In 1895, Jan Apolinary Michalik arrived in Kraków from Lviv and founded the Lwowska Confectionery in the Bełzowska tenement house on the Royal Road. Its atmosphere and great location made it instantly iconic and famous, creating a favourite meeting place for painters, actors and writers, who called the windowless room Michalik’s Den.

In 1904, a collection of caricatures of actors from the Municipal Theatre in Kraków was created here, with sections associated with Karol Frycz and Witold Wojtkiewicz, among others. Some of them decorated the walls of the café, and paintings and caricatures of artists such asJózef Czajkowski, Iwo Gall, and Kazimierz Sichulski.

In 1905, August Kisielewski and a group of artist friends founded Poland's first cabaret group, Zielony Balonik, in the café, ridiculing the hypocrisy of the Kraków bourgeoisie. The co-founders of the cabaret and the country's first satirical and political nativity play wereTadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Witold Noskowski, Stanisław Sierosławski, Rudolf Starzewski, Mieczysław Trzciński, Jan Szczepkowski and Edward Leszczyński. The cabaret group was active until 1912.

The Art Nouveau interior of the café was enlarged and refurbished in 1910. Karol Frycz, Franciszek Mączyński, Kazimierz Sichulski and Henryk Uziembło worked on it. The Green Room, illuminated by a stained-glass ceiling with a crystal lamp, and the Hill Room, with a stage covered by a glass roof, were created. The puppets for the nativity scene, designed by Stanisław Kamocki, were made by Ludwik Puget and Jan Szczepkowski. Art Nouveau furniture with green upholstery, stained-glass windows, fancy doors and frames, as well as frescoes and lampposts, paintings, drawings and caricatures, dolls in display cabinets, brass sconces and lamps in colourful lampshades added to the uniqueness of the interior.

The glory of the Young Poland Michalik's Den came to an end with the outbreak of the First World War. The devastated facility survived the Second World War.

In the post-war period, the Cabaret Group of Tadeusz Kwiatkowski, Jacek Stwora and Bruno Miecugow, referring to the tradition of the Zielony Balonik Cabaret Group, was active in Michalik's Den, and well-known actors made their debuts in the Hill Room. Stanislaw Jerzy Kuliś purchased the Bełzowska tenement house in 1986 and renovated it in 1992. The damaged polychromes were saved and restored, and the atmosphere of the Young Poland era returned to the interiors, with caricatures, landscapes, and pictures of the regulars hanging on the walls.

The artistic spirit has also returned to  Michalik's Den. Acting and cabaret performances have resumed. It hosts theatres from Poland and abroad, the best satirists, actors and creative groups, anniversaries, literary and authors' evenings, concerts and recitals, cabarets, album promotions, scientific sessions, symposiums, historical and political meetings and lectures, vernissages and exhibitions. Michalik's Den cooperates with universities and schools, including Jagiellonian University, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Higher School of Theatre, as well as foundations and associations. Films and television programmes are being made.