The history of the Stanisław Pigoń Guesthouse dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, when the University Senate decided to build a dormitory to accommodate the residents of the provisional St. Barbara’s Dormitory at the Mały Rynek square, established in 1842. It became possible in 1906-1909 thanks to the funds donated by Łukasz Jakubowski, a court councillor and judge as well as funds obtained by selling an old dormitory building at Mały Rynek 8 to the Jesuits.
The new building, located on a plot at ul. Garbarska 7a was completed in the second half of 1909 and its official blessing and opening took place on 11 December.
During over 100 years of its existence, the building, located right next to Carmelite gardens, has performed many different functions. During the First World War it housed a military hospital and a refugee shelter. After the war, it provided accommodation to students, academics, and administrative staff of the Jagiellonian University and also housed the JU College of Agriculture and School of Political Sciences. During the Second World War it was used as a provisional Wehrmacht headquarters.
On 23 January 1945 the building hosted the first Jagiellonian University Senate session after the liberation of Kraków from the Nazi German occupation.
After the Second World War, the building housed a canteen and a dormitory, among other things. From 1950 to 1959 was taken over by the Cracow University of Technology. It later housed an outpatient clinic, a canteen of the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy (AGH) and an academic staff hotel of the Cracow University of Technology. After a general renovation in 1970s, the building was used by a number of institutions and units, including the Summer School of Polish Language and Culture, the JU Institute of European Studies or the International Fulbright Centre for Central and Eastern Europe. From the 1990s the building is also home to the JU Professors’ Guesthouse.
In 1969 the JU Senate decided to name the building after Professor Stanisław Pigoń.
Through the years, the building provided accommodation from to a number of prominent guests, such as Tadeusz Różewicz, Norman Davies, Kazimierz Kutz, Ryszard Kapuściński, Franciszek Starowieyski, Rita Gombrowicz, Laco Adamik, Tomasz Strzembosz, Krzysztof Pieczyński, or Michał Żebrowski. For many years, the house was inhabited by Professor Stanisław Pigoń – an eminent literary historian and educator, prisoner of Sachsenchausen concentration camp – whose name it now bears. It was also visited by Karol Wojtyła, the later pope John Paul II, who came here both as a JU student and professor’s associate. According to an anecdote told on the 100th anniversary of the building construction by the then-head of the Guesthouse Ms. Halina Sulma, when visiting his fellow students, with whom he often engaged in long discussions, Karol Wojtyła was sometimes forced to stay overnight. During one of such stays, someone allegedly stuck to the room door a following note: ‘Karol Wojtyła – a beginner saint’.
Currently, after a thorough renovation and modernisation, the Stanisław Guesthouse has 48 well-equipped rooms and suites.
