Studia Waweliana (3.1994)

Wawel by the Austrian army (1798—1809) the two
churches and four houses were demolished. The
authorities of the Free City of Cracow continued the
campaign of demolition. In the years 1815—1846, in all
14 houses and the fortifications of the Lower Gateway
were torn down. By 1846 only four houses belonging
to the clergy were retained in the outer court, these
being Wikarówka (Curates' House), Psałteria (Psalmo-
dists' House), Borek, and the curates' house no. 143.
The continuous line of buildings was preserved solely
between Złodziejska (Thieves') Tower and the Vasa
Gateway.

In the period 1826—1832 Florian Straszewski headed
the work aiming at the inclusion of Wawel in the
Planty ring. The hillsides were put in order by the
dismantling of the earth outworks, the slopes were
levelled for terraces, and also walks and new approaches
were laid out and the defensive walls repaired. The
hillsides were planted with shrubs and trees and
benches and arbours placed there.

In the first decade of the functioning of the
authorities of the Cracow Republic they did not show
much interest in the royal palące itself. Only the
walling up of the columns of the arcaded courtyard,
begun by the Austrians, was concluded in the years
1821—1823. In 1828 the Senate passed a resolution for
transferring to the castle, after its repair, the seat of
the administrative and judicial authorities of the
Free City. In order to obtain funds for the restoration of
the castle, a Committee for the Restoration of Cracow
Castle was called into being in 1830. With Czar Ni-
cholas I's consent, public subscription was extended to
the Kingdom of Poland and later also to the Prussian
partition zone. Among those particularly active in

collecting the funds for the castle were Michał Badeni,
Adam Czartoryski, Tytus Dzialyński, Julian Ursyn
Niemcewicz, Artur Potocki, Edward Raczyński, and Sta-
nisław Zamoyski. The Committee for the Restoration
signed a contract with the architect Francesco Maria
Lanci for making plans of the restoration of the castle
and for supervising their implementation. The outbreak
of the November Uprising caused interruption of the
subscription campaign, this forcing the authorities of
the Free City to abandon the planned restoration.

In the 1830s and 1840s the Cracow authorities
carried out only minor and current repairs connected
with the adaptation of the castle rooms as army or
militia barracks.

Throughout the period of the Free City the castle
and the buildings which were national property housed
a number of institutions. In the former royal kitchens
the Poorhouse of the Philanthropic Society found
accommodation in 1817, and in the following year some
rooms on the first floor of the castle were assigned
to the Society of Friends of Musie. In 1819 a cloth
manufactory was set up in the building of the former
Seminary. During a cholera epidemie in 1831 a hospital
functioned in the castle for several months. From 1836
to 1841 the royal residence was oceupied by the Austrian
troops. After their retreat the first- and second-floor
rooms were arranged as barracks for the local militia,
while the ground floor was appropriated for a Forced
Labour House. The devastation of the castle proceeded
slowly but systematically. In 1846, after the collapse
of the Cracow Uprising, Wawel was again oceupied by
the Austrian troops. The castle was cleared of all institu-
tions and used as barracks.