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.

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.

Outdoor swimming in Krakow

Summer in the City is not the easiest period. It is a time of extremely high temperatures. We are inundated by heat waves and that's why we acquire desire to waves of water. We dream of a peaceful rest in the sunshine. Unfortunately, not all of us have enough time to go over the sea - from the Baltic Sea separates us about 600 km.

Between the walk to Wawel Castle, and offered a night on the town, Krakow also gives us the opportunity to rest over the water. Krakow reservoirs and swimmings become the most popular places in the city and beyond. There attracts residents and tourists tired of the urban heat, bored air-conditioned hotels and restaurants.

Arena Tauron Krakow

Going in the direction of the Czyżyny district, left of center we can see the sublime, characteristic building. Speaking about the recently created sports hall Arena Tauron Krakow. The capacity ranges from 11 554 to 18 000 position, depending on the type of event. It is the leading hall of this type in Poland! There is also a car park with 1,341 parking spaces.

In the hall held or have held in the future numerous sport competitions such as athletics, volleyball, basketball, handball, hockey, boxing, wrestling, judo, tennis and table tennis, badminton, figure

Krakow Techniques Route

This is the first in Poland's industrial heritage trail which includes objects related to the fields of industry, transport, electricity and gas, fire protection and prevention. As part of the tour, we will visit the 16 facilities that are located in the city center. They stand out in terms of architectural and historical interest. Their founded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries according to the most outstanding Polish architects projects of that period.

Zablocie

Zabłocie is a very interesting district of Krakow, located in the Podgórze district. Why interesting? Because only a few years has gained fame and popularity and is called the "new attraction" of Krakow.

In the past, Zabłocie constituted an industrial suburb of Podgórze, in which created a lot of smaller and bigger factories. By the end of the PRL (Polish People's Republic) produced there cosmetics, glass, electronic products, matches and sweets. Today, we can see only remaining industrial built-old, shabby buildings. For sure?

Currently, Zabłocie is considered one of the fastest growing areas of Krakow. From the remaining parts of the city connects them Kotlarski bridge, so we can communicate in this part of town. For several years running there new educational center - Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University and since 1992 also work here Cracow School of Art and Fashion Design.

Forum Hotel

At the entrance on the south side of the city, right on the banks of the Vistula is characteristic building of the Forum Hotel. Building of the hotel began in 1978 and lasted 10 years. Insiders of architecture thought that this object is the nicer hotels in Europe.

As for those times - it was one of the most modern buildings in Krakow - held up to 278 rooms and 15 suites, restaurants, a grill bar and a drink bar. At the hotel was a 2-level parking, swimming pool, sauna, solarium and wellness studio. There were a full sports complex, including tennis courts, mini-golf, as well as typical and service points: boutique, souvenir shop, travel agency, laundry, florist, currency exchange, kiosk, perfumery, childcare center and a casino. In addition, the building was as much as 6 conference rooms, where in addition organized events.

Bikes in Krakow

Krakow is one of those cities in Poland, where public transportation is on a very high level. Communication lines are planned so that the movement, even around the remote parts of the city, is not a problem. In addition to well-functioning bus and tram connections, the city government came up with another idea. They were launched City Bicycles available practically to all residents!

How to use city rental? It's vary simple! All bicycle stations are located at such a distance, that the ride from one to the other doesn't take more than 20 minutes. To use the bicycles, you must first register on the website, enter your details and phone number. Then you must fund your account with 10 zł. Then, you only need to go to the station, enter the terminal your phone number, number of bike, which you want to rent and a special code that you will receive during registration. Do You see how simple it is?

Krakow City of Literature

Krakow addition to own wealth of monuments, is well known for intellectual richness. In particular, for recognition deserves field of literature, because of Krakow is connected to many forms of merit in the field of literature. For this reason, officially he gained the title of UNESCO city of literature. Reasons for this title were many.

In the long history, Krakow was and is a very important academic center of Europe, the cradle of Polish literature and Polish language. It is here were first scriptoria, libraries and literary masterpieces.

With Krakow were related to the most prominent creators of Polish literature and language. Noteworthy are such artists as Adam Asnyk, Mikolaj Rej, Jan Kochanowski, Peter Skarga and Stanislaw Wyspianski. With the city's history involves the history of Polish Nobel Prize winners in literature: on the newspaper "Time" serialized his novels Henryk Sienkiewicz - author of Quo Vadis, who won the Nobel Prize in 1905. In Krakow had been too Wladyslaw Reymont - Nobel winner of 1924 (author Chłopi), Czeslaw Milosz - Nobel Prize winner of 1980. In Krakow, wrote and lived for a long part of life Wislawa Szymborska - winner of the 1996.

Krakow Barbican

Krakow Barbican is one of the finest buildings of medieval military architecture, not only in Poland but also in Europe! It is a gothic building with seven turrets that served as defensive fortifications the northern section of Krakow, which was devoid of the natural dam. It was built between 1498-1499.

You should know that in Europe survived only a few buildings of this type, and among them, Krakow Barbican really stands out. It is a huge building, maintained in very good condition, and its design is considered an original. In construction was used the latest achievements of medieval fortification.