Marzena from the Greenmile Apartment
in Krakow took some time to write about her city
for us.
Krakow
Krakow, the old capital of Poland is one of the
most famous and glorious towns in Europe for its
historic and architectural values. In September
1978 Krakow together with the nearby salt mine Wieliczka
was placed on the list of the first twelve major
historic sites in the world by the UNESCO World
Heritage Committee. The Polish tradition of hospitality
deeply rooted in custom and practice guarantees
a good stay. The Poles are warm-hearted people with
a talent for friendship.
Wieliczka Salt Mine
Market Square, Krakow
The
most interesting, and regarded as the highest
class of historic and architectural buildings
are: the city center - the medieval old town in
the boundaries of the Planty, Wawel Hill, the
Florian Gate with the Barbican and the remains
of the city walls, St. Mary's Church, the Cloth
Hall, the Town Hall Tower, Collegium Maius, St.
Anne's Church, Church of St. Peter and St. Paul,
Church of St. Catherine with the Augustine convent
and the church and hermitage of the Camaldolese
monks in Bielany. All together Krakow has some
6,000 historic buildings and monuments and holds
Poland's largest collection of works of art which
is estimated at about 2.3 million items in museums,
churches, monasteries and private collections.
Above:
Florian Gate
Above:
Market Square
Above:
Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle
Wawel
Cathedral
Part
of Wawel, this cathedral, also known as
the Royal Cathedral, is the burial place
of almost all of Poland's monarchs and was
built in the early eleventh century by King
Boleslaw the Brave after Krakow was made
a bishopric. Although there are Romanesque
elements, the overall impact is determined
by the fourteenth-century Gothic structure.
The relics of St Stanislaw, the patron saint
of Krakow and Poland, are kept here. Of
the many royal chapels, the Renaissance
Chapel of King Zygmunt stands out. It is
possible to climb the tower to see the 11-tonne
Zygmunt Bell and enjoy the fine view.
Wawel
3 Tel: (012) 422 5155. Fax: (012) 421 1697.
Transport:
Tram 10; or a short walk from Rynek Glowny.
Opening
hours: May-Sep Mon-Sat 0900-1700, Sun 1215-1700;
Nov-Mar Mon-Sat 0900-1500, Sun 1215-1500.
In Krakow there are 39 museums, 74 art galleries,
7 theatres, 19 cinemas, a Music Theatre of
Opera and Operetta and a Philharmonic Hall.
Each year many national and international
cultural events take place in Krakow. Krakow
is an important center of education and culture
in Poland. The first Polish University, Jagiellonian,
was founded in 1364 in Krakow. Krakow
itself is equally popular and impressive:
a city that ranks with Prague and Vienna as
one of the architectural gems of Central Europe,
with an old town which retains an atmosphere
of fin-de siecle stateliness. A long-time
university center, its streets are a cavalcade
of churches and aristocratic palaces, while
at its heart is one of the grandest of European
squares, the Rynek Glówny.
The
city's significance for Poles goes well
beyond the aesthetic, though, for this was
the country's ancient royal capital, and
has been home to many of the nation's greatest
writers, artists, and thinkers, a tradition
retained in the thriving cultural life.
The
Catholic church in Poland has often looked
to Krakow for guidance, and its influence
in this sphere has never been greater-Pope
John Paul II was Archbishop of Krakow until
his election in 1978. Equally important
are the city's Jewish roots: until the last
war, this was one of the greatest Jewish
centres in Europe, a past whose fabric remains
clear in the old ghetto area of Kazimierz,
and whose culmination is starkly enshrined
at the death camps of Auschwitz - Birkenau
in Oswiecim, 60 kilometres west of Krakow.
Krakow
is the part of Malopolska region with no
precise boundaries, but which by any definition
includes some of the historic heartlands
of the Polish state. Highlights here-in
countryside characterized by rolling, open
landscape, market towns, and farming villages-include
Kielce, springboard for hikes into the Swietokrzyskie
Mountains, and the pilgrim center of Czestochowa,
home of the Black Madonna, the country's
principal religious symbol.
Kracow
is also a starting point for many possible
excursions to very attractive places of
interest nearby. To name a few places, the
Salt Mine in Wieliczka, Oswiecim, Ojców
National Park, Tyniec. Staying in Cracow
gives an easy opportunity to make a trip
to Zakopane - the famous tourist site in
the Tatra Mountains and to the Dunajec Gorge.
In
town the municipal transport consists of
buses and trams. There are many taxi and
radio taxi companies and a few minibus firms
to add to it. Private transport in the centre
of Cracow is difficult due to zones with
restricted car access or parking. To serve
tourists during holidays a special horse
tram, horse carts and electric car rides
are provided in the Old Town. In most cases
there is opportunity to hire a guide.
