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Down ul. sw. Jana towards the Rynek, there are wealthy Stare Miasto residences, such as the Neoclassical Palac Lubomirskich (Lubomirski Palace) at no. 15 and the eighteenth-century Kamienica Kollatajowska (Kollataj House) at no. 20, once a meeting place for the cultured elite. Back onto the square and west along ul. Szczepanska, the modest Kamienica Szolajskich (Szolajski House), on the eastern edge of plac Szczepanski , houses a small but important section of the city art museum (closed for renovation in 2001; reopening date uncertain), featuring a significant collection of Gothic and Renaissance Polish art and sculpture, much of it taken from churches in the Malopolska region. The best-known exhibit here is the fourteenth-century Madonna of Kruz lowa , an exquisite Gothic sculpture of the "Beautiful Madonna" school. Unearthed in a local village church attic, this wonderful piece depicts a typically dreamy Mary with a cheerful-looking Christ perched on her shoulder. Other pieces here include a beautiful figure of Christ riding on a donkey from 1470, used in Palm Sunday processions, an expressive cycle of late-fifteenth-century altarpieces from the local Augustine and Dominican churches, and a powerful Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane , a sandstone relief carved by Veit Stoss for the cemetery beside the Mariacki Church, as well as a small wooden Crucifixion attributed to his workshop. The works by Nicholas Haberchrack, a lesser-known local artist are likewise impressive, notably a fine Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet and Adoration of the Magi . After the joys of this superb selection of Gothic sculpture the later-era art housed on the second floor is a bit of an anticlimax, though the portraits of kings Jan Sobieski and Sigismund August will be familiar enough to anyone who's already trailed round the Wawel collections. It's interesting too to note the distinctive icon-like Uniate influences in many of the pieces gathered from churches in eastern Malopolska, including the triptychs from places such as Debno. Also on this square are two impressive turn-of-the-twentieth-century buildings in the Viennese Secessionist style: the decorative Stary Teatr to the south, the city's best known theatre used by Oscar-winning cinema director Andrzej Wajda for his exemplary theatrical productions of Polish classics, and the Palac Sztuki (Palace of Arts; daily 8am-8pm; price depends on what's on) to the west, a stately structure with reliefs by Malczewski and niches filled with busts of Matejko, Witkiewicz and other local artists. The latter, adorned with a mosaic frieze, features high-profile art exhibitions, often featuring major international works on loan from abroad. Just round the corner on Podwale Dunajewskiego is the Bunkier Sztuki (Art Bunker; Tues-Sun 11am-6pm; ; price depends on what's on), a brutally modernist concrete building which is the city's main venue for large-scale contemporary art shows.
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