Verbia - Guided tours of Cracow
"Cracovia totius Poloniae urbs celeberrima."
"Cracow of all Polish towns is the most glorious."
Cracow is one of the most important Polish cities with precious historical monuments dating from different centuries. It has over 6 thousand historical objects. In 1978 The Medieval Old Town was placed
on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list.
- Wawel Hill
-
Wawel (Polish Wzgórze wawelskie or for short Wawel) is the name of a lime hillock situated on the left bank of the Vistula in Kraków, Poland at an altitude of 228 metres above sea level.
This is a symbolic place of great significance for all Polish people. The Royal Castle and the Cathedral are situated on the Hill. Polish Royalty and many distinguished Poles are interred in the Cathedral and royal coronations took place there.
- Royal Cathedral on Wawell Hill
- The Wawel Cathedral, Poland's national sanctuary with 1000-year-old history, was the coronation site of Polish monarchs.
Its present 14th-century walls shelter a great variety of top-class objects of art, from Gothic to Renaissance to Baroque to Classicist to Modern. It is also the burial ground of most Polish royalty as well as the greatest national heroes, two poets, four saints and Krakow bishops. The center of the nave is occupied by the 1630 mausoleum of St. Stanislaw, Poland's saint patron, the 11th-century Krakow bishop murdered by King Boleslav II (1058–1079). The martyr’s silver coffin (circa 1670) is adorned with 12 relief scenes from his life and posthumous miracles.
Near the entrance, on the right side of the nave between pillars, there is an excellent 15th-century late-Gothic sarcophagus of King Vladislav II Jagiello (1386–1434) of red Hungarian marble.
And on the left side it is mirrored by the 1906 good imitation of a Gothic sarcophagus by way of a symbolic tomb of King Vladislav III Warnenczyk (1434–1444), whose body wasn't found on the battlefield at Varna.
At the end of the north aisle there is the mid-l4th-century sandstone sarcophagus, the cathedral’s oldest, of King Vladislav I the Short (1320–1333).
His son, King Casimir III Great (1333–1370), has his tomb on the other side of the High Altar, across the nave, at the end of the south aisle. The late-l4th-century red marble sarcophagus ranks among Europe's best sculptures of the period.
In the middle of the south aisle one finds the 1902 sarcophagus of Queen-Saint Jadwiga (1384–1399) carved in white Carrara marble with her grave insignia, wooden scepter and orb, displayed nearby. Eighteen chapels full of art treasures surround the cathedral.
Magnificent white “pearl of the Renaissance" vis-a-vis the tomb of Queen Jadwiga, the Sigismund Chapel, couples the exquisite Baroque of the black marble Vasa Chapel.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross (first to the right on entrance) seems most interesting owing to its 1470 Russian murals and the splendid 1492 marble sarcophagus of King Casimir IV Jagiellon (1447–1492) by Veit Stoss.
- Wawel Castle
-
Home to three dynasties of Poland's monarchs. Its stately halls and exquisite chambers are filled with priceless art, best period furniture and rare ancient objects. The collection of the 16th-century monumental Flemish tapestries is matchless.
- Dragon's Den
- The Dragon's Den is one of the attractions of the city. Situated at the food of the Wawel Hill this cave consists of number of interconnecting chambers. A sculpture of a fire-belching dragon standing at its exit is a much-loved attraction.
- Main Market Square
- The Main Market, planned in 1257, is a 200 x 200 m square.It is one of the biggest squares in Europe.
- St Maria's Church
- St. Mary's Basilica is a Gothic church built in the 14th century adjacent to the main market square of Kraków, Poland. It is particularly famous for its wooden altar carved by Veit Stoss. On every hour, a trumpet signal, a bugle, called hejnał is played from the top of the taller of St. Mary's two towers. The plaintive tune breaks off mid-bar to commemorate a 13th century trumpeter, who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before a Mongol invasion. The noon hejnał is heard across Poland and abroad, broadcast live over the Polish Radio 1 national radio broadcaster.
- St Adalbert's Church
- St Adalbert's (Polish name: Sw. Wojciech) is one of the oldest churches in Krakow.It is situated in the corner of the Market Square close to Grodzka St. The thousand years' old legend says that St. Adalbert consecrated the church in 997 and preached there before going on his mission to bring Christianity to Prussia (where he was killed in martyrdom).
