The Piwnica pod Baranami () is a Polish literary

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

located 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 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. For over thirty years, in the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

, Piwnica pod Baranami served as the most renowned political cabaret in the country, until the end of (and beyond) the communist era. Created by Piotr Skrzynecki in 1956, the cabaret continues its activities, contrary to rumours that it has been closed after the death of its founder in 1997. It resides at its original location in the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Old Town district, at the Main Market Square (next to Vis-á-vis café). Piotr Skrzynecki

At first, the facility was a meeting place for Kraków students. It was a club for creative youth (Klub Młodzieży Twórczej), part of the Old Town Community Centre in the Palace under the Rams (Pałac Pod Baranami). The stage was formed by young artists of many different

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

s: writers, musicians, visual artists and actors, as well as their friends and faithful audiences. After nearly fifty years Piwnica became a legend of local eccentricity, and the style of the Piwnica cabaret entered the colloquial language as the "underground (piwnica) style" of performance.Monika Mokrzycka-Pokora
"Piwnica pod Baranami"

Instytut Adama Mickiewicza The Adam Mickiewicz Institute () is a government-sponsored organization funded by Poland's Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Poland), Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and headquartered at 25 Mokotowska Street (the Sugar Palace ...

, 2004 An account of the cabaret performance at Piwnica is given in a 2010 book ''A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True'' by Brigid Pasulka.Pasulka, B. ''A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True.'' (London:Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., 2010), 150-152. Piwnica's influence has reached beyond the art; it has been described thus: "It was much more than a cabaret. It was a breath of freedom and of ironic distance to the reality which surrounded us."

Artists of Piwnica pod Baranami

Krzysztof Komeda by Zbigniew Kresowaty 2

* Bronisław Chromy *

Ewa Demarczyk Ewa Maria Demarczyk (16 January 1941 – 14 August 2020) was a Polish singer, generally associated with the sung poetry genre and the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret. Demarczyk was recognized as one of the most talented and charismatic singers in ...

* Leszek Długosz * Stefan Dymiter *

Anna Dymna Anna Dymna (née Dziadyk ; born 20 July 1951) is a Polish TV, film and theatre actress, foundress of a charity foundation Mimo Wszystko (Against the Odds). Career Anna Dymna intended to study psychology before she decided to take an entrance exa ...

Wiesław Dymny :"Wiesław" is sometimes transliterated as "Wieslaw", in the absence of ''L with stroke.'' Wiesław () is a Polish masculine given name, of Slavonic origin, meaning "great glory" or "all glory". It is the shortened, more common, form of the person ...

* Janina Garycka * Jan Güntner * Tamara Kalinowska *

Krzysztof Komeda Krzysztof Trzciński (27 April 1931 – 23 April 1969), known professionally as Krzysztof Komeda, was a Polish film score composer and jazz pianist widely regarded as one of the most influential Polish jazz musicians. He is best known for writin ...

Zygmunt Konieczny Zygmunt Konieczny (born 3 January 1937) is a Polish composer of theatre and film music. Early life Konieczny spent his childhood in the village of Szczyrzyc. Career He debuted in the 1950s in the cabaret Piwnica pod Baranami in Kraków ...

* Andrzej Kurylewicz * Tadeusz Kwinta * Kika Lelicińska * Krzysztof Litwin *

Stanisław Radwan Stanisław Radwan (10 March 1939 – 14 October 2023) was a Polish composer. Life and career Born in Bieńkówka, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Bieńkówka, the son of an organist, Radwan studied piano and composition at the Academy of Music in ...

* Barbara Nawratowicz *

Jan Nowicki Jan Nowicki (5 November 1939 – 7 December 2022) was a Polish actor. Biography He appeared in 90 films and television episodes since 1967. He had two children, Sajana Nowicka and Łukasz Nowicki, a television presenter, journalist, and actor ...

* Maria Nowotarska *

Mirosław Obłoński Mirosław Obłoński (17 July 1938 – 23 October 2023) was a Polish writer, poet, singer, and artist associated with the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret. Life and career Obłoński graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków , off ...

* Joanna Olczak-Ronikier *

Agnieszka Osiecka Agnieszka Osiecka (Polish pronunciation: ; 9 October 1936 – 7 March 1997) was a Polish poet, writer, author of theatre and television screenplays, film director and journalist. She was a prominent Polish songwriter, having authored the lyrics to ...

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', '' ...

* Joanna Plewińska * Mieczysław Święcicki *

Kika Szaszkiewiczowa Irena "Kika" Szaszkiewiczowa (née Jarochowska; 4 March 1917 – 11 August 2014) was a Polish People's Republic, Polish artist, writer and blogger. She was a performer of the Piwnica pod Baranami. Her fictional adventures were described in th ...

* Jerzy Turowicz * Jerzy Vetulani *

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the "P ...

* Kazimierz Wiśniak *

Dorota Terakowska Barbara Rozalia Terakowska (August 30, 1938 – January 4, 2004), known as Dorota Terakowska, was a Polish writer and journalist best known for her Children's fantasy, fantasy books for children and young adults, two of which became required rea ...

Grzegorz Turnau Grzegorz Jerzy Turnau (born 31 July 1967) is a Polish composer, pianist, poet and singer. He has released eleven albums to date, including one (Cafe Sułtan) made up of his own versions of songs by Jeremi Przybora and Jerzy Wasowski, and most ...

* Leszek Wójtowicz *

Krystyna Zachwatowicz Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda (born ''Krystyna Zachwatowicz''; 16 May 1930) is a Polish scenographer, costume designer and actress. She is a daughter of architect and restorer Jan Zachwatowicz and Maria Chodźko ''h.'' Kościesza, and wife of fil ...

* Andrzej Zarycki * Dorota Ślęzak * Ewa Wnuk- Krzyzanowska

References

External links

piwnicapodbaranami.pl
* Tomasz Handzlik

Gazeta Kraków *

Bibliography

* Joanna Olczak-Ronikier: ''Piwnica pod Baranami'', Wydawnictwo Tenten, Warsaw 1994, reissue 2002 by Prószyński i S-ka, * Joanna Olczak-Ronikier: ''Piotr'',

Wydawnictwo Literackie Wydawnictwo Literackie (abbreviated WL, lit. "Literary Press") is a Kraków-based Polish publishing house, which has been referred to as one of Poland's "most respected". Company history Since its foundation in 1953, Wydawnictwo Literackie has ...

1998, * Jolanta Drużyńska, Stanisław M. Jankowski: ''Kolacja z konfidentem. Piwnica pod Baranami w dokumentach Służby Bezpieczeństwa'', Kraków 2006 * Wacław Krupiński: ''Głowy piwniczne'', Wydawnictwo Literackie 2007, * Barbara Nawratowicz: ''Piwnica pod Baranami. Początki i rozwój (1956-1963)'', Petrus, 2010 * Janusz R. Kowalczyk: ''Wracając do moich Baranów'', Wydawnictwo Trio, Warsaw 2012, {{Authority control 1956 establishments in Poland Polish cabarets Culture in Kraków