Walery Eljasz (second name Radzikowski adopted later in life) studied painting in 1856-62 at the School of Fine Arts in
Kraków (known today as the
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts) mainly at the
atelier of famous
Władysław Łuszczkiewicz. He continued his studies in
Munich for three years in 1862-65 before his return in 1866. While in Munich, after convalescing from typhoid fever, Eljasz worked on behalf of the Polish insurrectionist
Rząd Narodowy helping volunteers heading back to Poland for the
January Uprising against the foreign yoke. After his return to Kraków, Eljasz served as a teacher of fine arts at local schools including at the
Gimnazjum of St. Anne in 1872-91. Eljasz painted church
frescos (
Chochołów, 1871), illustrated books and magazines, designed historical costumes for theatre stage productions, and exhibited his works internationally including in Kraków,
Warsaw,
Lwów and in
Vienna. His second monograph about the Tatra Mountains called
Szkice z podróży w Tatry illustrated with lithographs was published in 1874. Eljasz-Radzikowski, an avid outdoorsman and mountain climber, was a co-founder of one of the oldest tourist societies in Europe, the cultural
Polish Tatra Society in 1873. He wrote the first-ever tourist guide to
Tatra Mountains in 1870 called the
Ilustrowany przewodnik do Tatr, Pienin i Szczawnic (reprinted in 1886, 1891, 1896, 1900) which he himself illustrated with lithographs and woodcuts initially, and eventually with his photographs also. In 1901 he published
Kraków dawny i dzisiejszy, a detailed guidebook to the historic monuments of
Kraków. ==Historical paintings==