It's a beautiful little church that shows the thousand years of history of architecture, starting with the Romanesque door frame in it. It shows also the level of the Market Square dating from the XI c.
Under the church there is the Museum of the History of the Market Square.
- Cloth Hall
- The Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) is one of the most important buildings in the city. It has been reconstructed many times and does not resemble the original building. It used to be a street crossing the market from north to south with shops on both sides. Then the street was roofed. The brick Gothic Sukiennice was destroyed in the fire of 1555. It was rebuilt in the Renaissance style by Italian architects living in Kraków - Jan Maria Padovano, Santi Gucci, Jan Frakstijn. Decorations and loggias similar to the Wawel court arcades were added at this time. The last reconstruction by Tomasz Pryliński took place to 1875-1879. In 1879 a decision to open the National Museum in the Sukiennice was made.The museum is host to Gallery of Polish XIX century Painting and Sculpture.
- Town Hall
- he Town Hall is situated close to the Cloth Hall. Written evidence of the Town Hall goes back to 1316. It has been reconstructed many times. In 1817-20 it was almost completely demolished. Only the belfry, covered by a Baroque roof, was left. It is one of the landmarks of Krakow. During the summer the belfry is open and from its summit there is a beautiful panorama view of the city.
- Medieval Fortifications of Cracow
-
- Barbican
- The Barbican was built in 1498, founded by King Jan Olbracht. It is Gothic in style and used to be surrounded by a deep, 26 meter wide moat. There were two gates, one from Kleparz and the other from the city walls. The Krakow Barbican is the largest and best preserved building of its kind in Europe. Its construction is circular with 3 meter thick walls.
- Floriańska Gate
- The Floriańska Gate, built about 1300 as a rectangular Gothic tower of wild stone, is 33,5 m tall.
In the Middle Ages Krakow furriers defended it. Its present Baroque roof dates from 1694 and big 16th-century bas-relief of St. Florian adorns the south wall. Famed 19th-century painter Jan Matejko designed the stone eagle on the other side of the gate tower.
At the Floriańska Gate Krakow's Royal Road begins. Here entered kings and princes, foreign envoys and guests of distinction, coronation processions and other parades, to move up the Florianska Street to the central Market Square, and further down the Grodzka Street to the Wawel Royal Castle.
- Medieval Walls
- Until the 19th century Cracow was encircled by fortifications. The inner wall was about 2.4 m wide and 6-7 m high. There was also the outer, lower wall. The walls were interrupted by towers, which were about 10 m high. In 1473 there were 17 towers. However, in the 19th century, just before they were demolished - there were 47 towers. Nowadays there are only three Gothic towers left in Cracow: the Carpenters' Tower, the Haberdashers' and the Joiners' Towers, connected to the St Florian Gate by a several-dozen-metres-long stretch of walls.
- Cracow churches
-
- St Andrew's Church
- St. Andrew Church was built between 1079-1098. It was important for the defence of the city. During the Tatar invasion in 1241 it served as a shelter for the Cracow citizens. Built in Romanesque style it is one of the oldest buildings in Kraków. Since 1320 it has been owned by the Order of St. Klara's Its interiors are baroque: decorations by Baltazar Fontana, paintings by Karol Dankwart and gilded altars.
- Dominicans' Church
- The Dominican Church was the site of the original wooden church of the Krakow burghers, dedicated to the Holy Trinity and erected in place of the former pagan temple.
In 1222 the Bishop of Krakow, Iwo Odrowąż, at the instigation of his kinsman St.Hyacinth (St.Jacek) installed the Dominicans in Krakow - their first base in Poland.
The basilica with a nave and two aisles was erected in the 13th century - in its construction brick was used for the first time in Krakow - and rebuilt several times.
There is a beautiful late 14th century stone portal, richly ornamented with carved floral motifs, inside the neo-Gothic vestibule.
The 1850 fire ravaged the interior and the vault of the nave. In the chancel there is the bronze slab of the humanist scholar Filippo Buonaccorsi (Kallimach) designed by Wit Stwosz in 1496, and a copy of the tombstone of Leszek Czarny ("the Black"), Duke of Krakow. The chapel of St.Hyacinth, 1614-18, has stucco decoration and contains the tomb of St.Hyacinth by Fontana.