Many
museums offer FREE ENTRANCE on Sunday
The
most important attractions:
WAWEL
HILL
Royal
Castle - from the year 1000, when the bishopric
of Krakow was established, Wawel has been
at the heart of Poland's history. The seat
of Poland's kings from the eleventh to the
early seventeenth century, the majority
of the castle is Renaissance in style (1504-35),
although Romanesque and Gothic elements
remain. Today, it is a museum, and among
the treasures in the historic interior of
the Royal Chambers is a collection of sixteenth-century
Flemish tapestries, paintings and period
furniture. Also worth a look is The Lost
Wawel exhibit, The Crown Treasury and Armoury,
which showcases the excavated remains of
Wawel's original buildings, including the
foundations of the oldest known church in
Poland, the early eleventh-century Rotunda
of St Felix and St Adauctus. Wawel
5 Tel: (012) 422 5155, ext 291 or 422 1697
(group booking); or 422 0904 (guide booking).
Fax: (012) 421 1697, e-mail: zamek@wawel.krakow.pl
Website: www.wawel.krakow.pl
Transport:
Tram 10; or a short walk from Rynek Glowny.
Opening
hours: (Wawel Hill) daily Apr-Sep, 0600-2000;
Oct-Mar 0600-1700; (attractions) Tues-Fri
0930-1530/1630 (except The Lost Wawel, which
is open Mon and not Tues); Sat 0930-1500
and Sun 1000-1500.
THE
ROYAL ROUTE
The
route starts at the Barbican – the greatest
preserved element of the municipal fortifications,
erected in 1498 – 1499 on the forelands
of the Florian Gate. It further conducts
through Florianska Street, which – similarly
to other streets dating back to the Middle
Ages and preserved as such in the city center
urban structure – leads to the heart of
the city – the Main Market Square. In the
Gothic Basilica of St Mary, the spires of
which dominate the old city of Krakow, there
is the Vit Stwosz masterpiece – the largest
Gothic altar in Europe. Every hour a bugle-call
is played from the tower of St Mary's Church
and is discontinued dramatically in commemoration
of the day when an arrow struck the trumpeter
raising the alarm during the Tatar attack.
The
central part of the Main Market Square is
occupied by the Cloth Hall – a unique example
of a mediaeval edifice of commercial purpose.
From
the Main Market Square, Grodzka and Kanonicza
Streets lead to Wawel – one of the finest
Renaissance royal residences in Europe.
From among the Wawel chambers special attention
should be drawn to the Audience Hall, the
coffered ceiling of which comprises 194
sculpted wooden heads. The collection of
136 tapestries decorating the Wawel chambers
was manufactured in Flanders as an order
from King Sigismund Augustus and is without
equal in the world. The route also includes
St Florian's Church, municipal fortifications
complex, Mickiewicz statue, houses in the
Main Market Square, Town Hall tower, St
Adalbert's Church, Dominican monastery complex,
Wielopolski Palace, Franciscan monastery
complex, Church of SS Peter and Paul, the
convent of the Poor Clares' complex, St
Martin's Church, houses on Kanonicza Street
and St Giles'Church.
MARKET
SQUARE
The
Main Market Square in Krakow is the largest
medieval square in Europe (area of 40 000
m2), with the Cloth Hall, a Gothic – Renaissance
trade center, new housing the National Museum
with a permanent exhibition of painting
and sculpture from 18th-19th century. The
Main Market Square is a popular meeting
place for Krakow residents. Surrounding
the square are impressive period houses
and two of the city's most important churches.
Kosciol sw Wojciecha (St Adalbert's), dates
from the tenth century and is the oldest
extant church in Krakow, but it is the Gothic
Kosciol Mariacki (St Mary's) with its twin
spires that catches the eye. Within the
church is the fifteenth-century Chapel of
Our Lady of Czestochowa, and Wit Stwosz's
wooden polyptych and large stone crucifix,
which is exemplary of this period of late
Gothic art. St Mary's is open Mon-Sat 1150-1800
and Sun 1400-1800.
Also
on the square are the Wieza ratuszowa (Town
Tower) - the only surviving part of the
town hall, it dates from the fourteenth
century - and the restaurant Wierzynek,
where monarchs came to dine during the council
of 1364.
THE FORTIFICATIONS WALLS
The
Old Town developed gradually; its plan being
drawn up in 1257 after the Tartar invasions.
