St Michael and St Joseph's Church and Monastery (Archaeological Museum)

The so-called “Painted Manor House” (Malowany Dwór), an estate of the Tenczyński family, used to stand in the place where today’s Senacka and Poselska streets meet. The magnates bestowed the building on the Discalced Carmelites who arrived in Kraków early in the 17th century. In 1610-1636, the monks built the Church and Monastery of St Michael and St Joseph on this spot.

The architecture of the monastery was determined by the austere rule of the Order that focused on contemplation and penance. The thick walls, small individual cells without comforts, narrow corridors, and small windows provided a perfect opportunity for the Austrian government to turn the complex into a prison without major financial outlay in 1797. At that time, the monks moved to the monastery in nearby Czerna. The prison of St Michael was one of the strictest in the Habsburg monarchy and the building continued in this function after the Partition of Poland, and also after the second world war, when it was used to incarcerate political opponents, much like in Austrian times.

The deserted early baroque church with an Il Gesù style façade was falling into ruin. Finally, towards the end of the 19th century, it was rebuilt into the Inns of the Criminal Courts. Today, looking at the solid form of the building, one can only see the traces of the church’s belltower. Some of the furnishing of the abandoned church was moved to other churches and includes the altars in St Catherine’s and Franciscan churches, the 17th-century painting of St Joseph in the Church of Discalced Carmelites in ul. Rakowicka, and the baroque crucifix in the Capuchin Church.

The monastery building was adapted to the needs of the Archaeological Museum in 1958-1966.