Our story
Cricoteka was founded in Kraków in 1980 on the initiative of Tadeusz Kantor as a living archive of the Cricot 2 Theatre. Cricoteka stores, presents and looks after the collection of theatrical works from Tadeusz Kantor’s plays. Cricoteka is a museum, archive, gallery, and research centre.
But Cricoteka also provides space for concerts, performances, film screenings, and activities for children and adults. The starting point for all Cricoteka’s activities are the ideas of Tadeusz Kantor, an initiator of new trends in Polish art and creator of an internationally renowned avant-garde theatre. The aim of Cricoteka is to present the achievements of Tadeusz Kantor, but also, more broadly, the activity of contemporary creators in the field of fine arts, theatre, dance, and music, who engage in a dialogue with Tadeusz Kantor’s ideas, proving that Kantor is an inspiration for subsequent generations of artists.
Current opening hours and visiting rules are available on the Practical Information page.
Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor – director, painter, illustrator, art theoretician, set designer, happening artist, revolutionary of 20th-century theatre, one of the most important Polish artistic figures. Graduate of the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts. Creator of the Underground Independent Theatre during the occupation. In 1955, he founded the Cricot 2 Theatre together with Maria Jarema and Kazimierz Mikulski. A breakthrough stage in his activity was The Theatre of Death, which started with the play “The Dead Class” (1975). Subsequent performances were based on the artist’s recollections and his own memory: “Wielopole, Wielopole”, “Let the Artists Die”, “I Shall Never Return”, or “Today Is My birthday”.
