20th century

20th century

Unprecedented boom at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Zakopane owed the so-called. Galician autonomy, that is, relatively large freedom of all activities. The town has become a mecca for political activists and conspirators, but also people of art who are eager for freedom, science and culture. There is a fashion to glorify the highlander region – all, what was highlander was sublime and primal, inherited from romanticism messianism and idealism. The Zakopane style in construction and ornamentation was promoted as national, and highlander art as a relic of the national spirit and Polish language. The unique role of Zakopane in the culture of Young Poland created it as the spiritual capital of the non-existent on the map of Poland..

The inhabitants of Zakopane celebrated the turn of the century, exhibiting the steel structure of the cross on the top of Giewont.

In years 1900-1914 Zakopane has become a small town. Dr. Dłuski's new sanatorium was established in Kościelisko, the post office moved to the building at Krupówki, a brick building of the Tatra Railway Station and the first Zakopane gymnasium were built.

The specificity of the town caused, that life revolved around such mundane problems at the same time, such as the construction of a sewage system or disputes in the commune authorities, and the lofty ones – like actions for a future free Poland.