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The Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Krakow has been waiting for decades for a real seat. Recently, the dream seems close to becoming a reality, as the Marshal's Office of the Malopolska Region has identified a target location for the building that is to become the new home of the Krakow Philharmonic. The construction of a cultural facility of such stature is also an important opportunity for the city, able to enrich itself with a representative building that will become an important point on the architectural map of Krakow. However, it may turn out that these plans will lie in ruins - as specialists from the Society of Polish Urban Planners alert , the surroundings of the planned building are in danger.
The Karol SzymanowskiKrakow Philharmonic was founded in February 1945, on the eve of the end of World War II. Since its inception, its headquarters has been the neo-Baroque Catholic House, built in 1931 according to a concept by Józef Pokutyński. Although the building has one of the largest concert halls in Cracow, it was never conceived as a home for such a large and important institution, which has been waiting for its own headquarters since its inception. It looks like the wait may soon be over.
The topic of building the Krakow Philharmonic's own headquarters has a history of more than half a century. Planned locations have been discussed in the pages of many magazines, some titles of which have since ceased to exist. Despite dozens of articles and several competitions for the concept, the Cracow Philharmonic is still waiting for its first headquarters of its own.
- wrote the Cracow Philharmonic on its social media profile in January 2024.
Where will the Krakow Philharmonic be built?
The construction of the Krakow Philharmonic will be an investment carried out not by the city, but by the Marshal's Office of the Malopolska Region. The latter has long been in possession of a plot of land located in one of Krakow's key locations - at the Grzegórzeckie Roundabout, at the intersection of Aleja Pokoju and Aleja Powstania Warszawskiego. This is where the new Krakow Philharmonic is planned to be built, the exact address is 2 Pokoju Avenue. Today there is mainly greenery, important for retention and reducing the urban heat island, and rubble, but it wasn't always this way - until 2018 the buildings of a former medical clinic stood there, which was demolished in connection with plans to build a new Marshall Office City Hall in this center. This one even had a finished design by Horizone Studio and Małeccy Biuro Projektowe, selected in a competition held in 2013.
Visualizations showing the Marshal's Office City Hall in Krakow.
© Horizone Studio
For various reasons, the construction did not take place, and the authorities of the Małopolska Region decided that another clinic would nevertheless be built on the site, which was in fact supposed to be a large complex containing offices intended for the Małopolska NFZ. This idea, too, has fallen by the wayside, but it has long been rumored that a Krakow Philharmonic is planned for the Grzegórzeckie Roundabout.
On March 4 of this year, the Marshal's Office finally confirmed that the plot of land at the Grzegórzeckie Roundabout will become the site where the new Krakow Philharmonic will be built.
mom, can we get a philharmonic? we have a philharmonic under the block!
The area around Grzegórzeckie Roundabout seems a convenient location for the new Philharmonic building due to its excellent communications, well exposed corner location and proximity to the train station, the Krakow Opera House and the Cultural Quarter planned within Wesola. An important factor for the success of the entire project will be not only the implementation of the design selected in the announced competition, but also the way in which the surrounding plots of land are developed.
A local plan has recently been passed for the Grzegórzki-Center area. A relatively tall development has been planned for the area around the Avenue of Peace inlet, which, together with the existing tall buildings on the south side, is to flank the beginning of the wide avenue.
View of the plot at 10 Kordylewskiego Street
photo: Magdalena Milert
In the context of the location planned for the construction of the Krakow Philharmonic, according to architectural and urban planning circles, the plot at 10 Kordylewskiego Street turns out to be problematic, the development of which is likely to become a background for the new cultural facility. The provisions of the local plan include maximum development parameters for this plot, which, if certain conditions are met (for example, the use of an intensive green roof), allow for the erection of a building up to 35 meters high, serving as a health care facility, office or service facility.
Below is attached a view of the site where the Cracow Philharmonic is planned to be built. A block of flats is to be built behind it.
© Municipal Spatial Information System of Krakow
It turns out that there is already a plan for this particular plot - at the end of July last year, an application for a building permit for a multi-family residential building was submitted to the Cracow magistrate. By the end of the year, i.e. before the new local plan is passed, a positive decision was issued for the construction of a 10-story block of flats above ground.
Open letter from the Society of Polish Town Planners
The Malopolska branch of the Society of Polish Town Planners has taken an unequivocal stance on decisions that could affect the immediate surroundings of the planned Krakow Philharmonic building. The association's members gave a negative opinion of the plan under consideration for the area during a session of the Krakow City Council held on February 12 this year. Now the Society of Polish Urban Planners has issued an open letter, the contents of which are quoted below:
At the end of October last year, a special Team appointed by the Marshal's Office decided to locate the new headquarters of the Karol Szymanowski Krakow Philharmonic at the Grzegórzeckie Roundabout, at the intersection of Aleja Powstania Warszawskiego and Aleja Pokoju.
