Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace – National Museum in Kraków

At 17 Kanonicza Street, on the way from the Main Square to Wawel, a red facade hides one of the finest collections of medieval art in Poland. In the Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace, the National Museum in Kraków displays the Krużlowa Madonna, works by Veit Stoss and his circle, and a gallery of icons from the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. As recently as the late 20th century, the building was in a very poor state.

History: from "great court" to ruin

In 1505, Erazm Ciołek, Bishop of Płock, had two houses joined into a so-called curia ampla – a great court regarded in the 16th century as the grandest on Kanonicza Street. Its later occupants, Bishop Piotr Tomicki and Cardinal Jerzy Radziwiłł, added side wings and raised the residence to three storeys, and in the second half of the 16th century it was enclosed by a defensive wall with an artillery tower. The palace survived in this form until the 19th century, when the Austrian authorities took it over (Kraków was then under Austrian rule). It housed a conscription commission and an assay office, among others, and the conversions badly damaged the interiors. After both world wars the building was not restored.

Rescue and museum

In 1996 the ruined palace was handed over to the National Museum in Kraków. The restoration of 1999–2006 was the largest project, in financial terms, in the 30-year history of the Kraków Monuments Restoration Committee (SKOZK), which spent more than PLN 19.6 million on it. The bricked-up two-aisled entrance hall with its late Gothic colonnade was reopened, Gothic and Renaissance window frames were restored, and the facade colours were recreated from traces found during research. The museum opened on 18 October 2007, and in 2009 the palace received the culture ministry's "Well-Kept Monument" award.

What to see

First floor – "Art of Old Poland, 12th–18th Century":

• late Romanesque capitals from the Cistercian abbey in Jędrzejów (1195–1245) – the oldest objects on display,
• the Krużlowa Madonna (after 1410) and the Epitaph of Wierzbięta of Branice – masterpieces of the "Beautiful Style",
• works by Veit Stoss and his circle, including Christ on the Mount of Olives,
• Christ on a Donkey from Szydłowiec, used in Palm Sunday processions,
• the painted ceiling from the church in Kozy (c. 1520), coffin portraits and portraits of the old Polish nobility.

Ground floor – "Orthodox Church Art of the Old Commonwealth": icons and Eastern-rite art from the lands of the former Polish–Lithuanian state. Alongside the two permanent galleries, the palace also holds a lapidarium.

What to look out for

Before you go in, look at the Renaissance gateway with its cartouche: it shows a crowned eagle intertwined with the letter S – the monogram of King Sigismund the Old. Look out too for the foundation plaque with the Sulima coat of arms. In the entrance hall you will see the uncovered late Gothic colonnade, and on the ground floor of the south wing, fragments of a late 16th-century viewing loggia.

Tripto tip

Allow 1.5–2 hours for both galleries – the Gothic collection alone deserves an unhurried visit. The palace is a few minutes' walk from Wawel, so it fits neatly into a Main Square–Kanonicza–Wawel route. Check current opening hours and ticket prices on the National Museum in Kraków website.