Muzeum Cechu Rzemiosł Skórzanych im. Jana Kilińskiego

What to expect

The Shoemakers’ House at 10 Waski Dunaj – a brick tenement dating from the early 16th century, rebuilt after a fire before 1618, with a baroque facade from the late 17th or early 18th century. The Leather Craft Guild has operated here for over 400 years and is one of Warsaw’s oldest professional organisations (first mention: 1386). Across the street, at number 7, lived Jan Kilinski – the cobbler who in 1794 led Warsaw’s craftsmen in a victorious assault on the Russian embassy during the Kosciuszko Uprising.

The museum opened on 27 January 1973. Its founder and longtime curator was Lidia Lwow-Eberle, a Home Army soldier and survivor of Soviet prison camps. Two ground-floor rooms house a complete 19th-century shoemaker’s workshop with original tools, and a saddler’s workshop with a harness-stitching machine and the so-called “saddler’s horse.” On the walls: Statutes of the Saddlers’ Guild signed by King Stanislaw August Poniatowski, the Register of Admission to City Rights from 1506-1638, and guild insignia and emblems from the 16th to 18th centuries.

Among the highlights: Jan Kilinski’s belt buckle discovered in the cellars of his former home, miniature shoe models from 1910-1965, “airplane heels” (shoes with wing-shaped heels that won second place at an international shoemaking competition in 1958), and leather goods excavated during postwar archaeological work in the Old Town. Portraits of Kilinski and the patron saints of shoemakers – Crispin and Crispinian – complete the atmosphere of a place where craft and Polish history intertwine naturally.

Tips

• Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 10:00-15:00. Three days a week, five hours a day – plan precisely.
• Free entry. Entrance from Szeroki Dunaj Street.
• Call before visiting (+48 22 831 96 73), especially with a group. The museum is small and run by the guild.
• 30 minutes is enough, but you may stay longer if you catch the curator’s stories. Personal anecdotes about the guild’s history and Kilinski are better than any audioguide.
• No accessibility provisions for visitors with mobility difficulties. Heritage tenement with narrow passages and stairs.
• Film trivia: The building interiors were used as a set for the film “Cafe pod Minoga.”

Getting there

On foot from the Old Town: Waski Dunaj is a side street off the Old Town Market Square – 2 minutes from the Museum of Warsaw, 3 minutes from the Royal Castle.

Metro: Ratusz Arsenal (M1) – 10 minutes walk through New Town.

Bus: Plac Krasinskich stop (lines 116, 178, 180, N44) – 5 minutes on foot.

By car: Forget it. The Old Town is a restricted traffic zone. Nearest car parks at Castle Square or ul. Podwale.

Nearby museums

Museum of Warsaw (Old Town Market Square, 2 min) – eleven townhouses telling the city’s story. Royal Castle (3 min) – royal residence with the Canaletto collection. Literature Museum (Old Town Market Square, 3 min) – manuscripts of Mickiewicz and Polish literary classics. Pharmacy Museum (5 min) – history of apothecary craft in a heritage townhouse.