KRAKÓW – Europejskie Miasto Prawa Magdeburskiego 1257 – 1791

One of the duties of Wójts [Latin:advocatus; originally a hereditary superior of the municipality acting on behalf of the sovereign of the city], mentioned in Great Charter for the Foundation of Krakow under Magdeburg Law, was to employ land surveyors to mark out regular rectangular parcels of land, measuring 36 x 72 Krakow ells (1 ell =58,3 cm). These then became building lots. On such a lot, slightly bigger since it was situated at the corner of the Market and Szczepańska Street, the pod Krzysztofory tenement house was built. It owes its name to a 14th century sculpture representing Saint Christopher which was placed on the façade of the building.

The oldest part of the building is the basement, once situated at ground level of the house. During recent renovation works on the basement, some well preserved features were discovered, such as przedproża [German: Beischlag; a terrace in front of a façade of a building], fragments of polychrome decoration and a stove. A part of the przedproża has recently been paved with original cobblestones discovered recently in the Krakow market area. The exhibits presented on display come from recent archaeological excavations and are typical objects from a tenement house.

We know from source materials that from 1564 to 1655 there was a pharmacy at the pod Krzysztofory tenement house. The first well-known apothecary from pod Krzysztofory pharmacy was Wojciech Piątek-Rzęczyca. An inventory from his pharmacy, kept in the collection of the State Archive in Krakow, is also displayed in this exhibition.
In 1644 pod Krzysztofory was purchased by Adam Kazanowski (1599-1649), became a magnate’s residence and was then subsequently called the Krzysztofory palace. In 1681, the next owners of the house – the Wodzicki family – rebuilt the palace, giving it its present shape.