This decision was accepted with full approval by the City Authorities, cultural circles and the general Krakow public, as this location results from the idea of developing the cultural function in the eastern direction of Krakow, in close proximity to the existing Krakow Opera at the Mogilskie Roundabout, the Variété Theater at ul. Grzegórzecka, further to the Academy of Music, as well as the Wesoła district envisioned for the development of creative forms of culture, entertainment and recreation for Krakow residents. In addition, the site of the new philharmonic is located at the interface of the buffer zone around the UNESCO World Heritage Old Town area. This is an excellent site, currently the most appropriate for this strategic investment by the Marshal's Office of the Malopolska Region.
A philharmonic hall in any city in the world is a special institution and building, erected for decades or even centuries, due to its function and character constituting an architectural and spatial symbol of entire metropolises, a sign of their status and ambitions now and in the future. Many of them have achieved the status of an icon, and such an icon - of a modern, ambitious and future-oriented Krakow - should become the new edifice - the headquarters of the Krakow Philharmonic. It is necessary that it obtain the most attractive and modern architectural form designed through an international competition and be appropriately exposed in the urban structure, as it is a prestigious building, setting the highest standards for the surrounding architecture and public spaces of the city.
However, the joy of the potential of the site chosen for the new Krakow Philharmonic edifice did not last long, as the neighboring area was encumbered by administrative decisions that - according to our, Małopolska architects-urban planners' considered opinion - could lead to the complete destruction of the qualities of this location.
At the same time, less than a week after the decision was made to locate the new headquarters of the Cracow Philharmonic at the Grzegórzeckie Roundabout on a plot of land directly adjacent to the area on which theon which the Philharmonic building is to stand, a building permit was issued for the construction of a huge 10-story apartment building with two underground floors, with a scaled-down volume three times that of the neighboring buildings in the vicinity. It will stand right behind the fence fencing off the philharmonic area. Thus, we will have a "philharmonic under the block".
At the same time, in the Local Land Use Plan "Grzegórzki Centrum" in this area only for this one undeveloped plot was allowed a building height of 35 m (neighboring plots have a height limit of 17 m), and the plan approved a significant increase in the body of the building by changing the allowed building line along ul. Kordylewskiego, taking into account only the investor's demands and de facto adjusting the plan's findings to the already issued building permit for the apartment building. Comments to the plan submitted by the Council of District II Grzegórzki on behalf of residents requesting a reduction in the permissible building height to 15 m were rejected, as the existing buildings in the neighborhood have 3 stories. The solution proposed by TUP - the exclusion of this part of the area from the adopted plan - was also ignored. The plan "Grzegórzki-Centrum" was hastily passed, although it is already burdened with a fundamental spatial error at the outset.
Despite the fact that the decision on the location of the new Krakow Philharmonic building was already known, the city authorities did not take into account this important change in conditions in any of the decisions made, the voice of the Society of Polish Town Planners expressed at the meeting of the Spatial Planning Commission of the Krakow City Council on February 10, 2025 was not taken into account. and at the plenary meeting of the Krakow City Council on February 12, 2025, as well as in a petition to the Mayor of Krakow and the City Council.
The argument of Krakow City Hall staff that there are already tall buildings in the area is not accurate, as they stand between 50 and 200 meters from the border of the area designated for the philharmonic, and not literally within a few meters, like the planned apartment building. None of them is as visually overwhelming as this planned building, visible from all sides, whose huge mass will absolutely dominate the surroundings. Above all, the future philharmonic building and the entire urban planning of the public space around it will suffer severely. It will destroy the possibility of designing this prestigious place appropriately to its rank, and it will not be the philharmonic - a public building representative for the city and the region - that will be the spatial dominant in this place, but a huge apartment block.
The institutions of the city of Krakow proclaim that everything is legal. However, it should be noted that the authorities are obliged to be guided by regulations, but always taking into account at the same time the overriding, constitutional, legally protected public interest. This public interest was not taken into account in any of the decisions mentioned, although there was enough time to do so and although it did not violate the regulations. Instead, the private interest of a large company exploiting the weaknesses of the planning and zoning system was taken into account, which, in addition, during the planning procedure, obtained from the office the maximum development and development indicators set forth in the Study of Conditions and Directions for Spatial Development of Krakow.
In the current 2025, the Marshal's Office has planned to hold a competition for the architectural design of the new Karol Szymanowski Krakow Philharmonic. We are now faced with a situation where it will be a competition for the design of a curtained-off apartment building, rather than for the creation of a spatial premise worthy of the Royal City of Krakow - the edifice and surroundings of one of the most important cultural institutions of the entire region, for which nearly half a billion zlotys of public funds are ultimately planned.
