Travelling in time in Cracow

Cracow is not only about Main Square, The Cloth Hall or Vistula River and Wawel Castle. It's a travel back in time, but if you look for something else and less mainstream, you can try with closer past and check how people lived in communism. Nowa Huta, one of the district in Cracow, was created and built during communistic time and until today this place for many people brings memories from the past. You can see that arcitechture and some spirit of these days still stays in Nowa Huta. So how about taking a bus and checking what it looks like? Walking there you will have a chance to see unique and specific architecture but also check and listen to stories from the past. It's good to find a guide who will know more about the most interesting places in Nowa Huta. For example here you can find a tour that is perfect for this kind of sightseeing prepared by DiscoverCracow. There is also an art gallery. Nowa Huta was created with hope that it will be an example of perfect communistic city. So will be able to learn how a perfect city looked like for a communistic people.

Stained Glass Museum

For museum lovers there is another place worth of visiting – Stainmed Glass Museum, where you can discover amazaing glass masterpieces from modieval or modern art. You can admire glass art and watch how it's been developing through centuries. You won't only see the items already made but you will be able to see the whole process.

The exhibition exsists since 1902. While visiting you will have a chance to observe the whole process. It hasn't been changed since Middla Ages! The Museum was built and designed especially for the needs of the oldes workshop where these unique pieces are created. 

Like it was said, it reaches until Middla Ages but also some contemporary glass masterpieces are worht of mentioning. Especially the ones from Polish Art Noveau period, colorful, light and poetic. Each item has its own unique story. You can also loearn something about artists and the history of polish culture from that time.

Idf you want, you van go there on your own – it's located on Krasińskiego Street. You can also choose the special trip with a guide who will explain everything and tell you more interesting facts about the museum and glass art. For example, here you can find more information about the trip.

Cracow Conrad Festival

One of the most interesting and cultural events in Cracow during Autumn is Conrad Festival. This festival is dedicated to literature, not only connected to Polish authors, but also writers from many other countries. Every year you can meet many famous writers from different countries and listen to their opinions about literature, books, writing and many other issues.
Everyone, who is at least a bit interested in literature, should attend in the events. Each year it accompanies the Cracow Book Fair, another big even for every book lover. The concept of the Conrad Festival is based on two principles. Each day of the festival is devoted to a separate phenomenon related to literature. The culmination of each day is a meeting with a foreign writer as well as many related events.
On the seventh edition of the Conrad Festival in 2015, the Conrad Award (whose monetary worth is 30,000 zł) will be given. This prize will be awarded for debut books published in the previous year in Poland by up-and-coming writers. The city of Krakow is the main sponsor, in partnership with the Book Institute, Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation and Krakow Festival Office. Nominations for this award are put forward by readers and publishing houses.
You can find here more about festival program, the guest, topics and places. Festival starts 19th October and will finishes 25th October.
So far, the guest who attended on the festival were: recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature Herta Müller and Orhan Pamuk, Marjane Satrapi, Amos Oz, Rabih Alameddine, Claude Lanzmann, Yurii Andrukhovych, David Grossman, Paul Auster, László Krasznahorkai, Alberto Manguel, Boris Akunin, Alain Mabanckou, Dubravka Ugrešić, Magdalena Tulli, Andrzej Stasiuk, Jerzy Pilch and Olga Tokarczuk.

The monuments in Cracow

Cracow has many amazing monuments, some are popular, some are less known or almost forgotten. Here's the list of the most interesting ones, so it's worth of taking a walk and see them in a free time:

The libraries in Cracow

September means coming back to school and coming back to school means learning. It's a good time to think about places where you can borrow a book. In October when academic year begins, the libraries will be crowded by the students preparing themselves for the new classes. So where can you find the most popular places?

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.