The construction of the fortifications was
begun in the 13th century, and it took almost
two centuries to envelop the town with a
powerful, 3km long chain of double defensive
walls complete with 47 towers and 7 main
entrance gates plus a wide moat. The system
was eventually demolished by the Republic
of Krakow between 1822 and 1847 as a display
of municipal modernisation and the moat
filled up. A ring-shaped park, the Planty,
was laid out on the site. Due to the efforts
of Prof. Feliks Radwanski of the Jagiellonian
a representative section was preserved.
The
Barbakan, one of the very few surviving
structures of its kind in Europe, was built
about 1498 based on Arabic rather than European
defensive architecture. It is a moated cylindrical
brick structure with an inner courtyard
and seven turrets. Its 3-metre thick walls
have 130 loopholes. It was originally linked
to the walls by a covered passage. On its
eastern wall is a tablet commemorating the
feat of the Krakow burgher, Marcin Oracewicz
who, during the Confederation of Bar, defended
the town against the Russians and shot the
enemy colonel, Panin.
Above:
Jewish Quarter
KAZIMIERZ
-JEWISH TOWN
Kazimierz has, without doubt, the most magnificent
collections of monuments of Jewish heritage
in Poland. However, it is not just the past
which makes this city so special. Krakow
today is also a vibrant center of Jewish
tradition and culture.
Above:
Kazimierz Jewish town
The
Florian Gate - Brama Florianska
marks the edge of the Stare Miasto. The
tower was built before 1307. It was heightened
in brick in the late 15th century and a
Baroque roof added in 1657. There is a stone
relief of St.Florian facing the town along
the Florianska. The walls lead east to the
Haberdashers' Tower; Pasamonikow.
Above:
Florian Gate
Ulica
Pijarska:
Along
the walls between the Brama Florianska and
the Arsenal there is an open-air gallery
of paintings by artists often associated
with the Academy of Fine Arts; the "Florian
Walls" exhibition.
The
Czartoryski Palace/Museum, ul.Pijarska 15,
was converted in the 19th century from a
number of burghers' houses. Nowadays it
houses a department of the National Museum
- the Czartoryski Collection, the oldest
and one of the richest in Poland and Krakow's
finest, containing momentos of national
heroes, a collection of Greek, Egyptian
and Etruscan antique art, Oriental armour
seized after the Battle of Vienna (1683)
and several important paintings including
Leonardo Da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine
(c.1485) and Rembrandt's Landscape with
the Good Samaritan (1638). The collection
was founded by Izabela Czartoryska in Pulawy
at the beginning of the 19th century, was
transferred to Paris after the November
Insurrection of 1830 (in which the family
was deeply implicated), and then to Krakow.
The Nazis seized it and took it to Germany,
and not all the exhibits have been recovered.
The
Piarist Church of the Transfiguration -
Kosciol Pijarow Przemienieria Panskiego,
is a Baroque church cum monastery built
for the Piarist order in 1718-59 to the
design of Kasper Bazanka and Francesco Placidi.
There is an extensive crypt under the building
in which bodies used to be kept before burial.
The altar-pieces are by Szymon Czechowicz
and Andrzej Radwanski, Polish 17th.century
painters and the paintings inside the vaults
are by Franz Eckstein of Brno. On the balustrade,
over the entrance to the crypt, stands the
bust of Stanislaw Konarski.
Other
Information:
Currency:
The
official currency in Poland is the Polish
zloty. The current exchange rate is about
3,8 Polish zloty to US$ 1 (as for end of
1999). There are numerous exchange offices
("kantor") located in the city
center, as well as in banks and hotels.
Phone
Information:
Balice Airport 285 51 20 Bus Information
9316
Tourist Information 9319 Train Information
9436
The
Salt Mine in Wieliczka - one of
the oldest mines in Europe, placed by UNESCO
in 1978 - beside Krakow - on the list of
the 12 most priceless monuments of the world,
with unique museum of Salt Works. The oldest
part of the mine is open for visitors. The
3 mile long route leads through galleries
and chambers on the mining levels. Here
one can see 17th and 19 th canturies chapels,
among them the most beautiful St. Kinga's
Chapel, carved out of a huge block of salt.
The
climate
Spring
begins in March, cold and windy at first,
but later becoming warm and sunny. Starting
in June, summer is mostly warm and even
hot at times, with lots of sunshine, and
sometimes short heavy rainstorms. Autumn
comes in September, and is at first warm
and usually sunny. Usually summer returns
for a few days in October - Babie Lato,
the Polish Indian Summer. It then turns
cold, damp and foggy in November. Winter
starts with December and goes on until March
and includes longer or shorter period of
snow. January and February are the coldest
months.
Average
temperatures are +4 degrees Centigrade in
February, and +27 degrees Centigrade in
July. However, be prepared for short periods
of extreme temperatures over +30 degrees
Centigrade in summer, and below -15 or even
below -20 in winter.
