Villa Koliba, Zakopane

The landowner Zygmunt Gnatowski wanted to build an ordinary highlander's cottage in Zakopane to house his ethnographic collection. Stanisław Witkiewicz talked him into something new. The result, built in 1892–1893, was Villa Koliba, the first house in the Zakopane Style, through which Witkiewicz hoped to create a Polish national architecture based on the timber buildings of the Podhale region. Today it houses the Museum of the Zakopane Style, the only place in Poland devoted to the history of this style.

History: from shepherd's hut to museum

The name comes from the highland dialect word "koleba", a shepherd's hut. Sketches were made in 1891, and local carpenters built the villa on Kościeliska Street under Witkiewicz's supervision. The east wing held a highlander's room for Gnatowski's collection, while the two-storey west wing contained a drawing room and bedrooms. In 1901 the owner enlarged the west wing, which changed the shape of the house. Gnatowski died without heirs in 1906. The villa was sold, and under his will his ethnographic collection went to the Tatra Museum.

In 1935 the house was bought by a railway military training organisation and turned into a guesthouse. Most of the original stoves were removed, the floors replaced and Art Deco touches added. During the Nazi occupation it housed the Hitler Youth, and after the war a holiday home and then, until December 1981, an orphanage. Restoration commissioned by the Tatra Museum began in the 1980s, and the museum opened on 4 December 1993, with interiors arranged by the artist Władysław Hasior. The villa has been a listed monument since 1983.

What to see

• Ground floor – the dining room, drawing room and bedroom, furnished according to their original use.
• First floor – Gnatowski's room and the servant's room.
• The highlander's room with Gnatowski's ethnographic collection.
• Furniture and objects designed by Witkiewicz, his pupil Wojciech Brzega and Stanisław Barabasz.
• Furniture by František Neužil in the servant's room, shown for comparison.

Interesting facts

The term "Zakopane Style" was coined not by Witkiewicz but by František Neužil, and Witkiewicz criticised it. The style lasted only about twenty years, yet it shaped the look of Zakopane for decades. Witkiewicz later designed, among others, the Pod Jedlami villa, the Sacred Heart Chapel at Jaszczurówka and the main building of the Tatra Museum.

Tripto tip

The villa is at ul. Kościeliska 18, Zakopane's oldest street, lined with historic houses and highland cottages. According to the Tatra Museum, a standard ticket costs PLN 20, reduced PLN 10, a guided tour PLN 40 and an audio guide PLN 5. Admission is free on Thursdays. The museum opens on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 9:00 to 17:00, and on Fridays and Saturdays from 11:00 to 19:00. It is closed on Tuesdays. Check the museum website for current information before you go. A visit takes about 45 minutes. Afterwards, walk along Kościeliska to see how Koliba's ideas caught on in the neighbouring houses.