The Myszkowski Chapel, 1603-14, ( the fifth chapel in the south aisle) makes striking use of black and white marbles; the busts of the family are in the dome. The next chapel contains a miraculous image of Our Lady of the Rosary; the crypt is the resting place of Teofila Sobieska - mother of Jan Sobieski. The monastery cloisters with preserved fragments of walls are among the oldest in Krakow.
- Franciscans' Church
- Franciscans' Church was founded by Duke Henry the Pious for monks coming from Prague.
A single-nave Greek cruciform church was constructed in 1269, a sacristy, side chapels and cloisters being added later. Wladyslaw Łokietek made a dramatic escape from the monastery in a basket lowered over the city walls. Wladyslaw Jagiello - the pagan Lithuanian chosen by the Poles as their king - was baptised and then crowned here in 1386. Several fires caused the collapse of the tower and destroyed the medieval furnishings. The present neo-Gothic interior contains magnificent Art Nouveau stained glass and wall paintings of flowers forming a hymn to St.Francis (in the chapel and transept) by Stanislaw Wyspiański, carried out after the disastrous city fire of 1850.
The northern chapel contains Stations of the Cross painted by Jozef Mehoffer. The remains of Boleslaw the Bashful, Duke of Krakow (who issued the city's foundation charter in 1257), his sister Salome and Piotr Kochanowski are buried in the church. The monastery cloisters contain a gallery of portraits of the Bishops of Krakow.
The monastery itself was the home of St. Maximilian Kolbe before his deportation and martyrdom at Auschwitz.
- St Catharine's Church
- St Catherine's Church was founded by Kazimierz Wielki in 1363 for the Augustinian order but was badly damaged by floods and earthquakes in the 15th and 18th centuries and by Austrian vandalism.
It is one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in Poland. It is a three-aisle basilica with no towers and no transept.
The Baroque high altar has a magnificent painting showing St Catherine.
The ceiling bosses spell out "Kazimierz". The gardens are surrounded by high walls - 14th.century remains of the old town of Kazimierz.
- Corpus Christi Church
- The Corpus Christi Church was founded by Kazimierz Wielki in 1340. It was the first church in Kazimierz and for a long time the main parish church. The front elevation has a Gothic gable but the interior is Baroque with a beautiful high altar (1634-7), massive stalls in the chancel (1624-32) and an 18th century boat-shaped pulpit. St Anne's Chapel houses the tomb of Berrecci, the creator of the Zygmunt Chapel in the Wawel Cathedral. The church was used by Charles X Augustus as his headquarters during the Swedish siege of Krakow.
- St Mark's Church
- St Mark's Church is one of the oldest churches in Cracow. It was founded by Boleslaus the Chaste together with a monastery for the Augustinian monks brought to Cracow from Prague (known as "marki"). On the wall along Sławkowska St there is an interesting, late Gothic Passion with figures of St John and
St Mary.
Blessed Michał Giedroyć is buried in the church.
- Holy Cross Church
- The Holy Cross Church, a brick, medieval church was raised in stages from 1300 to 1500. Its massive silhouette is dominated by the facade tower and the steep pointed roof. The interior is different from other Gothic churches in Cracow. The nave is filled with light and rich with spacial effects due to the bald Late Gothic construction of a single-pillar vault. St Sofia's Chapel is worth mentioning - it is where Jan Matejko was baptized.
- St Giles' Church
- At the end of Grodzka Street there is a small, 14th century Gothic St Giles'Church. According to the tradition the church was founded by Wladyslaw Herman, the Cracow Duke, after his son had been born in 1082.
The stalls and door frames are made up of fragments of the old shrine of St.Jacek (1581-3) removed from the Dominicans' church in the 17th.century.
- St Barbara's Church
- St. Barbara's Church was founded in the 14th century by Mikolaj Wierzynek. Handed over to the Jesuits in 1583 it was remodelled in the Baroque style in the 17th century. The present external form is still Gothic, while the interior is Baroque. Next to the main entrance there is the late 15th century Gethsemane.
Among the works of art inside the church you can see the picture of St Mary of Jurowice, considered to be miraculous and, on the left, the stone pieta group (c.1410), one of the finest examples of the so-called beautiful style of Late Gothic sculpture.
