Oscar Schindler's Enamel Factory

Schindler's Factory is one of the well-known museum in Cracow. In the fast it was a former metal item factory, but now it hosts two museums: Museum of Contemporary Art in Cracow and Historical Museum of the city of Cracow. Before, it was the first this kind of factory in Malopolska. It's located in district Zablocie, on 4 Lipowa Street.

National Museum in Cracow

One of the most popular museums in Cracow is National Museum and its name sums up pretty everything. It was established in 1879 and is the main branch of Poland's National Museum, which has several independent branches located in main Polish cities. The Museum contains 21 departments. They are divided by art period. In addition, there are eleven galleries, two libraries and tvelwe conservation workshops. The Museum owns 780,000 art objects from classical archeology time to modern art and it especially focuses on Polish painting.

City gates and walls in Cracow

When we talk about Cracow city gates, we mean seven (or nine, depends on the way of counting) entrances to the city located in different areas around the oldest part of the city (today the Old Town). The gates were the parts of the city walls. Building of the city walls started in 1285 and it was changed through the years when the building was modernized and modified. Today we can admire only one gate – Floriajn Gate. But the oldest one was a Butcher's gate which was later replaced by Mikołajska Gate. Other gates were: Grodzka Gate, Sławkowska Gate, Szewska Gate, Wiślna Gate and New Gate. 

In 18th century old fortification started to be a problem, because it turned out into a dirty place full of trash and people from shady surrounding, so areas close to the city walls started to be a dangerous place with dirt and unpleasant smell. Because of that it was decided to destroy the walls and only because of Feliks Radwański, the professor of the Jagiellonian University, the piece of the walls could be saved – close to Barbakan and Floriańska Gate. Because of the stubborn professor nowadays people can admire the wonderful and renovated piece of the city walls and gates in gothic style.

Floriańska Gate is one of the best-known Polish gothic towers, which was built in 14th century (1307) for the protection against Turkish attack. The Gate towers is 33,5 meters tall. The Baroque metal part of the roof, which crowns the tower as made in the 15th century. Also, Royal Route begins at Florian Gate. Royal Road starts in Florian Gate, goes through the Main Swuare and Grodzka Street and finishes at Wawel Castle. Florian Gate is one of the most famous places in Cracow, admired by tourists as well. For example, so sure during many trips, like this one, you can have a chance to see Florian Gate and listen to its story from the guide.

Cracow then and now

It's hard to deny that an old photography has a charm. It's very interesting to watch how a city has been changing through the years. Nowadays, many buildings look different or they disappeared and their place took modern ones. A good example of the change is Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, which was destroyed during World War II and built again after so that nowadays it is much different than the city from the beginning of the XXth century. 

Cracow has changed as well, like any other city, and you can see it while looking at the unique vintage photographs.There is a project where you can find the same place but during the past and presence so you can compare how much it changed (or how much it did not changed). The idea became very popular and it gained a big number of follower in social media. It proves that people are curious how the cities looked in the past. Discovering that is a wonderful experience. 

Sometimes old photographies can be found on Planty or other popular places close to the Main Square, where thay are displayed. There are also websites with archives of old photos. Lots of the websites dedicated to Krakow post old photographies as well. It helps to learn more about history of Cracow, past and changes. 

You can find the examples of the old photographs here, here or here.

Saints Peter and Paul Church

Krakow has many architecture gems and one of them is Saints Peter and Paul Church on Grodzka Street, one of the most popular street in Krakow passed by many tourists everyday. The church is unique because it's the first building in baroque style in Krakow. It was funded by King Sigismund III Vasa for the Jesuit order. The project of the church was probably made by and Italian architect Giovanni de Rossi. The plan was started in 1597, then was modified by Giovanni Trevano who completed project in 1605-1619. The Church was ceremonially consecrated in 1635. 

Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology

Manggha Museum is a specific place and its history is also pretty interesting. It started in 1920 when Feliks Jasieński – critic, writer and collector of art with a pen name "Manggha" – donated his collection of artworks connected with Japan art to the National Museum in Krakow. The collection was huge, it included 6500 items! Because of the size, the collection wasn't exhibited. The only exception was in 1944, the exhibition was organised in Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) by Germans who were occupying Poland at that time. And a young Andrzej Wajda saw the exhibition and immediately he

became fascinated by Japanese art.

In 1987 the director came to Japan to receive a film award in Kioto. He decided to donate the entire money and build in Krakow place where Jasieński's collection can be shown. The project was supported by the goverment of Japan and Krakow city authorities. 

The building was designed by a Japanese architect, Arata Isozaki so 30^th November 1994 Manggha finally could be opened. The style of the building is contemporary but it connects both sides of Japan – modern and traditional. You can find there the exhibition but not only, in Manggha there are conference rooms as well. Also, the museum organises the courses in tea brewing, flower art (Ikebana) and Japanese language lessons. In 2002 Emperor Akihito with his wife, Michiko, visited Manggha Museum.

Krakow cinema

When we talk about culture, entertainment and leisure in Krakow, we should mention about the cinema! The city provides all kinds of repertoire for each type of recipient.

Take a close look at the history of cinema not not only in the city, but also in Poland. The first film show in the caoutry took place just in Cracow, in the city theater at the Holy Spirit Piazza in 1896. There were presented the company's Lumiere brothers films, among others: Baby's Breakfast, Postal square, French cavalry, Fin du Siecle butchers and Bath in the sea. To further demonstrations were used theater halls and rooms specially adapted to this. The first permanent cinema - Circus Edison - was founded in 1912, another was Cinematograph Orion Theater, Kineton theater and a series of modern cinema.