Tomasz Pryliński (; August 24, 1847 – November 15, 1895) was a Polish architect and conservator active in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

during the foreign partitions of Poland. His main area of interest was the

Polish Renaissance The Renaissance in Poland ( , ; ) lasted from the late 15th to the late 16th century and is widely considered to have been the Golden Age of Polish culture. Ruled by the Jagiellonian dynasty, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (from 1569 part of ...

architecture. Some of his achievements included the design for major restoration of the Sukiennice Cloth Hall at the

Kraków Main Square , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Career

Pryliński was born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. He studied engineering in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

at the Bavarian Polytechnic in 1862–1866, and later in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

where he graduated in 1869. After temporary stay in Belgium, Pryliński settled in Kraków in 1872. Initially, he worked as

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land sur ...

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

for the Bank of Galicia in 1873. Soon later, he began to work as architect and

construction engineer Construction engineering, also known as construction operations, is a professional subdiscipline of civil engineering that deals with the designing, planning, construction, and operations management of infrastructure such as roadways, tunnels, bri ...

. He specialized in the Renaissance and embarked on the first ever photo-documentation of the deteriorating

Wawel Castle The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established o ...

, the traditional seat of

Polish monarchs Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...

built at the behest of

Casimir III the Great Casimir III the Great (; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, retaining the title throughout the Galicia–Volhynia Wars. He was the last Polish king fr ...

. He conducted conservation work at the Church of St. Franciszek Salezy and at the Bishop's Palace in Kraków between 1881 and 1884. Commissioned by the patriotic Mayor

Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz (; ; 28 November 1823 – 16 May 1887) was a Polish politician and lawyer of Ruthenians, Ruthenian origin. He was the Mayor of Kraków – in the then Austrian partition, Austrian sector of Partitioned Poland. A s ...

, in 1875 Pryliński began the restoration of Sukiennice (largely abandoned by Imperial Vienna) with the new

Sukiennice Museum The Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art at Sukiennice (), is a division of the National Museum, Kraków, Poland. The gallery is housed on the upper floor of the Renaissance '' Sukiennice'' Cloth Hall in the center of the Main Market Square in Old ...

upstairs. The project was successfully completed and inaugurated with a ceremonial ball of October 3, 1879. Pryliński died in Thalkirchen near

. He was brought to Kraków and laid to rest at the family

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

''(pictured)'' built at the

Rakowicki Cemetery Rakowicki Cemetery (English: ; ) is a historic necropolis and a cultural heritage monument located on 26 Rakowicka Street in Kraków, Poland. It lies within the Administrative District No. 1 ''Stare Miasto'' meaning "Old Town" – distinct from ...

by architect Zygmunt Langman.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prylinski, Tomasz Architects from Kraków Burials at Rakowicki Cemetery 1847 births 1895 deaths Technical University of Munich alumni 19th-century Polish architects