Pod Baranami's Palace (Kraków)

 interesting place, apartment building, listed building / architectural heritage, 1850s construction

In the southern corner of the Market Square stands the Palace "Pod Baranami," (the "Palace under the Rams" in English), named for the rams decorating its facade. The present building was amalgamated out of four adjacent Gothic burghers' houses in the 16th century. At various times it belonged to some of the greatest magnates of the pre-partition Polish Republic, including the Ostrowskis, the Radziwills, the Wielkopolskis and finally to the Potockis. Gothic cross-ribbed vaults are preserved in the cellars. At the turn of the 19th century, the palace was a center of cultural life in the city; today it belongs to the Krakow House of Culture and houses the legendary cabaret "Piwnica Pod Baranami" (see separate listing).