Świętojańska Street is the only street joining directly the Castle Square with the Old Market, and at the same time one of the most frequent tourist route. There are lots of antique shops and other and other shops there. Only here one can see a bootblack, an older woman lost in her thought, only here one can be accosted by a roses seller and enter the magic world of a dreary medieval cathedral in order to compare it immediately with the colorful, artistic reality. There are lots of languages to hear, everybody can be amazed by the beauty of the old street.    
Świętojańska Street is only 170 metres long and 10 meters wide. Once it was called Grodzka or Zamkowa Street. It is situated on a former communications route. There was the Krakowska Gate at the very beggining of the street, but it doesn’t exist any more nowadays.

   The area of the street was already built-up in the 15th century, mainly by houses of rich traders, goldsmiths, clergymen and manor stables or pharmacies. At the beggining of the 14th century St.John Church was built there. Within the 15th century there were built many Gothic tenement houses, occupied by the rich bourgeoisie. From the end of the 16th century the Warsaw booksellers began to move in to the street. In the 17th century there were the royal demesnes again, such as stables or pharmacies. At the same time Świętojańska Street was one of the most crowded street of the Old Town, inhabited by traders, clerks, craftsmen and bank men. In the19th century the street became impoverished. During the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 bloody fights took place there, and all the buildings were completely destroyed. After the World War II, till 1958 the street was rebuilt. The two passageways, joining Świętojańska Street between Piwna Street, were also restored.
   There is a tenement house, at number 2, which was built in the 15th century. Once there was a wall between it and the corner of the Royal Castle. There was an entrance gate to the courtyard of the Castle. In the past the tenement house was a possession of missionaries. Opposite it, there is a stony sculpture of a woman with a basket and a little child at her hand. It is situated between the windows of a house at number 11. The sculpture is called “Mieszczka warszawska” and was made by Piotr Kann, during rebuilding of the Old Town in 1970’s, but the house alone was built in the Renaissance.

   In the tenement house, at number 1, lived A. Jastrzębski, a famous musician and builder in the first half of the 17th century. Next to the Jesuit Church, there is a tenement house of Czempliński family, at naumber 31, called “Pod Okrętem”. There is a sandstone, merchant emblem above its portal, which shows a sailing ship at the rough sea. The emblem originally contained a cross, but after rebuilding it wasn’t restored.
   The tenement at number 12 B originally was an annexe of the tenement of the tenement at number 13. In 1508 it was built by Jan Wilczek as a one storey building made of brick. At the turn of the 16th and 17th century it was a possession of Erler family, then it was inherited by Paweł Fabrycjusz, a bookseller. In 1636 it was destroyed and then rebuilt after 1669 by an owner of the whole possession-Klaudiusz Henriett, and joined with the new building, built in place of the former yard. They both were owned by Knab. In the half of the 18th century the whole plot was a possession of Ambroży T. Czempiński. Before 1944 the elevation was connected with the tenement at number 13 and 14. The formers annexe was distinguished by a high roof.

After destruction in 1944 there stayed only walls of the cellar and partially walls of the ground floor. After demolition (apart from walls of the cellar) it was rebuilt in 1953-55, to specification by Stefan Krasiński. The newly designed tenement consists of the same numbers of floors. In cellar, the Gothic walls probably date back to 1508.

© Gimnazjum 30