Cows, goats, lions and chickens.... What other vintage decorations hid a Warsaw milk bar? Zlota Kurka, the iconic restaurant on Marszalkowska Street , was recently closed. A major renovation is underway inside, revealing precious ceramic decorations week by week.
Treasures under the PVC panels
From under the PVC panels removed from the walls, ceramic elements emerged that no one knew about. The real interior of the Zlota Kurka restaurant on Marszalkowska Street had not been seen by anyone for many years.
The Zlota Kurka bar opened in 1952 in a building that was part of the urban layout and building complex of the Marszalkowska Residential District (MDM). It is currently closed and renovation work is underway. The entire work is being supervised by a conservationist. It was thanks to him that we learned about the discovery of unique ceramic tiles. The tiles were distinctive elements of the decor of the Hall on the first floor of the bar. They are mosaics with animal and plant motifs by Hanna Zulawska.
The walls where there were no mosaics were covered with PVC panels. According to the Office of the Capital Conservator of Monuments, these curtains had just been removed by ZGN Srodmiescie. After they were removed, a wall decoration made of ceramic tiles measuring 15 cm x 15 cm and a fragment of the original openwork balustrade of the 1952 staircase leading to the first floor were revealed.
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Ceramic tiles, plain and patterned depicting cows, goats, lions, chickens, birds and floral motifs, cover the walls almost the entire height. More than 13,000 tiles were made in less than two months by the Cooperative of Folk and Artistic Handicrafts "Kamionka" from Lysa Gora. They were to decorate not only "Zlota Kurka", but other MDM bars, including a coffee bar, a fruit bar, as well as a meat and fish bar. The tiles were designed by Boleslaw Książek, a ceramic artist, technologist and artistic director of the cooperative, the office of the Capital's Historic Preservation Officer explains.
ceramics under protection
Where did the decorations come from? Like many similar tiles of this type adorning Warsaw's urban spaces, namely from Lysa Gora. Founded in 1947, the cooperative in Lysa Gora produced artistic ceramics, jugs, bowls, plates, or ceramic tiles, decorated with patterns drawing inspiration from folk art. Later it also became known for producing ceramic cladding tiles for architecture. The plain tiles used on the bar's walls, without decorations, were probably made at the Radom Technical Ceramics Works.
next finds?
The conservator's office expects to find more decorations in Zlota Kurka. They are certainly on the wall along the stairs leading to the first floor. At the moment they are covered with paint, but you can see convex drawing with animal and plant motifs.
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Office staff are in constant contact with the Property Management Company in the downtown district that administers the premises. (...) We assure you that the object is under constant control and is not in danger of destruction, and once the administrative actions are completed, steps will be taken to enable its legal conservation protection," the provincial conservation office said on Facebook.
Identical decorations used to be on the first floor, in the former barroom, which was divided by walls into smaller rooms. We will find out whether they survived after excavations commissioned by the BSKZ. Also surviving from the bar's original decoration are decorative metalwork grilles masking radiators, stucco facets and several pieces of door woodwork.
How many similar decorations, classics of Polish design, are still hidden in the unrenovated interiors and facades of Warsaw tenements?
