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Kraków, also Krakow, or Cracow, is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River (Polish: Wisła) in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century.[Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic centres. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596; the capital of the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918; and the capital of Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.
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News
General Information
Public Transportation
Things To Do
History and Culture
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2012. 01. 26. - International Shanty Festival
22nd - 26th Februrary 2012
Cracow is proud to host the biggest shanty festival of the year, so be sure to have your parrots and eye-patches at the ready for a barmy weekend that you won't forget. More info...
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2011. 11. 30. - Cracovian Nativity Scenes
1st December 2011 - 24th February 2012
Since 1945, the first Thursday in December (this year 1 December) has been a celebration of Kraków’s nativity scenes. For futher information click here...
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2011. 08. 24. - 9th Sacrum Profanum Festival in Cracow
11st-18th September 2011
Sacrum Profanum is a festival that presents the music of the 20th century, but has already earned the status of one of the most interesting musical events in Europe. Read more...
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 Population: 760 000 (with the agglomeration. 1 250 000).
Climate: The city is iside the continent, its climate is moderate. 6 different seasons are distinguished: prewinter, winter, prespring, spring, wummer and autumn. Winter is varied, and there are that snow does not come for years. The middle part of Poland is the driest part of the country, most of the wet weather is found in the mountains. Summer is usually hot, but storms oftenly cut the sunshine.
Religion: Roman Catholic
Currency: The official currency in Cracow is the polish zloty.
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From the Airport
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From Katowice Airport to Cracow city transfers can be booked from our booking website.
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Trams and buses:
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Krakow’s main bus terminal is located behind the city’s main train station Kraków Główny, just northeast of the Old Town. Lines are run by a number of different operators and include daily services to major destinations in Poland and neighboring countries. To get around Krakow city, local buses operate on throughout the centre and suburbs. Tickets can be purchased via vending machines, kiosks and must be stamped upon boarding.
Operated by the MPK Municipal Transport Company, trams provide a convenient and economical way to see the sights, with single fares starting from just PLN 2.50. 25 tramlines traverse the city, with services running between 6am and midnight. All tickets need to be purchased at the kiosks next to the trams stops. For longer term visitors weekly and monthly passes are also available.
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Railway
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Trains are maintained and operated by Polish Railways and depart from the main train station (Kraków Główny). The station offers daily services to Poland’s major cities and other international destinations such as Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Hamburg, Kiev and Odessa. Tickets usually require advance bookings, and this can be done online or at any regional train station.
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Taxi:
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There are many official taxis that operate throughout Krakow and can be hailed on the street or pre-booked by telephone or via a hotel. Predominantly operated by large companies, vehicles are almost always licensed and use their meters during the day. Be aware that it is often cheaper to pre-book vehicles.
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Prices: For the detailed pricing of mass transportation methods in Cracow please refer to the table below.
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city zone
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full fare
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general discount
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special discount
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any one journey
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2,50 PLN
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1,35 PLN
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1,25 PLN
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15-minutes'
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1,80 PLN
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1,00 PLN
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0,90 PLN
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hourly
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3,10 PLN
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1,65 PLN
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1,55 PLN
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90-min
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4,60 PLN
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2,80 PLN
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2,30 PLN
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24-hour
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10,40 PLN
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5,70 PLN
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5,20 PLN
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48-hour
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18,80 PLN
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1,50 PLN
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9,40 PLN
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72-hour
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25,00 PLN
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15,60 PLN
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12,50 PLN
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weekly
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38,00 PLN
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23,60 PLN
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19,00 PLN
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agglomeration
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any one journey
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3,00 PLN
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1,70 PLN
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1,50 PLN
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There are two types of discounted tickets in use in Krakow:
- special discount tickets are used by students, with the exception of postgraduate and Phd studies
- general discount tickets are used by school pupils, Phd students, Polish and foreign pensioners up 70 years old, students of foreign universities – holders of ISIC or EURO 26 Student World cards.
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Wawel - Spiritual home of the Nation
As you head south through the Old Town the streets begin to taper until you arrive at the foot of Wawel Hill, seat of the Royal Castle and Cathedral. Wawel lies on a small hill above the Vistula and it was here that the earliest settlements in the city began, some fifty thousand years ago.
Wawel is less a quarter than it is a rambling complex of historic buildings. Few ordinary citizens live here, and the most distinguished residents, the Kings of Poland, passed on many centuries ago. Yet the phantoms of these monarchs are ever-present, wandering about with furrowed brows, and shaking their fists at the great what-ifs of their country's history.
