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Further Distractions

Muzeum Archidiecezjalne (Archdiocesan Museum)
Sacral art from the Cracow Archdiocese, thirteenth-century paintings and the Pope John Paul II room are among the attractions in this fourteenth-century canonic house.

ulica Kanonicza 19
Tel: (012) 421 8963. Fax: (012) 422 7523.
Transport: A short walk from Rynek Glowny.
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1500.
Admission: Z3 (concessions available).

Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego (Jagiellonian University Museum)
Housed in the mid-fifteenth-century Collegium Maius, the oldest building of the Cracow Academy (the university's forerunner) is an eclectic collection, including astronomical instruments that may have been used by Copernicus. Visits are by guided tour only.

ulica Jagiellonska 15
Tel: (012) 422 0549. Fax: (012) 422 2734.
E-mail: info@maius.in.uj.edu.pl
Website: www.uj.edu.pl/muzeum
Transport: A short walk from Rynek Glowny.
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 1100-1700.
Admission: Z7 (concessions available);

Centrum Sztuki i Techniki Japonskiej Manggha ('Manggha' Centre of Japanese Art and Technology)
While its appearance may be at odds with Cracow's many historic buildings, this centre has one of the continent's finest collection of ancient Japanese art housed in a sleek, glass and concrete building designed by Arata Isozaki.

ulica Konopnickiej 26
Tel: (012) 267 2703 or 267 0982. Fax: (012) 267 4079.
E-mail: centrum@manggha.krakow.pl
Website: www.manggha.krakow.pl/eng
Transport: Bus 119 or 179; tram 18 or 19.
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 1000-1800.
Admission: Z4 (concessions available); free Tues.

Nowa Huta (New Town)
Increased interest is targeting the former communist sites in Cracow and its typical 'Real Socialism' architecture. The best example of this style is the industrial district, Nowa Huta. This 'New Town' - with its wide boulevards, geometrically ordered streets and imposing buildings - extends from the Central Square (Plac Centralny). Yet while it characterises communist architectural style, it also displays the Poles' resistance to communism - as witnessed by the Church of the Virgin Mary Queen of Poland (Wojciech Pietrzyk), constructed between 1967-1977 in the Bienczyce Quarter.

Not everything in Nowa Huta is new. The Church of St Bartholomew (located at ulica Klasztorna, just in front of the eighteenth-century Cistercian Abbey) dates from the fifteenth century and is Poland's only surviving example of a medieval wooden church. Recently included in the European Culture Roads Programme, the church houses some beautiful fourteenth-century wall paintings, and a sculpture of Jesus. According to a local belief, hair is said to sprout from the head of the statue. The church is open 24 hours.



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