Piotr Skrzynecki, Kraków

The Piotr Skrzynecki monument is a life-sized statue on Kraków’s Main Market Square, placed before the Pod Blachą townhouse. It honours the choreographer, director and cabaret impresario who founded Piwnica pod Baranami, the celebrated Kraków cabaret known as The Cellar under the Rams. Skrzynecki began the student club that became Piwnica pod Baranami in 1956, and its inaugural performance followed in December that year.

He remained its leading figure until his death in Kraków on 27 April 1997. The cabaret became famous for satirical criticism of Poland’s communist authorities, while Skrzynecki himself was known for challenging power. During martial law, officials accused him of provoking a riot simply by being present; he later set the accusation, and the document cancelling it, to music.