Architecturally, Wawel is something of a hodge-podge, with all kinds of shapes and styles jostling for attention. This might come as no surprise when you think that people have been living here since around 3000BC in the Neolithic period, and have lived and built on the hill successively ever since. However, whatever cohesion the Wawel lacks aesthetically it more than makes up for in terms of soul. For this is the spiritual home of the nation. And if one was to take England as a point of comparison, one might consider Wawel as a kind of Westminster Abbey and Camelot rolled into one. It is steeped in myth, yet with all the added poignancy of a nation that has had to endure more than its fair share of trials. And despite the apparent muddle of bits, Wawel has a charm that can exert a powerful hold. Its very lack of classical harmony becomes one of its endearing features. And besides, there are some real jewels here, among them the exquisite cathedral chapels, the renaissance courtyard and the State Rooms themselves. You can also climb up the old bell-tower or burrow down into the Dragon's Lair. All in all there is a wealth of things to do, not only for those dignified elderly folk, but for children too.
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St. Florian' gate
 The tower, named after St. Florian, had been developed by Prince Leszek II the Black, who in 1285 had issued a permit for erection of all city defenses. The Gate was manned by the Cracow Furriers Guild. According to records, by 1473 there were 17 towers defending the city; a century later, there were 33. Also, in 1565–66 a municipal arsenal was built next to St. Florian's Gate.
The Gate tower is 33.5 meters tall. The Baroque metal "helmet" that crowns the gate, constructed in 1660 and renovated in 1694, adds another meter to the height of the gate. It is the only city gate, of the original eight built in the Middle Ages, that was not dismantled during the 19th-century "modernization" of Cracow. The adjoining city walls and two additional, smaller towers have been preserved and today host street displays of amateur art available for purchase.
The south face of St. Florian's Gate is adorned with an 18th-century bas-relief of St. Florian. The tower's north face bears a stone eagle that was carved in 1882 by Zygmunt Langman, based on a design by painter Jan Matejko. Inside the gate is an altar with a late-Baroque copy of a classicist painting of the Piaskowa Madonna.
At St. Florian's Gate begins Cracow's Royal Road. Through it once entered kings and princes, foreign envoys and distinguished guests, and parades and coronation processions. They traveled up ulica Floriańska (St. Florian's Street) to the Main Market Square, and on up ulica Grodzka (Castle Street) to Wawel Castle.
By the beginning of the 19th century, the expanding city had begun to outgrow the confines of the old city walls. The walls had been falling into disrepair for a hundred years due to lack of maintenance after the Partitions of Poland. The stagnant moat fed by the Rudawa River was a dump for illegal garbage and posed health concerns for the city. Such dire circumstances inspired Emperor Franz I of Austro-Hungary to order the dismantling of the city walls. However, on January 13, 1817, Professor Feliks Radwański of Jagiellonian University managed to convince the Session of the Senate of the Republic of Cracow to legislate the partial preservation of the old fortifications—St. Florian's Gate and the adjoining barbican.
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Cloth Hall
The Renaissance Sukiennice (Cloth Hall, Drapers' Hall) in Cracow, Poland, is one of the city's most recognizable icons. It is the central feature of the Main Market Square in the Cracow Old Town (listed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978). It was once a major centre of international trade. Traveling merchants met there to discuss business and to barter. During its golden age in the 15th century, Sukiennice was the source of a variety of exotic imports from the East – spices, silk, leather and wax – while Cracow itself exported textiles, lead, and salt from the Wieliczka Salt Mine.
 Cracow – Poland's royal capital – was among the most magnificent cities in Europe already from before the time of the Renaissance. However, its prosperity would not last indefinitely. The city's decline was hastened by wars and politics leading to the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century. By the time of the architectural restoration proposed for Sukiennice in 1870 under Austro-Hungarian rule, much of the historic city center was decrepit. Nevertheless, a change in political fortunes for the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria ushered in a local revival of sorts due to newly established Legislative Assembly or Sejm, and the successful renovation of the Cloth Hall was one of the proudest achievements of this period.
The Hall has hosted countless distinguished guests over the centuries and is still used to entertain monarchs and dignitaries. Britain's Prince Charles and Emperor Akihito of Japan were welcomed here in 2002. In times gone by, balls were held here, most notably after Prince Józef Poniatowski had liberated the city from the Austrian Empire in 1809. Aside from its grand history and great cultural value, the hall still flourishes as a bustling center of commerce, albeit offering items for sale that are radically different from those of previous centuries — mainly souvenirs for tourists.
Other, similar cloth halls have existed in other Polish as well as other European cities such as in Ypres, Belgium; Braunschweig, and in Leeds, England; but the one in Cracow is the best-known and best-preserved.
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Crakow barbican
The Cracow barbican (Polish: barbakan krakowski) is a barbican – a fortified outpost once connected to the city walls. It is a historic gateway leading into the Old Town of Cracow, Poland. The barbican is one of the few remaining relics of the complex network of fortifications and defensive barriers that once encircled the royal city of Cracow, in the south of Poland. It currently serves as a tourist attraction and venue for a variety of exhibitions.
