Cracow - a tourist horn of plenty

Sukiennice-the Cloth Hall

Cracow, Poland's former royal capital, is one of the most attractive spots on the tourist map of Europe. This is a place where legends, history and modernity intertwine. The city, which lies on the banks of the Vistula River, is famous for its priceless historical monuments of culture and art.

A little bit of magic

Cracow is believed to be a place with magical powers. Apparently, a positive force emanates from the chakra found here-a holy stone, one of seven mysterious energy sources placed in different locations around the world. Besides history, art and atmosphere, Cracow also offers visitors entertainment and relaxation. Theatres, cabarets, clubs, cafes, bars, wine cellars and restaurants have something for everyone.

Collegium Maius

International festivals and other events are held either on the Main Market Square or beneath Wawel Castle. In spring, music lovers come here for the Easter Festival of Ludwig van Beethoven's Music. In August Cracow's churches resound with the Music in Old Cracow series. In summer the Main Market Square is a venue for the International Street Theatre Festival, and the district of Kazimierz hosts the Jewish Culture Festival.

Ever lively tradition

The Senators' Room in Wawel Castle

Cracow cultivates numerous ancient customs. Every year in June, the Lajkonik, a horse rider dressed in a stylized Tatar costume, dances from the convent of the Norbertine Nuns to the Main Market Square. This figure originates from the time when the city was threatened by the Tatars. Legend has it that during one foray, raftsmen living in Zwierzyniec, near Cracow, entered the enemy camp and killed the khan. The Tatars withdrew from the gates of Cracow, and the joyous victors-with a raftsman dressed as the khan at the front-triumphantly entered the city.

Cracow Christmas creř ches are world-famous. Made by folk artists and craftsmen, they combine the traditions of Baroque decoration with motifs from folk tales and legends. The most interesting creř ches are displayed in the Main Market Square around Christmas.

Wawel Cathedral

Wit Stwosz's altarpiece

The Main Market Square, approximately 200 m on each side, is the oldest part of the Old Town. Established at the crossroads of trade routes in 1257, it is one of Europe's largest city squares. The square is surrounded by tenement houses that once belonged to its wealthiest residents. Above the square rise the two towers of the Basilica of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary, known as Mariacki (St. Mary's) Church. This is the most valuable historic building in the Old Town. A bugle call is played from the higher tower every hour to the four corners of the world. The melody breaks off suddenly-apparently centuries ago, the bugler saw Tatar forces approaching the city and sounded the alarm. He was killed by the arrow of a Tatar warrior and although the bugler failed to finish the alarm call, Cracovians had enough time to prepare for the attack.

Renaissance treasures

The main altar of St. Mary's Church is worthy of admiration. Built by a sculptor from Nuremberg, Wit Stwosz, it was made in the 15th century from gilded and polychrome linden wood. It is Europe's largest Gothic wooden altar.

A synagogue in Cracow's Kazimierz district

In the middle of the Main Market Square stands Sukiennice, the Cloth Hall, built in the 14th century to house merchants, with a richly ornamented attic. The pearl of Cracow is the 14th-century Gothic Collegium Maius, the central building of Jagiellonian University. The university, established in 1364, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Kanonicza Street is a charming corner of the Old Town, where most of the buildings were erected from the 14th to the 18th centuries.

The Old Town is no longer guarded by defensive walls and moats. These have been replaced by the city park, called Planty, which surrounds the Old Town in a 4-km-long belt. One remnant of the old fortifications is Floriańska Gate-start of the Royal Road to Wawel Castle-and the Barbican beyond has also been preserved. This 15th-century historic building is the largest and best-preserved Gothic defense architecture of its kind in Europe.

A royal hill and a Jewish town

Mariacki-St. Mary's Church

Wawel, the seat of kings and bishops, sits on a limestone hill on the Vistula. Wawel cathedral has witnessed the most important religious and state ceremonies and nearly all of Poland's monarchs are buried in the crypts below. Among the Renaissance castle's most worthwhile sights are the Royal Chambers, featuring Flemish tapestries from the 16th and 17th centuries, and the Crown Treasury, with its 13th-century coronation sword, called Szczerbiec.

Cracow's Kazimierz district, established in the 14th century by King Kazimierz the Great, used to be a separate town where Christianity and Judaism coexisted for nearly five centuries. Jews began settling in Kazimierz in the late 15th century. At the center of today's Kazimierz is Szeroka Street, lined with Jewish cafes and restaurants, and the Old Synagogue-Europe's oldest preserved synagogue and one of its most valuable. Inside is an exposition from the Ethnographic Museum, The History and Culture of Cracow's Jews.

Attractions around the city

The interior of the Franciscan Church

Cracow's environs offer plenty of tourist attractions. Wieliczka is famous for one of the world's oldest salt mines, which is open to sightseers. The valley of the Prądnik River, part of Ojcowski National Park, is a unique nature reserve with a fairy-tale landscape carved from limestone. The ruined Gothic castle in Ojców and the beautifully preserved Renaissance castle in Pieskowa Skała are two more reasons to visit the park. Just 35 km south of Cracow is the Beskidy mountain range, and 100 km away, in the Tatra Mountains, lies Zakopane, dubbed the winter capital of Poland.