In view of the above, we, the architects-urban planners of Malopolska, acting in the public interest under the current law and the Constitution, based on our knowledge, skills and experience, call on the authorities of the City of Krakow and theMałopolska Voivodeship to immediately stop the processes leading to the above-described degradation of the space where the prestigious new Krakow Philharmonic building is to be erected, and to restore the proper rank of this investment.
The best solution to rectify the mistakes made would be to acquire for the Philharmonic the plot of land for which permission was granted for the construction of a scaled-down apartment building. The legal basis is the obvious recognition of the construction of the new philharmonic building as a public purpose investment under Article 6 p. 6 of the Real Estate Management Act (Journal of Laws 1997 No. 115 item 741) in conjunction with Article 2 of the Act on Organizing and Conducting Cultural Activities (Dz.U. 1991 No. 114 item 493), together with the consequences under the Law on Planning and Zoning (Dz.U. 2024 item 1130).
This plot of land, once acquired, can fundamentally increase the possibilities of functional and spatial solutions for the philharmonic building itself and its surroundings. It can be an excellent complement to the area for accompanying and complementary functions and, above all, will allow the creation of a background suitable in scale and character for the prominence of the edifice, as well as a chance to expand the attractive public spaces around it.
The Society of Polish Town Planners, bringing together in its ranks professionals in the field of shaping space, including urbanized space, sees and evaluates the spatial consequences of decisions taken and, in accordance with its statutory objectives, draws attention to the need to correct mistakes in the name of the timeless values of Krakow, as the mistakes of the present moment will forever remain a testimony of our times in the space of the city. There is still time to take action before the investor builds his huge block.
Krakow deserves due respect for its space from its authorities and appropriate to its present stature and future aspirations treatment of prestigious, representative institutions and public buildings for the city and Malopolska, of which the Philharmonic Hall - expected for several decades - is one of the most important.
We remain with respect and hope for appropriate, beneficial for the Royal City of Krakow, Malopolska and the Republic, actions of the relevant local and state authorities that will lead to satisfactory solutions in the above matter.
Yours sincerely
On behalf of the Society of Polish Town Planners Krakow Branch
Member of the Board prof. dr hab. inż. arch. Barbara Bartkowicz
SARP Krakow Branch has also issued its announcement on the matter:
Position of the Association of Polish Architects Krakow Branch on the protection of spatial order in the vicinity of the planned location of the new Cracow Philharmonic Hall
The Association of Polish Architects Krakow Branch, following the Open Letter of the Society of Polish Town Planners in Krakow dated February 24, 2025, addressed to the Authorities of the City of Krakow, the Authorities of the Malopolska Region and the General Public
on caring for the outstanding standard of the city's shape, realizing high-quality urban space, adequate to the status and aspirations of Krakow, and this in the context of the proper design, construction and operation of the new headquarters of the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra
fully supports the postulates contained herein, aimed at protecting the spatial order of the surroundings and the site of the new Philharmonic headquarters, in the context of the administrative decisions issued.
The SARP Krakow Branch, guided by its statutory goals, including concern for the high quality of architecture, space and the environment - takes the position that care for common public space is expressed through respect, wise and careful use of it and continuous protection.
In view of the above, SARP Krakow Branch would like to point out that the construction of such a prestigious building for the City and the Province as the Philharmonic Hall requires an appropriate background, which will not dominate or compete with it, but will harmonize with it by exposing its values.
Having analyzed the administrative decisions that have been issued, in particular the decision to grant a building permit for the construction of a residential building on Kordylewskiego Street, on a plot of land adjacent to the Philharmonic's project site, it should be questioned whether they have taken the above assumptions into account.
With this in mind and caring about the quality of the common space, we believe that the previous administrative decisions should be reviewed.
Yours sincerely,
arch. Magdalena Buczyńska-Zapała
President of SARP Krakow Branch
The plot by the Grzegórzeckie Roundabout belonging to the Marshal's Office currently serves as a green area
photo: Przemek Ciępka
What next for the construction of the Krakow Philharmonic?
At the moment neither the city authorities nor the Marshal's Office have made any decision on the construction at 10 Kazimierza Kordylewskiego Street, but we know the further steps that will lead to the construction of the long-awaited Philharmonic building. As the Marshal's Office announces, an international architectural competition will be held later this year to select the concept for the new building. However, the first concerts in the new Philharmonic will have to wait a little longer - the start of construction is scheduled for early 2029, with the final completion expected in the first quarter of 2032.
