History

The merger and conversion of two houses in the south frontage of the main square into the palace of Anna primo voto Tyszkiewicz, secundo voto Dunin-Wąsowicz, was the only major residential construction project in this part of the city in the 1840s. The new façade, with arcades and a fashionable balcony on the first floor, covered two old townhouses, the Kesnerowska house (from the east) and Under the raven house (from the west), both without any major alterations. Both were erected in the 14th century and altered countless times ever since. The first one was a standard merchant house. The west building was much larger than its neighbour. In the 16th century, it was owned by the powerful families of Turzon and Fugger. At the end of the 16th century, it went into the hands of Stanisław Szafraniec, the voivode of Sandomierz, who rebuilt it into a grand residence. As a town palace, it was owned by aristocratic families of Myszkowski, Drohojowski, Bzowski, and Szembek. During the Szembeks’ ownership, the interiors were remodelled in the late Baroque style, and the front building was connected with the side annexe by a gallery. After Antoni and Wiktoria Kruczkowski (1812), the house was owned by Antoni Kruczkowski (1828), who sold it to Józef Raczyński in 1834. In 1842 Raczyński sold the house to Anna née Tyszkiewicz, the niece of Prince Joseph Poniatowski. She also bought a neighbouring building from Jadwiga Ekielska. Anna had the houses merged. In 1844 they were inherited by Maurycy Potocki. He rebuilt them after the 1850 fire of Kraków (as designed by Stanisław Gołębiowski) and added, among others, a new neo-Renaissance façade. Alteration were also made in the interiors, but they still left much to be desired. The contemporaries considered them dark and low, though lavishly fit. From 1853 the Austrian Circular Office was located in the rebuilt house. Ultimately, in 1872 Potocki sold the building to the Trade and Industry Bank of Galicia. The bank decided to modify the façade according to the design by, but not only, Tomasz Pryliński; the works in the interior also covered the rear 14th-century annexe, rebuilt multiple times before. The building has a dealings room supported by cast iron columns, a treasury, and electric lighting (installed in 1880). In 1908 a major, full-scale renovation of the interior was held commissioned by the bank. The idea was to remove the old, impractical layout of rooms in the two, formerly separate houses. After 1919 the Under the Ravens house was owned by the Bank of Małopolska. After 1921 another floor was added (designed by Teodor Hoffmann) and a three-storey annexe in 1922. In the 1920s the building premises began to be let to various institutions. During WW2, the Germans set up the seat of the NSDAP here. It the courtyard, they erected an auditorium and added the fourth floor to the annexe. The building was thoroughly renovated in the years 1978-1990. Later transformations, especially to the loft and the roof (by R. Loegler, 1998-2008), had an adverse effect on the design and proportions of the body.

Description

A spacious, three-storey, six-axis house with a vast entrance hall. The earliest phase of development of the building can be traced in the Gothic cellars. Also, the preserved wooden ceiling of the former rear chamber and the Tuscan column discovered during restoration works on the first floor of the former Kłosowiczowska house are but a few reminders to the prosperity of the Renaissance era. In the years 2006-2008, the annexe was converted to fit the needs of the International Cultural Centre. A Panoramic Hall was designed with a transparent roof and a viewing terrace, which changed the proportions of the body when viewed from afar.

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
• Metamorfozy kamienicy „Pod Kruki”, J. Purchla (ed.), Kraków 2009
• Rożek M., Przewodnik po zabytkach i kulturze Krakowa, Kraków 1993
• Marcinek R., Kraków, Kraków 2001