Willa Pod Stańczykiem, Kraków

Willa Pod Stańczykiem is the historic villa at 12 Stefan Batory Street, on the Piasek side of Kraków’s Old Town. Tadeusz Stryjeński designed it in eighteen eighty-two to serve as his own home. He named it after Stańczyk because he belonged to the conservative political circle known by that name.

The villa is a small ensemble rather than a single block: a main house is joined by left and right wings. On the upper floor of the left wing, the projecting bay carries a sculpture of Stańczyk and the date eighteen eighty-six. The building also preserves stained-glass work by Stanisław Wyspiański.

Beyond the house, the garden-park contains Stryjeński’s studio pavilion, fitted with stained glass designed by Jan Bukowski. A further pavilion with an octagonal tower went up in eighteen eighty-four, and a covered gallery linked it to the main building in eighteen ninety-two. Today this is home to the Jagiellonian University’s Institute of Pedagogy. After a restoration carried out from nineteen eighty to nineteen eighty-seven with help from Sanok, the university named the building Collegium Sanockie.