- St Peter and Paul's Church
- The Church of St Peter and Paul was built between 1596-1619 and founded by the Jesuit Order by King Zygmunt III Waza. It resembles the Il Gesu church in Roma. Built in Baroque style, it has one nave surrounded by a number of chapels. The entrance doorway is decorated by the sculptures of the 12 apostles created by David Heel. In the monumental interior there is a late Baroque Main Altar constructed in 1735 by Kacper Bażanka with the painting, "Granting the Keys to St. Peter", by Józef Brodowski. The crypt inside the church contains the remains of Piotr Skarga, a distinguished Polish priest.
The FOUCAULT pendulum presented inside demonstrates the rotational movement of the Earth.
- St Martin's Church
- St.Martin's Church, baroque in style, was built by Giovanni Batista Trevano between 1638-44 and used for Lutheran worship since 1816. In the main altar there is a painting of Christ Calming the Storm by Henryk Siemiradzki and a 14th century crucifix.
- Piarist Church
- The Piarist order was settled in Cracow in the second half of the 17th century, and their two-tier church was built from 1718 to 1728 by Kasper Bażanka. The present shape of the facade is due to Francesco Placidi (1759-1761). It is based on the 16th century Gesu Church in Rome.
- St Anne's Church
- For centuries the church was as much a university building . Official inaugurations of the academic year took place here, their center point being the parade of robed professors to the auditorium for the opening lecture.
St.Anne's Church is one of Poland's most beautiful Baroque churches. The present building replaced the medieval University church (built on this site in 14th century) when it became too small for the cult of St Jan Kanty/Cantius (1390-1473, canonised 1767, a University professor whose frugal cell can be seen in the Collegium Maius).
It was designed by the royal architect Tylman van Gameren in 1689-1703, based on the S.Andrea della Valle in Rome. It has a four-bay nave flanked by chapels, a dome over the crossing and a three-bay chancel.
The magnificent plasterwork and the altars are the most important work of Baltazar Fontana. The frescoes and paintings are by Carlo and Innocenzo Monti and Karl Dankwart. The fine furnishings include the shrine of St. Jan Kanty near Turkish standards presented by Sobieski; the bust of St.John is the work of Franciszek Wyspiański. There is a Neoclassical monument to Copernicus (whose work was on the Index at the time).
For centuries the church was a university building. Official inaugurations of the academic year took place here, their center point being the parade of robed professors to the auditorium for the opening lecture.
- St Archangel Michael and St Stanislaw Church "on the Rock"
- The Paulite Monastery and the Baroque Church of St Michael the Archangel and St Stanislaw "on the Rock" is known as "Na Skałce".
The first church was built here, on the small limestone outcrop, in the 11th century to honour the bishop, Stanislaw, beheaded by Boleslaw The Chase in 1079.
The bishop was canonised in 1253 and became the patron saint of Poland.
In the 14th.century a Gothic church was built here which in 1733 was replaced by the present structure designed by Anton Gerhardt Muntzer.
It has a high elevation with two towers and a wonderful staircase under which there is a crypt: the National Pantheon housing the tombs of:
Jan Długosz,
Wincenty Pol,
Lucjan Siemieński,
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski,
Teofil Lenartowicz,
Adam Asnyk,
Henryk Siemiradzki,
Stanisław Wyspiański,
Jacek Malczewski,
Karol Szymanowski,
Ludwik Solski,
Tadeusz Banachiewicz,
Czesław Miłosz.
The "pool" is probably the site where St.Stanislaw's finger fell when it was hacked off; the waters have been credited with miraculous healing powers. Before their coronation, all new kings came to this site to carry out a solemn ritual of penitence and expiation.
- St Florian's Church
- The first church where the present Pope John Paul II was a vicar.
It was frequently damaged and rebuilt and lost its medieval character. Now it is an imposing Baroque building dating from 17th century - after the Swedish invasion.
The best picture in the church is by Jan Tricius and represents St Florian.
- Old Jewish District Kazimierz
-
Kazimierz was founded as a separate town by King Casimir the Great in 1335 and named after him. It was built on an island on the Vistula River just south of Kraków which was then Poland's capital city. Today, the northern branch of the river no longer exists so there is no physical border between Kazimierz and Kraków's Old Town. Kazimierz was chiefly a merchant town and a competitor for the nearby capital.
