Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz

Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz (; ; 28 November 1823 – 16 May 1887) was a Polish politician and lawyer of Ruthenian origin. He was the Mayor of Kraków – in the then Grand Duchy of Kraków (part of the Austrian sector of Partitioned Poland). A street in Kraków's Old Town is named in his memory, while his monument stands in front of the City Hall.

Some of his achievements included the restoration of Sukiennice, the creation of a "national Panthéon" at Skałka, and his campaign towards the renovation of Wawel Castle.

Political influence

During his presidency, Zyblikiewicz reorganized and greatly improved municipal operations. He cut through Austro-Hungarian bureaucratic red-tape, and introduced an increase in his employees' salaries. He contributed to the revival of construction, helped erect new schools, fire station and municipal slaughterhouse. He monitored the construction of a railway viaduct over the Lubicz Street for the Kraków Central station modernized in 1871. He filled-in the northern arm of the Vistula River, which used to separate the district of Kazimierz from the Old Town. His contribution to housing development fundamentally changed the appearance of the city's outer limits. One of his important projects was the creation of a "national Panthéon" at Skałka. when he arrived with a visit to Kraków in September. He petitioned the emperor to save the royal Wawel Castle serving as military outpost for the army, and acquired his approval by offering to make Wawel his future residence, a campaign which became the first step towards the restoration of this traditional seat of the Polish monarchs. In 1881, he was elected member of the Diet and Sejm Marshal of Partitioned Poland, and served until 1886. Zyblikiewicz temporarily moved to Lviv and introduced a broad plan for the economic revival of the Galician province largely abandoned by Imperial Vienna. In gratitude, a street was named after him in Lviv in 1886; however, it was liquidated in 1950 by Soviet Ukraine under Stalin. He helped finish the Pieniny Road across the Tatra mountains from Szczawnica to Červený Kláštor in Slovakia, built for a decade with private funds.

Zyblikiewicz died in Kraków of pneumonia in 1887, and was buried at Rakowicki Cemetery,