World City Guide

Key Attractions

Rynek Glowny (Main Market Square)
Dating from 1257, this was one of the largest market squares in medieval Europe. Occupying the centre of the square, the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) is filled with market stalls in its vaulted ground-floor passages. Along the sides of the building, pavement cafs draw locals and tourists alike. A branch of the National Museum (see below) is upstairs.

Surrounding the square are impressive period houses and two of the city’s most important churches. Kosciol sw Wojciecha (St Adalbert’s Church) dates from the 10th century and is the oldest extant church in Cracow, but it is the Gothic Kosciol Mariacki (St Mary’s Church), with its twin spires, that really catches the eye. Within this church is the 15th-century Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa and Wit Stwosz’s large stone crucifix and wooden polyptych, The Dormition of the Virgin of 1477-89, the largest Gothic altar in Europe. Above the organ loft, the church also boasts excellent 14th-century stained glass and Art Nouveau works by Wyspianski and Mehoffer. The taller of the two towers was the city’s watch-tower and every hour the heynal is played by the town trumpeter, who cuts off the last note to commemorate the death of a trumpeter killed by a Turkish arrow.

Also on the square is the Wieza ratuszowa (Town Tower) – the only surviving part of the town hall, which dates from the 14th century.

St Mary’s Church
Rynek Glowny
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 1150-1800, Sun 1400-1800.
Free admission, charge to see the altar.

Zamek Krolewski (Royal Castle)
From the year 1000, when the bishopric of Cracow was established, Wzgorze Wawelskie (Wawel Hill) has been at the heart of Poland’s history. Located at Wawel, the Royal Castle was the seat of Poland’s kings from the 11th to the early 17th 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 State Rooms is a collection of 16th-century Flemish tapestries, paintings and period furniture. Other separate sections of the castle open to the public include the Royal Private Apartments and the Crown Treasury and Armoury. Also worth a look is The Lost Wawel exhibit, which showcases the excavated remains of Wawel’s original buildings, including the foundations of the oldest known church in Poland, the early 11th-century Rotunda of St Felix and St Adauctus. The Museum of Oriental Art (west wing) has an excellent collection of Near and Far Eastern art, including important 17th-century Turkish items. More whimsical is the Dragon’s Den, a karstic cave reached by a spiral staircase, where Prince Gracchus (Krak) supposedly killed the Wawel dragon.

Wawel 5
Tel: (012) 422 5155 ext. 291.
Website: www.wawel.krakow.pl
Opening hours: Wawel Hill: daily 0600-2000 (Apr-Sep); daily 0600-1700 (Oct-Mar). Attractions: Mon 1930-1200, Tues and Fri 0930-1600, Wed and Thurs 0930-1500, Sat 0930-1500 and Sun 1000-1500. Royal Apartments and Oriental Art closed Mon. Dragon’s Den: daily 1000-1700.
Admission charge; concessions available; free Mon (where open) except Dragon’s Den.

Katedra Wawelska (Wawel Cathedral)
Part of Wawel, this cathedral, also known as the Archcathedral Church of SS Venceslaus and Stanislaus or the Royal Cathedral – is the coronation site and burial place of almost all of Poland’s monarchs. It was built in the early 11th century by King Boleslaw the Brave after Cracow was made a bishopric. Although there are Romanesque elements, the overall impact is determined by the 14th-century Gothic structure. The relics of St Stanislaw, the patron saint of Cracow and Poland, are kept here. Of the many royal chapels, the Renaissance Chapel of King Zygmunt (Sigismund) 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.
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1700, Sun 1215-1700 (May-Sep); Mon-Sat 0900-1500, Sun 1215-1500 (Nov-Mar).
Admission charge; concessions available.

Muzeum Narodowe (National Museum)
The museum’s large collection is located in a number of separate buildings, including the Czartoryski Museum (see below). The Main Building houses a collection of decorative art, 20th-century Polish art and Polish arms and national colours, in addition to temporary exhibitions. The Gallery in the Cloth Hall, Rynek Glowny 1/3 (tel: (012) 422 1166) exhibits 19th-century Polish art and temporary exhibitions.

Aleja 3 Maja 1
Tel: (012) 295 5500.
Website: www.muzeum.krakow.pl (Polish only)
Opening hours: (Main building) Tues-Thur and Sun 1000-1530, Fri-Sat 1000-1800; (Cloth Hall) Tues, Thur and Sat 1000-1530, Wed and Fri 1000-1800.
Admission charge; concessions available; free Sun.

Muzeum Czartoryskich (Czartoryski Museum)
A large collection of ancient art from Greece and Egypt, as well as Oriental artefacts, weapons and Turkish carpets can be found here. European paintings and sculpture cover the 13th to 18th centuries – the most famous works here are Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine and Rembrandt’s Landscape with the Good Samaritan.

Ulica sw Jana 19
Tel: (012) 422 5566.
Website: www.muzeum-czartoryskich.krakow.pl (Polish only)
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1550 (Fri until 1800).
Admission charge; concessions available; free Sun.

Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa (History Museum of the City of Cracow)
This museum’s collection is spread over a number of sites. The branch in Rynek Glowny occupies three burgher houses and displays objects from Cracow’s earliest times. Other galleries showcase a collection of portraiture and antique clocks.

Krzysztofory Palace
Rynek Glowny 35
Tel: (012) 422 9922.
Website: www.mhk.pl (Polish only)
Opening hours: Tues, Wed, Fri 0900-1530, Thurs 1100-1800.
Admission charge; concessions available.

Stara Synagoga or Alte Shul (Old Synagogue)
Kazimierz was originally a separate town, only merging with Cracow in 1868. Here the memories of the Jewish community who lived in the Kazimierz district for centuries (up until the Holocaust) are collected in physical form. Part of the Historical Museum of the City of Cracow, the Old Synagogue houses a permanent exhibit – Tradition and Culture of Polish Jews. The Synagogue was built in the early 15th century and reconstructed with Renaissance aspects by the Florentine architect, Matteo Gucci, after the fire of 1574. The surrounding area had been largely ignored until Steven Spielberg’s film, Schindler’s List (1993), drew attention to the Kazimierz (there are also a number of sites around the former wartime ghetto, south of the Vistula River, which are included in tours). The only two functioning synagogues in Cracow (the Remuh Synagoga, ulica Szeroka 40, with cemetery attached, and the Isaak Synagoga, ulica Kupa 18, which shows documentary films) are located nearby.

Ulica Szeroka 24
Tel/fax: (012) 422 0962.
Opening hours: Mon 1000-1400, Tues-Sun 1000-1700.
Admission charge; concessions available; free Mon.

Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego (Jagiellonian University Museum)
Housed in the mid-15th-century Collegium Maius, the oldest building of the Cracow Academy (the university’s forerunner) this museum is home to an eclectic collection. The University was founded in 1364 and reformed by King Wladyslaw Jagiello in 1400. Visits are by guided tour only, which includes important rooms and reconstructed professors’ chambers, as well as significant historical objects, such as astronomical instruments that may have been used by Copernicus.

Ulica Jagiellonska 15
Tel: (012) 422 0549.
Website: www.uj.edu.pl/muzeum
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1100-1500, Sat 1100-1400 (last entry 40 minutes before closing time); closed Sun and holidays.
Admission charge; concessions available; free Sat.