Tenement houses in the Kazimierz Market Square. Buildings from Sigismunds’ times

The Lubelskie Album is a work created in 1857-1859 on the basis of watercolours made in 1852 by Adam Lerue. With his drawings and watercolours, the artist contributed to the inventory of historical monuments in Lublin and the region - as he himself wrote in the introduction to the work - which was close to his heart because of his birthplace, Dubienka. Julian Cegliński and Władysław Walkiewicz, who made the lithographs in Adolf Pecq's lithography workshop in Warsaw, also contributed to the work.

The Przybyłów Tenement Houses were erected in Kazimierz Dolny around 1615 by a local or Lublin architect. They were built for brothers Krzysztof and Mikołaj. They are characterized by disproportionally high attics and rich sculptural decoration of the facades containing images of the patrons of the owners, i.e., the sculptures of St. Nicholas and St. Christopher. The unusually high attics make the buildings appear taller. The facades have the same arrangement of arcades with three arcades and a floor with three windows decorated with reliefs and ornaments. It is an original example of late Polish Renaissance architecture.

The print was made using the lithographic technique. “Kurier Warszawski” in 1857 included the following mention: “This beautiful Album, worked out with precision, and lithographed by Mr Cegliński will probably find amateurs who love ancient monuments, and in addition their own”. The Lubelskie Album came into being at a time when publications of this type, with a view of the city, published by more ambitious lithographers, were very popular. In Warsaw their owners were often French and German.

Klara Sadkowska