Andrzej Ettmayer - pierwszy honorowy obywatel miasta Krakowa

Abstract

ANDRZEJ ETTMAYER - THE FIRST HONOURARY CITIZEN OF CRACOW

Andrzej Ettmayer d«Adelsburg is a well-known personage, meritorious for Cracow, extraordinarily interesting and intriguing. He was a descendant of a knightly von Adelsburg family (the second part of his name - Ettmayer - was added later), which originated from Lower Austria. His father, Anton Ettmayer, was an Austrian officer who settled in Lvov. Andrzej received a good education and attained a high position during his career in the administration of the Austrian monarchy, being appointed the Governor of the High Roy al-Imperial Province Committee. He was the head of the Committee from 4 November 1848 to 21 January 1853, but he lived in Cracow to the end of his life. Ettmayer was a loyal Austrian officer, but was moderately liberal, which earned him public popularity. He was conferred honorary membership in numerous Sociretis in Cracow and Lvov, including, Charitable Society, The Economic Society in Cracow and the Cracow Rifle Society.
However, the greatest honour was the granting to Ettmayer the title of Honourary Citizen of Cracow, the first time this title had been awarded. A pretext for conferring the title was that he representated the Austrian Emperor Franz Jospeh I during the ceremony of opening of a bridge over the Vistula named in honour of the Emperor.
According the residents of Cracow, he was particularly appreciated for his successful intervention due to which Franz Joseph I abandoned his plans to move the royal tombs from Wawel Cathedral to the Church of SS Peter and Paul and turning the cathedral into a garrison church. The scarcity of reference material in this respect does not allow this question to be resolved and to definitely assess the role of Andrzej Ettmayer in it. It is not known who was the first to supply information about his contribution to the saving of the royal tombs of Wawel, which may be found in the press, memoirs and certain historic studies. No matter if the official reason was unique or if it was only a pretext, and the actual reasons for awarding the honorary citizenship to Andrzej Ettmayer were secret, he remains the first on the list of those who have been made Honorary Citizens of Cracow.