Małe Żywczańskie Street
It is narrow, but quite long. Her example is best seen, how intensively contemporary buildings in Zakopane are developing. Next to the old ones, of traditional houses, there are stylish villas and very interesting examples of contemporary architecture based on the highlander style. The street meanders along the Biały Potok and reaches ul. Strazyska. In the middle of the Żywczańskie streets, there is a bridge crossing to ul. Tetmajer and further to Grunwaldzka. If we would go further towards Strążyska, at the turn at no. 9 you can see a modest house without ornaments, with windows lined with lighter woods for decoration. It belonged to the Obrocht family, and in the interwar period the son of Bartłomiej Obrochta lived here – Jan Obrochta Bartków. For his gazing at Małe Żywczańskie 9 notables were gathering – Karol Szymanowski, Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, Karol Stryjeński, Rafal Malczewski, Jan Gwalbert Henryk Pawlikowski – to meet the authentic highlander culture.
BARTOLMIE (BARTUS) WORKING (1855-1926) – He went down in history as the most outstanding highlander musician. Tytus Chałubiński admired his violin playing, composers, np. Paderewski and Szymanowski, they drew inspiration from great works based on Podhale motifs. Bartuś founded a highlander band, in which his sons played, then grandson. He was also a professional Tatra guide and for several years he ran a shelter in Stara Roztoka. He died on the way back from a highlander estate near the mouth of Dolina za Bramką. It was written in the newspaper then: Not on the sheets, but as befits an honorable peasant, Bartuś Obrochta breathed his last breath in the Tatra forest.
Willa Atma
At the western end of Małe Żywczańskie, behind the place, where the Parachute flows into the Młyniska stream, we reach ul. Strazyska, which can also be reached from the side of ul. Riptide. If from Plac Niepodległości, in the vicinity of the Sokół cinema, head west along ul. Riptide, after passing a sharp bend and the bridge over Młynekach, it would be a draft 5 minutes to Kasprusie Street, which, further north, becomes Strążyska Street. Standing on the bridge and looking to the right, that is, north, you can see in the foreground a wooden villa with a porch and a veranda in a valley by the stream. This is Atma, called by teens "villa Asthma", which houses the Karol Szymanowski Museum; open daily. except for. in hours. 10.00-16.00, w pt. free admission.
Although Szymanowski lived in Kasprusia only 6 lat – from 1930 do 1936, but both the fame and atmosphere of Atma, and the memorabilia gathered in it cause, that this place by the murmuring Młyniska stream was for eternity associated with the composer more closely than any other.
Judgment, which for years served as a guesthouse was built for Jan Kasprus Stoch in 1905 r. in the Zakopane style. The name was invented by two female residents who lived here before Szymanowski, philosopher sisters, and the Sanskrit word atma means peace of the soul, nirvana.
Visiting the four rooms of the museum, you can agree, that the name is adequate – harmony and peace reign here, as long as there aren't too many visitors. In the first room behind the cloakroom, where Master Felek's servant once lived, an exhibition of photographs concerning the fate of Karol Szymanowski from childhood to his last moments was organized. In the next room with a Seiler piano, where concerts and meetings take place, photos of Szymanowski's friends and friends were collected, many of which were related to Zakopane. We see Makuszyński, Witkacy, Kasprowicz, Iwaszkiewicz and many others. A portrait of Eugenia Dunin Borkowska draws attention on the wall with windows, no wonder – is by Witkacy. However, the next two chambers with the interior design from before that seem more interesting 60 lat – dining room and office. In the dining room, personal items were placed in the glass cabinets: travel inhaler, toilet pouch, concert clothes, solitaire cards, pencil, a cigarette holder and other trinkets belonging to the world gentleman-artist of the Sanation era, private memorabilia by Szymanowski, books, paintings, notes. The office is the most authentic interior and therefore the entrance beyond the threshold is protected by a rope hanging in the doorframe.. Here the host composed and received guests. He often played the piano in the corner, which belonged to his doctor and friend Olgierd Sokołowski. Just a glance at the picturesque veranda, filled with wicker furniture, where you can listen to Szymanowski's music well, accompanying a discreet tour of the museum.