Galician Autonomy Room

Galician autonomy brought changes to Nowy Sącz's local government, railway connections and public infrastructure. The exhibition begins this account in 1867, following developments still reflected in the town's buildings.

In 1876, the Imperial-Royal Railway Workshops were established and the Tarnów-Leluchów line opened. Railway workers needed homes near their jobs: plans for an estate of a hundred houses were drawn up in Vienna in 1891, and the first 37 were completed the following year. The single-storey houses, mostly semi-detached, stood in small gardens along a regular grid of streets.

On 17 April 1894, fire destroyed the north-western part of Nowy Sącz and its old town hall. Municipal architect Jan Peroś designed the replacement, with construction led by Karol Knaus of Kraków. Work began in 1895 on an eclectic building drawing on earlier architectural styles. Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque elements dominate its decoration. Excavation of the foundations revealed wooden pipes from an old water supply that carried water from Roszkowice until the late eighteenth century. An eagle atop the tower also serves as a weather vane. The rebuilt town hall remains the seat of local government.