In 1495 the Jews who had lived in the western part of Kraków were expelled to make room for a new campus of the Jagiellonian University, and forced to move to Kazimierz. From then on Kazimierz was divided into two parts – a Christian one in the west and a Jewish one in the east. Eventually, Kazimierz became the main spiritual and cultural center of Polish Jewry. For centuries it was a place dotted with churches and synagogues where Poles and Jews lived peacefully side by side.
In 1800 Kraków's administrative borders expanded and Kazimierz became one of the city's districts. During the Second World War, the Jews were transferred by the Nazis from Kazimierz to a ghetto in Podgórze, just across the river. Most of them were later killed during the liquidation of the ghetto or in death camps.
After the war Kazimierz became a backwater area with rather bad reputation. However, this has completely changed during the last decade when many of the district's monuments were restored while mushrooming cafés and restaurants – many of them Jewish-themed – started to attract locals and tourists alike. Kazimierz has also been the site of the Jewish Culture Festival since 1988. Steven Spielberg shot his Schindler's List here in 1993.
-
- Old Synagogue in Cracow
- The Old Synagogue is one of the oldest synagogues that survived in Europe. Built in the second half of the 15th century, it was rebuilt after a fire in 1557 by Mateo Gucci (at that time it received its Renaissance interior) and again in the 20th century by Zygmunt Hendel. It was restored (after Nazi destruction) in 1956-59. The interior has two naves and two slender columns holding up sexpartite vaults. In 1794 Kościuszko appealed from the bimah for aid (the Jews responded patriotically as they did again in 1830 and 1863). The Torah shrine in the wall is original. The building now houses the Jewish Museum.
- Izaak Synagogue
- The synagogue was founded in 1644 by a chairman of the Cracow Kahal Izaak Jakubowicz.
The synagogue has a moralistic Rabbinical legend attached to it: Izaak, a poor man, had a dream about a pot of gold hidden under a bridge in Prague. He went there and found nothing. A soldier that he met laughed at him and told him that he also had a dream of gold hidden behind a stove in a Jewish house in Cracow but that he was not so foolish to go all the way to Cracow because of a dream. And so Izaak returned home and found treasure behind his stove. He became a rich man. He used to say that one can find treasure at home but to do so one has to go away.
- Kupa Synagogue
- Kupa Synagogue in Warszauera Street was built in the early 17th century. It is richly decorated with paintings from the 1920's on the walls, ceiling and in the women's section. The depictions include the holy places Hebron, Tiberias, and Jerusalem. There are also Biblical scenes and illustrations to verses in Psalms.
A carved wood and stucco Torah ark, from the early 17th century, also remains in the synagogue. The Kupa Synagogue, which has been undergoing restorations for the past eleven years, is no longer in use.
- Synagogue and cemetery Remuh
- The Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery is still used by Krakow's surviving Jews.
This is the smallest synagogue in Kazimierz, established in 1553 by Israel Isserles (Zygmunt August's banker). It is associated with his son Rabbi Moses Isserles - a famous philosopher and scholar, who is buried in the Remuh cemetery.
The cemetery has Renaissance tombstones discovered during conservation work; it is unique in Europe. The tombstone of Rabbi Moses (1572) is easily recognised by the stones placed on it as a mark of respect. Other tombstones broken up by the Nazis have been put together to form a high and dramatic "wailing wall".
- Tempel Synagogue
-
The Reformed (or Tempel) Synagogue is the latest in Krakow. It was built between 1860-62 and is now occasionally used (mostly during the annual Jewish Festival in July).
The facade is triaxial and has two storeys. The extensive interior has colourful decoration. The stained glass is decorated with geometrical, plant and animal motifs.
- High Synagogue
-
The High Synagogue, on Józefa St., is so called because the preying house is on the first fool. Built in the second half of the 16th century, it has a Late Renaissance portal. The synagogue is not used now.
- Wolf Popper's Synagogue
-
Wolf Popper's Synagogue was founded by a rich Jew called Poper, which means a stork (he was said to stand on one leg while thinking) in 1620. Now it is not used as a synagogue but as a "house of culture".
Based on Wikipedia - Free Encyclopedia.
