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| Home - City Guide - Cracow - City Overview | ||
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City Overview The fourth largest city in Poland, Cracow (Krakow) is the new capital of the Malopolska (Little Poland) region in the southeast of the country, between the Jura uplands and the Tatra Mountains. This magical city, on the banks of the Wisla (Vistula) River, has one of the best-preserved medieval city centres in Europe, with dozens of churches covering almost every architectural period and surrounded by monasteries and abbeys. Laid out in 1257, the Rynek Glowny (Main Market Square) is one of the largest medieval market squares in Europe - and a remarkable set piece fronted by elegant façades. It is dominated by the sixteenth-century Sukiennice (Cloth Hall), which continues to perform its role as a trading centre with lively market stalls and pavement cafÉs in and around the building. The surrounding lanes of the Stare Miasto (Old Town) are ringed by the Planty, a leafy, linear park that follows the line of the Old Town walls. Wawel Hill, to the south, is home to Wawel Castle, the seat of Polish kings from the eleventh to the early seventeenth century. It was at this location, in 1000, that the bishopric of Cracow was established and the Cathedral remains the spiritual home of Poland. The city has largely been left intact since the Tartar raids of the thirteenth century - and this accounts for the largely unspoilt Old Town - now a World Heritage Site. One area that has seen traumatic changes is the Kazimierz district. For centuries it was a centre of Jewish culture, until the Nazis killed many of its residents and deported most of the rest to the wartime ghetto and thence to Auschwitz-Birkenau. An astonishing one third of tourists visit Cracow within the context of a visit to the concentration camps an hour's drive away. Although the former ghetto had largely fallen into decline since World War II, the area is rapidly changing in response to the renewed interest brought about by the film, Schindler's List and the Jewish culture, if not the Jewish community, is being revived with lively Klezmer concerts in the city's theatres. Cracow's millennium coincided with the Krakow 2000 festival - a celebration of the city's many musical, literary and artistic achievements - and the choice of Cracow as one of the nine European Cities of Culture for 2000. The recognition of Cracow as a cultural capital is justly deserved - almost a quarter of Poland's museum holdings can be found here and the city's cultural scene is without equal in Poland. While Warsaw may be Poland's administrative capital - Cracow is frequently referred to as Poland's cultural capital. Cracow is steeped in myth and legend and many of its medieval traditions have carried forward to the present day. The city's cultural heritage is mirrored in its intellectual achievements - the Jagiellonian University is the oldest in Poland. The student population of the city numbers almost 100,000 and this can be felt in the lively atmosphere throughout the city. Added to this are the increasing numbers of tourists who have discovered Cracow. In response to this, even more bars, cafÉs and restaurants have been opening up, making the city centre all the more attractive a place to enjoy. Summers tend to be busy, as the weather is at its most pleasant. The seasons are sharply differentiated, with cold, snowy winters and 'fresh' springs and autumns - visitors should beware of the locals' use of the word 'fresh' - an optimistic reference to blatantly cold weather. The labyrinthine cellars of the Old Town are an ideal place to huddle in escape of the winter weather. |
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