The Ukrainian Foundation

05/22/2012 08:23

I always like to think of the Ukrainian Foundation as my home base whenever I’m in Kraków. The official name, in Polish, is the Fundacja św. Włodzimierza Chrzciciela Rusi Kijowskiej, or The Foundation of Volodymyr (Vladimir), Baptiser of Kievan Rus. I have been coming here since my first visit to Kraków in the early 1990s. Depending on where we are in the Old Town, this is a good place to meet up. It’s on my favorite street in the whole country, Kanonicza, and is just a stone’s throw away from Wawel Castle.

The Ukrainian Foundation was founded by a professor named Włodzimierz Mokry and, although I don’t know the exact details, I know that Pope John Paul had some connection with it. There are several things of interest here, including the upstairs area where they restore old eastern rite icons. There is a small gallery here, a bookstore and a coffee shop. Toward the back, there is also a very small, but interesting chapel. The reason that it’s interesting for me is that Jerzy Nowosielski, a famous Polish modern painter, recently deceased, used to come to the Foundation and spend time. He eventually gave some paintings to the Foundation and also painted the pictures in the chapel. Generally, his works are a little strange for those with more traditional tastes, but I’ve come to like them. Here is some information:

https://www.artfact.com/artist/nowosielski-jerzy-qma04n3mjk

https://www.agra-auctions.com/gallery.php?off=0&curr=PLN&sch=1&ord=da&s=1&gal=1&id_malarza=403

Aside from the above reasons to visit the Foundation, there are two others that will bring us here frequently. First and foremost is my friend Ewa, who will later have her own entry in the daily Kraków Factoids (She's ether blushing, or maybe cursing, as she reads this). Ewa is our main contact and facilitator in Kraków. She is a very kind person whom I have known since the 1990s. She knows Kraków like the back of her hand, and is always happy to come along whenever something is happening. The other reason we will go to the Foundation is that Ewa manages the restaurant there. Actually, she pretty much runs the entire Foundation, although the official head of it is Prof. Mokry, who shows up maybe once a month just to check in and sign a few things. Anyway, the restaurant is called “Smak Ukrainski” (loosely “Ukrainian Taste,” or maybe “A Taste of Ukraine” would translate a little more fluidly). I love this place. In the winter, the inside is very cozy as it’s housed in the brick cellar of a building that is hundreds of years old. In the summer, the outdoor garden is an awesome place for a beer or a coffee. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I love the potato cakes with goulash here, as well as pretty much everything else that they serve. Anyway, check out the restaurant links to learn a little more:

https://www.ukrainska.pl/en/o-restauracji-2

One of the cellar rooms at Smak Ukrainski. If you look carefully, you can almost see Ewa pissed off and yelling at the waitresses in the entrance to the kitchen at the top of the stairs.