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Under the Lizards house - Zabytek.pl

Under the Lizards house


tenement house 1st quarter of the 14th c. Kraków

Address
Kraków, Rynek Główny 8

Location
woj. małopolskie, pow. Kraków, gm. Kraków

One of the townhouses onlooking Rynek Główny in Kraków.

 Historically, and for some time also structure- and ownership-wise, the building was related to the neighbouring house no. 7. Its name is often twisted and has been gradually pushed into the shade by the name of the famous student club seated in the building.

History

In the Middle Ages, together with the neighbouring Montelupi’s house, it was part of a larger representative building (see Rynek Główny 7). In the second half of the 14th century, the houses were separated. In that period, the nine-panel, ribbed vaults of the ground floor were made. After the division of the property at the beginning of the 16th century, the house belonged to the Krupek family and later to the Scheinborns and their relatives. The Under the Lizard house had a shared pharmacy. The next owner of the house (1595) was the pharmacist Szymon Rhonenberg. In the years 1607-1618, the property was held by his son and city councillor, Abraham Rhonenberg, who died in 1637. When the house was taken over by the Italian Fraternity in the 17th century (1680-1789) (along with house no. 7), it gradual dilapidation began. It was turned into a tenement house accommodating numerous warehouses and shops belonging to the Bartsch and Fuchs families. The Italian Fraternity was a powerful national and religious association owning houses no. 7, 8 and 10 in Kraków’s main market square. When the royal seat was moved to Warsaw, many Italian families abandoned Kraków or became impoverished. The fraternity withered in the second half of the 18th century. First, they sold house no. 10, then house no. 7, and finally, with the consent of the administrator of the Kraków Diocese, “the fraternity house Under the Lizards.” In 1789 the house was purchased by Jan Kaspary for 13,000 Polish złotys. In the 19th century, Karol Treutler, a wealthy wholesaler, merged houses 7 and 8, re-designed a shared façade, and linked and furnished the interiors anew. A winery run by Edward Fuchs moved in to the ground floor. In 1891 the buildings were separated again. Treutler’s daughter, Anna, married to a Helclow, separated the houses and offered the house Under the Lizards to Maria Orzechowska. Although separated, the façades still reveal close similarity. The interior layout was not changed. In 1906 a Modernist back annexe was added (ul. Stolarska 5). The main building was renovated in 1906 and 1926 (the facade design by L. Wojtyczko). In 1929 L. Wojtyczko and S. Żeleński designed Art Deco space for a bank in the first floor. Since 1960, the building has housed the Under the Lizards Club (Pod Jaszczurami), one of the oldest student clubs in Poland. It is a popular venue for concerts, political debates, exhibitions, and other events. The avant-garde Teatr 38 operated next door (1956-1982). Since 2001, the Kraków Art Institute has been overseeing the club.

Description

The four-level and four-axis classicist façade is almost free from any decorations. Only the prominent window frames try to overcome this apparent monotony. The Renaissance portal to the entrance hall has been preserved, featuring a mediaeval zoomorphic sculpture (the original was moved to a museum in 1929); the mediaeval name of the house comes from the lizard in the sculpture.  In 1954 two Renaissance window mullions were exposed during restoration works in the side annexe.

The site is partly available: freely from the outside but inside only during the working hours of the stores.

Author of the note Roman Marcinek, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 20-07-2017

Bibliography

  • Encyklopedia Krakowa, Warszawa – Kraków 2000. 
  • Fabiański M., Purchla J., Historia architektury Krakowa w zarysie, Kraków 2001
  • Komorowski W., Sudacka A., Rynek Główny w Krakowie, Ossolineum 2008
  • Łuszczkiewicz W., Sukiennice krakowskie. Dzieje gmachu i jego obecnej przebudowy, Kraków 1899
  • Marcinek R., Kraków, Kraków 2001
  • Rożek M., Przewodnik po zabytkach i kulturze Krakowa, Kraków 1993

Category: tenement house

Architecture: nieznana

Building material:  brick

Protection: Register of monuments, Monuments records

Inspire id: PL.1.9.ZIPOZ.NID_N_12_BK.217203, PL.1.9.ZIPOZ.NID_E_12_BK.403064,PL.1.9.ZIPOZ.NID_E_12_BK.403082