 Based on Arabic rather than European defensive architecture, this masterpiece of medieval military engineering, with its circular fortress, was added to the city's fortifications along the coronation route in the late 15th century.
The Gothic-style barbican, built around 1498, is one of only three such fortified outposts still surviving in Europe, and the best preserved. It is a moated cylindrical brick structure with an inner courtyard 24.4 meters in diameter, and seven turrets. Its 3-meter-thick walls hold 130 embrasures. The barbican was originally linked to the city walls by a covered passageway that led through St. Florian's Gate and served as a checkpoint for all who entered the city. On its eastern wall, a tablet commemorates the feat of the Cracow burgher, Marcin Oracewicz, who, during the Bar Confederation, defended the town against the Russians and shot their Colonel Panin.
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Wieliczka Salt Mine
The Wieliczka Salt Mine, located in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland, lies within the Cracow metropolitan area. The mine continuously produced table salt from the 13th century until 2007 as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines. It is believed to be the world's 14th-oldest company still in operation.
The mine's attractions for tourists include dozens of statues and an entire chapel that has been carved out of the rock salt by the miners. About 1.2 million people visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine annually.
Commercial mining was discontinued in 1996 due to low salt prices and mine flooding.
The Wieliczka salt mine reaches a depth of 327 meters and is over 300 km long. It features a 3.5-km touring route for visitors (less than 1% of the length of the mine's passages) that includes historic statues and mythical figures. The oldest sculptures were carved out of rock salt by miners; more recent figures have been fashioned by contemporary artists. Even the crystals of the chandeliers are made from rock salt that has been dissolved and reconstituted to achieve a clear, glass-like appearance. The rock salt is naturally gray in various shades, so that the carvings resemble unpolished granite rather than the white or crystalline look that many visitors expect. The carvings may appear white in the photos, but the actual carved figures are not white.
At the end of the tour, there is a large chapel and reception room that can be reserved for private functions such as weddings or private parties. Also featured is a large chamber with walls carved to resemble wooden chapels built by miners in earlier centuries; an underground lake; and exhibits on the history of salt mining. The Wieliczka mine is often referred to as "the Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland." It also houses a private rehabilitation and wellness complex.
Over the centuries, visitors to this site have included Nicolaus Copernicus, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Fryderyk Chopin ( 23 July 1829), Dmitri Mendeleyev, Bolesław Prus (1878), Ignacy Paderewski, Robert Baden-Powell, Jacob Bronowski (who filmed segments of The Ascent of Man in the mine), Karol Wojtyła (the later Pope John Paul II), former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and many others. During World War II, the salt mine was used by the occupying Germans as facilities for war-related industries.
To get down to the 64-metre level of the mine, visitors must descend a wooden stairway of 378 steps. After the three-kilometer tour of the mine's corridors, chapels, statues and lake, 135 metres underground, visitors take an elevator back up to the surface. The elevator holds 36 people (nine per car) and takes some 30 seconds to reach the surface (although the wait to board the elevator can be long).
The salt mine helped inspire the Labyrinth scenes in Bolesław Prus' 1895 historical novel, Pharaoh.
In 1978 the Wieliczka salt mine was placed on the original UNESCO list of the World Heritage Sites.
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Early history
Cracow's prehistory begins with evidence of a Stone Age settlement on the present site of the Wawel Hill. A legend attributes Cracow's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski. The first written record of the city's name dates back to 966, when Cracow was described as a notable commercial centre owned by a Bohemian duke. Mieszko took Cracow from Bohemians and incorporated it into the holdings of the Piast dynasty towards the end of his reign.
In 1038, Cracow became the seat of the Polish government. By the end of the 10th century, the city was a leading centre of trade. Brick buildings were constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle with St. Felix and Adaukt Rotunda, Romanesque churches such as St. Adalbert's, a cathedral, and a basilica. The city was almost entirely destroyed during the Mongol invasion of 1241. It was rebuilt in a form practically unaltered, and incorporated in 1257 by the king, with city rights based on the Magdeburg law allowing for tax benefits and new trade privileges for its citizens. In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols. A third attack followed in 1287, repelled thanks in part to the new built fortifications.
The city rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III of Poland founded the University of Cracow, the second oldest university in central Europe after the Charles University in Prague. The city continued to grow under the joint Lithuanian-Polish Jagiellon dynasty. As the capital of the Kingdom of Poland and a member of the Hanseatic League, the city attracted many craftsmen, businesses, and guilds as science and the arts began to flourish.
Golden age
The 15th and 16th centuries were known as Poland's Złoty Wiek or Golden Age. Many works of Polish Renaissance art and architecture were created then, including ancient synagogues in Cracow's Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, such as the Old Synagogue. During the reign of Casimir IV, various artists came to work and live in Cracow, and Johann Haller established a printing press in the city after Kasper Straube had printed the Calendarium Cracoviense, the first work printed in Poland, in 1473.
