W zbiorach Muzeum Ziemi Bieckiej znajduje się unikalne zdjęcie z 1889 roku, przedstawiające studentów drugiego roku ówczesnej Szkoły Sztuk Pięknych (dzisiejszej Akademii Sztuk Pięknych) w Krakowie podczas wyprawy naukowej po ziemi sądeckiej i bieckiej pod kierownictwem prof. Władysława Łuszczkiewicza. 

The Lajkonik (a person dressed as a Tatar riding a hobbyhorse), formerly known as the Zwierzyniec Horse, appears on one day of the year on the streets of Kraków together with its whole entourage and the Mlaskot band (which owes its name to the shrill sound of the music it plays), on the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński had a unique opportunity not only to get to know Wyspiański, but also to sit on the furniture designed by this Kraków artist on a daily basis. How did he assess the suite designed for the lounge?
Years later, he recalled:
“Only once did we dare protest and only after a lengthy argument about who would...

The costume designed by Stanisław Wyspiański, which the “Lajkonik” (a bearded man with a hobby horse, dressed like a Tartar warrior – one of the symbols of the city’s folklore and tradition) of Krakow dons every year weighs as much as 40 kg. Despite the hot June weather, he must perform three ritual dances holding a six-meter banner...

Directors’ journals usually include unique notes concerning the production of a film or performance. They are notebooks in which all essential information is recorded – from their thoughts about the interpretation, suggestions for the arrangement of stage movements to the list of actors together with their telephone numbers. For the reader, it can be a treasury of knowledge on a stage or film adaptation of a work and offer an insight on the director's method of working. The presented journal of Andrzej Wajda is a record of his work on The Wedding by Stanisław Wyspański, which was staged in the Stary Theatre in Kraków in 1991.

In 1895, Stanisław Wyspiański made a polychrome project for the presbytery of a Franciscan church. The composition consists of three elements: the titular fallen angels, at which the group of archers aims, and the figure of Archangel Michael, who guards the gates of paradise. A perfect accompaniment to this work is the polychrome located on the opposite side of the presbytery:  Madonna and the Child and Caritas. The artist, in a visible way, juxtaposed two attitudes to life and showed their possible consequences.

Wyspiański left twelve self-portraits. Every one of them is a fascinating record of the physical change and current emotional state of the artist according to his often-repeated belief stating that “man (...) changes irretrievably; they are changed by their experiences and thoughts. A portrait is a reflection of a moment, an artistic reflection seizing things in their very essence.”

The model was made in 1901 by Bronowice carpenters under the supervision of Włodzimierz Tetmajer and with the participation of a painter, Antoni Procajłowicz. The piece was commissioned by Jerzy Warchałowski on the occasion of the First Exhibition of the Polish Applied Arts Society in Kraków.

The costume of Lajkonik, also called the Zwierzyniec Horse, designed by Stanisław Wyspiański in 1904, could be seen in the streets of Kraków until 1963. The costume used today during the annual frolics of Lajkonik is a faithful copy of the displayed exhibit.
Although legend associates the origins of Lajkonik celebrations with the Tatar invasions of Kraków in the 13^th century, the first ever source reference to it dates back to 1738.