KRUPOWKI.biz

Zakopane KRUPÓWKI then and now:

Krupowki street in Zakopane next to Floriańska in Cracow, Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw, Monte Cassino in Sopot and Piotrkowska in Łódź, is one of the most popular and well known streets in Poland.

Krupówki street is approximately 1100 metres long. Its name comes from the name of Krupówki clearing, situated in its main and middle part, that used to belong to the Krupowski or Krupa family. Initially, it was a narrow path joining Zakopane's NAWSIE in Kościeliska street with Kuźnice district. Its lower parts were then a scarcely populated area with cottages scattered here and there, middle parts were meadows and swamps, and the upper parts a dense forest. Being the main road between iron works in Kuźnice (upper Zakopane) and the parish church in Kościeliska street (lower Zakopane), the path became more and more popular to be finally turned into a proper street in 1870.

In 1878, in a place of today's BZYK Sports Shop and the Europejska Cafeteria, which was then a swamp clearing Walery Eliasz built his house in Krupówki street. It was the first house in Zakopane built by a holiday maker and inhabited only in summer time.

At the turn of the 20th century, Krupówki street became a very important trade, service and administration centre of Zakopane. The middle part of the street very quickly gained an urban character, and a lot of brick buildings were put up then. This was in fact the result of a fire that broke out on January, 21st in 1899 and devastated a few dozen of houses in this part. It was a year later that new brick houses were started and built on the very same spot.

In the 1990's, Krupówki street went through a thorough reconstruction, new concrete and granite cobbles covered the street surface, new lamp posts were installed and sitting benches put up.

All of the below quotes come from a book called Zakopane, The Historic Guide (available only in Polish).