In 1520, the most famous church bell in Poland, named Zygmunt after Sigismund I of Poland, was cast by Hans Behem. At that time, Hans Dürer, a younger brother of Albrecht Dürer, was Sigismund's court painter. Hans von Kulmbach made altarpieces for several churches. In 1572, King Sigismund II, the last of the Jagiellons, died childless. The Polish throne passed to Henry III of France and then to other foreign-based rulers in rapid succession, causing a decline in the city's importance that was worsened by pillaging during the Swedish invasion and by an outbreak of bubonic plague that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. In 1596, Sigismund III of the Swedish House of Vasa moved the capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Cracow to Warsaw.
18th to early 20th century
Already weakened during the 18th century, by mid-1790 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had been twice partitioned by its neighbors: Russia, the Habsburg empire, and Prussia. In 1794, Tadeusz Kościuszko initiated an unsuccessful insurrection in the town's Main Square which, in spite of his victorious Battle of Racławice against numerically superior Russian army, resulted in the third and final partition of Poland. Following the Uprising, Cracow became part of the Austrian partition in a province of Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte captured former Polish territories from Austria and made the town part of the Duchy of Warsaw. Following Napoleon's defeat in Russia, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 mostly restored earlier structures, although it also created the partially independent Free City of Cracow. As in 1794, an insurrection in 1846 failed; resulting in the city being annexed by Austria under the name the Grand Duchy of Cracow (Polish: Wielkie Księstwo Krakowskie).
In 1866, Austria granted a degree of autonomy to Galicia after the Austro-Prussian War, and Cracow became a Polish national symbol and a centre of culture and art, known frequently as the "Polish Athens" (Polskie Ateny) or "Polish Mecca". Many leading Polish artists of the period resided in Cracow, among them the seminal painter Jan Matejko, laid to rest at Rakowicki Cemetery, and the founder of modern Polish drama, Stanisław Wyspiański. Fin de siècle Cracow evolved into a modern metropolis; running water and electric streetcars were introduced in 1901, and between 1910 and 1915, Cracow and surrounding suburban communities were gradually combined into a single administrative unit called Greater Cracow (Wielki Kraków).
At the outbreak of World War I on 3 August 1914, Józef Piłsudski formed a small cadre military unit, the First Cadre Company—the predecessor of the Polish Legions—which set out from Cracow to fight for the liberation of Poland. The city was briefly besieged by Russian troops in November 1914, but they were pushed back afterwards. The Austrian rule in Cracow ended in 1918 when the Polish Liquidation Committee assumed power.
1918 to the present
With the emergence of the Second Polish Republic, Cracow restored its role as a major academic and cultural centre with the establishment of new universities such as the AGH University of Science and Technology and the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, including a number of new and essential vocational schools. It became an important cultural centre for the Polish Jews with a Zionist youth movement relatively strong among the city's Jewish population. Cracow was also an influential centre of Jewish spiritual life, with all its manifestations of religious observance from Orthodox, to Chasidic and Reform flourishing side by side.
Following the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Nazi German forces turned the city into the capital of the General Government, a colonial authority headed by Hans Frank and seated in Wawel Castle. In an operation called "Sonderaktion Krakau", more than 180 university professors and academics were arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps, though the survivors were later released on the request of prominent Italians. The Jewish population was first confined to a ghetto and later murdered or sent to concentration camps, including Płaszów and Auschwitz in Oświęcim. Roman Polanski, the film director, is a survivor of the Ghetto, while Oskar Schindler, the German businessman portrayed in the Steven Spielberg film Schindler's List, selected employees from the Ghetto to work in his enamelware plant (Deutsche Emailwaren Fabrik, or Emalia for short), thus saving them from the camps.
Cracow remained relatively undamaged at the end of World War II. After the war, under the Stalinist regime, the intellectual and academic community of Cracow was put under total political control. The universities were soon deprived of their printing rights as well as their autonomy. The communist government of the People's Republic of Poland ordered construction of the country's largest steel mill in the newly created suburb of Nowa Huta. The creation of the giant Lenin Steelworks (now Sendzimir Steelworks owned by Mittal) sealed Cracow's transformation from a university city to an industrial centre. The new working class, drawn by the industrialization of the city, contributed to its rapid population growth.
In an effort that spanned two decades, Karol Wojtyła, cardinal archbishop of Cracow, successfully lobbied for permission to build the first churches in the new industrial suburbs. In 1978, Wojtyła was elevated to the papacy as John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In the same year, UNESCO placed Cracow Old Town on the first ever list of World Heritage Sites.
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Cracow
Cracow - General information