The theatre of the Makowski family, designed as a theatrical venue and enterprise, came to embrace technological innovations and other fashionable attractions. In the mid-19th century, displays such as dioramas or chromatropes were highly popular entertainments. The displays were usually paired with lectures by “learned speakers”, while the images were conjured by daguerreotypists – expert photographers with their magic – technology.
In 1856, Juliusz Ernst and Ludwik Filtz, two renowned photographers, stayed at the Bawarski Hotel in Krakowskie Przedmieście. There, they provided their excellent service of “taking photographic portraits on paper and on silver plates, after Daguerre”, but – as reported by Kurier Warszawski – they were also intending to “present visual displays based on Groppius’s system”. The most convenient venue for the display was of course the theatre in Jezuicka, which could be blacked out.
