History

The first brick building was erected in this place around the mid-14th century. The house was extended in the following century. Originally, the contemporary property covered three plots: two at the market square and one at ul. Sławkowska. Major transformations fall to the first half of the 17th century. The corner house, known as Ludwikowski (after the German Ludwig family), was built around 1300 and retained its mediaeval character until the mid-18th century. In the Middle Ages, a mint operated here temporarily (mentioned in historical sources in 1438). In the years 1627-1652, a pharmacy was opened in the house called by the locals “Under the Stag.” In the 17th century, the Ludwikowski house was purchased by the German family of Amend. They earned their wealth as managers of a silver mine in Olkusz. The other house (by the market square) was built in the same period. It occupied the central part of the plot and had the form of a brick tower on a square plan. Known as the Waytman house, it was extended at the turn of the 14th century. The third building standing in ul. Sławkowska was called “Jewish house.” In the 18th century, the place was owned by the Jagniątkowskis (1730). In 1758 Józef Bartsch purchased all the three houses. In 1773 he had part of the complex demolished and merged with the rest to create a grand town palace. In 1776 the Under the Stag Inn was established in this address. Józef Bartsch’s heirs sold the house in 1818 to Karol Treutler for 100,000 Polish złotys. During Treutler’s ownership, the ground floor pharmacy was known as Under the Golden Stag. Renovation combined with a change of the roofing took place in 1830. A balcony with wrought iron railings, the latest fashion of the time, was installed on the façade. Later, Treutler’s daughter transferred the house to the Archconfraternity of Mercy. The building received its contemporary look after the reconstruction in the years 1867-1868. During that time, a bas-relief of the Guardian Angel was added to the façade. The ground floor was converted for commercial purposes in 1897. A book store opened in the house along with an establishment distributing periodic magazine run by Stanisław Andrzej Krzyżanowski. A regular visitor to Krzyżanowski’s book store was Henryk Sienkiewicz. In September 1939, the Germans seized most of Krzyżanowski’s collections as “dangerous” and ultimately evicted the bookshop in 1940.  The book store returned to the main square in 1949, but two years later, the company was taken over by the state-owned Dom Książki publishing enterprise as a result of the nationalisation reform. The house was upgraded at the beginning of the 20th century. Later, minor or superficial renovations were carried out (1953, 1956, 1964-1965); full-scale conservation was held in the years 1971-1973.

Description

A three-storey, five-axis façade from the market square side. The clearly divided, classicist façade is topped with a high attic and a sheet metal roof. In this section of the building, there is an impressive sculptural decoration with the image of the Guardian Angel.

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

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
• 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