal shifted against the axis. The wide, seven-axis façade bears traces of designers’ and conservators’ dilemmas and changing concepts during the 1970s renovation. The building (together with the annexes) underwent a major renovation between 1971 and 1982. Between 1975 and 1979, the house was connected with the neighbouring buildings nos 15 and 16. Currently, it is still part of the Wierzynek Restaurant complex. The first floor accommodates the so-called Equestrian Chamber used by the Wierzynek Restaurant. On the ground floor, a Gothic ceiling has survived with one beam terminated with male and female half-figures. Today, the ground floor houses is a popular shopping mall. A plaque on the building commemorates the tragic fire of Kraków in 1850.

The site is partly available: freely from the outside but inside only during the working hours of the stores and institutions. The representative chamber with a unique décor (today divided into two parts) is located in the bookstore area (to the left of the entrance gate).

Author of the note Roman Marcinek, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 20/04/2016

Bibliography

• Dyba O., Kraków. Zabytki architektury i budownictwa, Warszawa 2007
• Encyklopedia Krakowa, Warszawa – Kraków 2000.
• Fabiański M., Purchla J., Historia architektury Krakowa w zarysie, Kraków 2001
• Gadomski J., Sale gotyckie w domu przy Rynku Głównym 17 w Krakowie i ich dekoracja rzeźbiarska, in: Sztuka i ideologia XIV wieku, Warszawa 1975
• Komorowski W., Sudacka A., Rynek Główny w Krakowie, Ossolineum 2008
• Rożek M., Przewodnik po zabytkach i kulturze Krakowa, Kraków 1993
• Marcinek R., Kraków, Kraków 2001