Kanonicza Street
The real jewel among the streets of old Krakow is Kanonicza, running parallel to ul. Grodzka, on its western side, from the intersection with ul. Senacka down to the foot of Wawel. Kanonicza has its own festival, during which numerous meetings are held here, presentations, there are colorful processions of Krakow burghers dressed in Renaissance costumes. Its heyday fell on the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when it was inhabited by the canons of the Wawel cathedral, and just such a climate – concentration and modesty – has survived to this day. The restoration of Gothic and Renaissance houses, which has been going on for years, is discovering more and more magnificent interiors, nooks and crannies, portal, coats of arms and other details. The Chapter House is one of the oldest buildings (nr 5) built in the 15th century. intended for a student dormitory. On the facade of the building there is the coat of arms of Wieniawa belonging to the historian Jan Długosz, who this house built. Today at Kanonicza Street 5 there is a documentation center of the famous Cricot Theater operating here years ago 2 Tadeusz Kantor.
Tadeusz Office, who died in 1990 r.. being a great revolutionist and experimenter in the field of theatrical art. He gained enormous publicity at home and abroad. Painter by education, founding member of the Krakow Group, he worked in scenography, directed, happenings. W 1956 r. founded the unique and phenomenal Cricot theater 2. If anyone watched the shows: Dead class. Wielopole, Wielopole, Let the artists or adaptations of Witkacy's plays die, he encountered the magic of the gray characters of the actors and all the rest of the cantorian attributes “impossible art”, among which props played an important role – a whole lot of different items. Every Kantor happening, every Cricot show 2 with the active participation of the director himself, he was always touching, a surprising and unreal artistic event.
On the opposite side, under no. 6, there is a very noble-looking Knight's House from the 14th century., built by a knight, Sandomierz castellan – Hińcza from Rogów. Po wielokrotnych przeróbkach budynek służy dziś Towarzystwu Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych. Kanonicza 7 is the House of the Three Crowns with the coat of arms of the Kraków Chapter "Trzy Korony", with a Renaissance façade and a pedigree that dates back over six hundred years. The building is now the seat of the Polish Writers' Association. Right next door, under no. 9, in a tenement house that has been rebuilt many times, in front of which there is pl. st. Mary Magdalene, Less than twenty years ago, the Stanisław Wyspiański Museum was established, where exhibits documenting the impressive artistic output of the author of The Wedding are gathered.
Stanisław Wyspiański's genius hung over Krakow at the end of the 19th century. and blended into the atmosphere of the city forever. Wyspiański, considered the greatest individuality of Polish symbolism, the main figure of Young Poland, was born in 1869 r. and died prematurely at age 38 lat. It's hard to say, which of the many activities he pursued with equal passion and ardor were the most important: or painting, or graphics, or poetry, or playwriting. Wyspiański achieved equal success in all these areas. Friends talked about him, that if he gave him the world to the device, would have ideas ready for this, how everything is supposed to look like. Wyspiański's unique achievements are stained glass and polychromes (pure floral art nouveau), which thanks to him (tooth. e.g.. Franciscan church) for the first time since the Middle Ages they gained the rank of works of art, and it's world-class. Some of the paintings are in the museum, graphics and sketches for stained glass never realized. Wyspiański's participation was the renewal of the Polish art of book decoration, to which he will introduce! modernist floral and folklore elements. In the field of drama, Wyspiański sits alongside national classics. He treated the theater as a temple of art and hence his plans to create an amphitheater on the Wawel Hill. Lots of drama, what he wrote, are among the most famous: Legend, Varsovian, November night, Release, Acropolis, and the Wedding – great symbolic drama, based on the realities of the Young Poland era.
Back in the Middle Ages, the Szreniawa House was built (nr 15), on the facade with the coat of arms of Szreniawa. Today it houses the Foundation of St.. Włodzimierz (Baptist of Kievan Rus), i.e. the so-called. Ukrainian House. The next building (under no. 17) called the House of Sigismund, which was established in the 14th century., it used to be the palace of bishop Erazm Ciołek. The portal features the coat of arms of Zygmunt August, and on its right side you can see an architectural curiosity: gothic window in the type called oblique or tilting – thanks to this design, more daylight can pass through. Another House of the Chapter on this street, standing at no. 19, behind an elegant neoclassical façade, the interior of the Archdiocese Museum is hidden.
At the corner of ul. Kanonicza and ul. Podzamcze, from where you can perfectly see the majesty of the northern wing of the Wawel Castle, under no. 25 the Długosz House with an interesting tradition has survived. It used to be called the Jagiełło Baths, because apparently the king who was bathing here was watched by Polish gentlemen, wanting to establish, whether the details of Jagiełło's anatomical structure meet the dynastic requirements. In the mid-15th century. Jan Długosz lived and wrote the History of Poland here, and from 1873 r. The sculptor Franciszek Wyspiański had a workshop here – Stanisław's father.
From the side of ul. In the outer ward, on the first floor, there is a 17th-century image of the Madonna and Child, who was shot either by the Swedes, or by the Russians and hence the traces of sixteen bullets. An inscription from the beginning of the 16th century. above the gate is translated as follows: There is nothing better in man than reason and we approach Wawel with such conviction.
