Michał Zieleniewski was born in Cracow in 1821. He graduated from St. Anne Grammar School and started studies in Medicine at the Jagiellonian University. His PhD dissertation was entitled ‘About the Medical Superstition of Our People’ – he did PhD in Medicine and Surgery and a degree in Obstetrics. He had worked for several years at the Gynaecological and Obstetrics Clinic in Cracow and then he was the head of the Cholera Hospital in Trzebinia. In 1857 he was appointed by prof. Dietl as a state doctor of the Institution in Krynica.
He supported the development of the resort. He edited about 100 scientific works extolling balneotherapy and Krynica itself. They were published in German, French and Polish. After the formation of the Balneological Committee in Cracow he became its first secretary. He was one of the founders of the technical magazine of Cracow ‘Medical Review’that is published till nowadays. For the 30 jubilee of his work for Krynica, a beautiful glade on the Park Hill was named after him – he used to relax there and it is often called ‘Michasiowa’. Because of the bad health condition in the same year he was forced to withdraw from the post of the doctor of institution. He was already called ‘Great Builder of Krynica’ then. He died in Cracow on April 16, 1896 and was buried in the Rakowicki Cemetery. To commemorate its benefactor Krynica named one of its streets after him.