Composers / Fryderyk Chopin / Places catalog

‘Honoratka’

Those who travelled great distances to Warsaw during the eighteenth century usually dined in baronial guest houses, even though there had been cafés and restaurants in the capital since the time of King Stanislaus Augustus. It was only after 1815 that modern, and increasingly crowded, restaurants, trattorias, wine bars and patisseries began to spring up all over the city. In Chopin's day, one of the most popular haunts was the ‘Honoratka’ café, named after the owner, Honorata Zimermann, at what is now ul. Miodowa 14. From 1828, it was housed in an annexe of the former Chodkiewicz Palace.

That palace frequently changed hands over the next few decades. By the end of the eighteenth century, it had belonged to the Grand Crown Hetman Piotr Ożarowski and then to the poet, inventor and chemist Count Aleksander Chodkiewicz. In 1812, Count Chodkiewicz founded Poland’s first lithography workshop. Lithography was a printing method that enabled paintings and sheet music to be reproduced incomparably more easily than before. In later decades, portraits of the famous Fryderyk Chopin were also widely circulated. An issue of the Kurier Warszawski from November 1849, for example, ran an advertisement placed by a bookshop on ul. Senatorska for a lithographic portrait of the composer, available for 5 zlotys. The artist was Maria Wodzińska, who had briefly been secretly engaged to Chopin over a decade earlier.

After Chodkiewicz, the palace’s owners included Col. Włodzimierz Potocki and, from 1827, Jan Kochanowski, valet to Grand Duke Constantine, whom Fryderyk Sarbek describes in his memoirs as ‘a cadets’ teacher, a descendant of the family of Jan the poet, and a good person, but fairly limited.’

The ‘Honoratka’ had a gallery where music was played in the evening during the first half of the nineteenth century. Jan Nepomucen Janowski, in his Notatki autobiograficzne [Autobiographical notes], recalls that the one-zloty entrance fee included a cup of good coffee or a suitable quantity of some other beverage.

During the 1830s, the café became one of the legends of the November Uprising. The ‘Honoratka’ was a meeting place for radicals, who concocted subversive plans around a small model of a guillotine.

Place Category
Antoni Brzezina’s bookshop Publishers / Bookshops
Antonin Manors / Palaces / Castles
Apartment of Dominik Magnuszewski Flats
Apartment of Stefan Witwicki Flats
Apartment of the family of Alfons Brandt Flats
Augsburg Evangelical Church of the Holy Trinity Churches / Places of worship
Belvedere Appearances
Bielany, Camaldolese monastery Churches / Places of worship
Blue Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
‘Botanika’ Other
Brochów Churches / Places of worship
Brühl Palace Appearances
Buchholtz’s instrument store Other
Casimir Palace Flats
Chopin Monument in Łazienki Park Other
Czapski (Krasiński) Palace Appearances, Manors / Palaces / Castles
Dal Trozzo bookshop Publishers / Bookshops
Duszniki Zdrój Hotels / Inns
Dziewanowski home Flats
Engraving studio of Fr Izydor Józef Cybulski and Antoni Płachecki Education
Franciszek Klukowski bookshop Publishers / Bookshops
Fryderyk Chopin Museum Other
Fryderyk Skarbek’s apartment Flats
Gdańsk Hotels / Inns
Gładkowskis' apartment Flats
Golub Other
Holy Cross Church Churches / Places of worship
Home of Jan Matuszyński Flats
‘Honoratka’ Coffeehouses
Jabłonowski Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
Jan Böhm’s townhouse Flats
Kalisz Other
Kikół Manors / Palaces / Castles
Kolbergs' apartment Flats
Kowalewo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Kozłowo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Krakow Other
Ludwik Dmuszewski’s house Flats
Magnus's bookshop Publishers / Bookshops
Marceli Celiński’s apartment Flats
Maurycy Mochnacki’s home Flats
Miss Kicka's Salon in Lubomirski Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
National Theatre Appearances
Obory Churches / Places of worship
Obrowo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Ojców Other
‘Old’ Merchants' Hall Appearances
Patisserie Lourse Coffeehouses
Pieskowa Skała Other
Płock Other
‘Pod Kopciuszkiem’ and ‘Dziurka’ Coffeehouses
Poturzyn Manors / Palaces / Castles
Powązki Cemeteries
Poznań Other
Presbytery of St Jadwiga (Hedwig) parish church in Milanówek Other
Pruszak Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
Residence of Józef Reinschmidt’s parents Flats
Rościszewo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Sanniki Manors / Palaces / Castles
Saxon Palace Flats
Saxon Post Office Other
Skating rink Other
Sochaczew Other
Sokołowo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Staszic Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
Strzyżew Manors / Palaces / Castles
Szafarnia Manors / Palaces / Castles
Toruń Other
Turzno Manors / Palaces / Castles
‘U Brzezińskiej’ Coffeehouses
Ugoszcz Manors / Palaces / Castles
Viceroy's Palace Appearances
Vilnius (Wileński) Hotel Hotels / Inns
Visitandine Church of St Joseph Churches / Places of worship
Waplewo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Warsaw Other
Warsaw Charitable Society Appearances
Warsaw Conservatory Appearances
‘Wiejska Kawa’ Coffeehouses
Wieliczka Other
Wojciech Żywny’s apartment Flats
Wola Tollhouse Other
Wrocław Appearances
Żelazowa Wola Flats
Żychlin Manors / Palaces / Castles