5 things to see in Krakow

In April I went to Krakow and I stayed there for 4 days: luckily, I arrived on the week before Easter, so in the city centre, called Rynek Główny, there were a lot of stands with typical products, from food to handmade wooden products, from clothes to chocolate (I bought a piece of chocolate in the shape of an old giant key).

the Market

This post will be different from the one where I spoke about my travel in Portugal (click here if you want to read it): in fact, if you keep on reading, you will find 5 places I think you should absolutely visit if you're planning to go to Krakow.

1) Town Hall Tower and city centre

If you are in Krakow, you have to go to Rynek Główny, the main square of the Old Town, which was one of the largest medieval town square in Europe. There you can see the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in the Renaissance style, where, on top of it, are located some masks representing caricatures of the city inhabitants. Inside of it, nowadays, you can find a lot of stands of souvenirs with good prices (remember that the currency of Poland isn't the euro but the złoty), while in the 15th century, the hall was the source of a variety of exotic imports from the East. In one of the entrance a knife is hanged, which was a sort of warning for thieves.

Cloth Hall

Other important buildings are the 10th century Church of St. Adalbert (Kościół św. Wojciecha) which was originally made by wood; the Adam Mickiewicz Monument (pomnik Adama Mickiewicza), the greatest Polish Romantic poet of the 19th century; the Gothic towers of St. Mary's Basilica (Kościół Mariacki), where, on every hour, a trumpet signal (Hejnał mariacki) is played from the top of the taller of St. Mary's two towers.

St. Mary's Church

What stroke me the most was the Town Hall Tower (Wieża ratuszowa )  the only remaining part of the old Krakow Town Hall (the city's administrative hub and seat of the great council, magistrate, and mayor from the 14th until the early 19th century).

Town Hall Tower

Over the entrance is the original Gothic portal with the city coat-of-arms and the emblem of Poland. There are also two stone lions guarding the entrance; the tower is open to the public: I climbed the 110 steps to reach the top of the tower (75 m high), 

the tiny steps of the Tower

where you can find the machinery of the ancient clock and also you can look at the square from an upper view.

view from the Town Hall Tower

2) Wawel Castle

Built at the behest of King Casimir III the Great, it consists of a number of structures situated around the Italian-styled main courtyard. The castle, being one of the largest in Poland, represents nearly all European architectural styles of medieval, renaissance and baroque periods. It had been for centuries the residence of the kings of Poland but, when  in 1609 King Sigismund moved the capital to Warsaw, the castle was abandoned and occupied by the Sweden and then by the Prussian Army at the end of the XVIII century. It was demolished and then the remaining part was modernised by Austrians with defensive walls. During the World War II, the castle became the residence of the general governor of the occupied Poland.

The castle has its own Cathedral, the Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus (królewska bazylika archikatedralna śś. Stanisława i Wacława), also known as the Wawel Cathedral. On the inside there are about 18 chapels: the most important one is the Sigismund's Chapel, or Zygmunt Chapel (Kaplica Zygmuntowska), a square-based chapel with a golden dome.

A curiosity: on the walls there are white bricks with names of people and Polish people and associations who contributed to restore the castle.

3) Collegium Maius and Jagiellonian University

I choose these two places for two reasons, that can be considered as opposite: one, in fact, is amusement, the other is historical. The Collegium Maius, which is the oldest building of the Jagiellonian University (it dates back to XV century) had, as his famous student, Nicolaus Copernicus (there is also a statue near the entrance): you can see the old clock of the courtyard which, every hour, plays a melody together with a sort of parade of wooden sculptures, representing figures connected with university.

Jagiellonian University (Uniwersytet Jagielloński) is the oldest university in Poland, founded by Casimir III the Great in 1364. The event I want to remember is related to World War II: on November 6, 1939, 184 professors were arrested and deported firstly to a prison in Poland and then to Sachsenhausen concentration camp during an operation codenamed Sonderaktion Krakau. The purpose was to eradicate the Polish intellectual elite to spread easily German culture. Thank to international protests, 101 professors older than 40 were released on February 8, 1940. Additional academics were released later. Many elderly professors did not survive the conditions of the camp: twelve died within three months, and another five within days of release.

Jagiellonian University, Collegium Novus

4) Schindler's Factory

Taking the tram from the centre Schindler's Factory can be easily reached. I hadn't planned to go there, but I'm really glad I visited it.

Maybe you know something about Oskar Schindler from the film "Schindler's List" directed by Steven Spielberg, even though the only thing in common between Schindler and the museum is the location: the museum is situated in the spaces where once there was the German Enamelware Factory (Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik), but in it you won't find anything specific about Schindler's life. There is, instead, the exhibit called 'Krakow under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945’. The itinerary is very interesting and there are a lot of  period artifacts, photos and documents with multimedia and set-piece arrangements in an attempt to create a full-immersion experience.

5) Kazimierz

Kazimierz is the name of a historical district of Krakow, which got its name from King Kasimir III of Poland in 1335. Today it is situated in the city centre, but in the past it used to be a separate town. In 1495 Jews who lived in the west part of Krakow was forced to move to Kazimierz. They established their own cemetery there and built synagogues and houses of prayer. The Jewish part of Kazimierz became a true Oppidum Judeorum, clearly separated from the Christian one. When after 1795 (in the Third Partition of Poland) Austria acquired the city of Krakow, Kazimierz lost its status as a separate city and became a district of Krakow.

During the Second World War, the Jews of Krakow, including those in Kazimierz, were forced by the Nazis into a crowded ghetto in Podgórze, across the river. Most of them were later killed during the liquidation of the ghetto or in death camps.

With out tour guide, we saw the most important places in this district, as the Tempel Synagogue, the Isaac Synagogue, the Stara Synagoga, the house of Helena Rubinstein, the Remuh Synagogue and the monument dedicated to Jews

Tempel Synagogue

monument dedicated to the Jews

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These are the places I think you should visit if you're planning to go to Krakow. Of course, there are a lot of other interesting places, but these stroke me the most. Remember, also, to taste the traditional cuisine, in particular the sour rye soup (called żurek) and pierogi (here the link of one of my favourite restaurants, not far from the city centre).

In my next post I will write about 2 other places to visit, not far from Krakow: the Wieliczka Salt Mine and the concentration camp of Auschwitz (Oświęcim) and Birkenau.

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Bye for now,

Yours, Silvia