The most
interesting curios in Krakow
There are many things in
Krakow one can find
nowhere else in the world. And some of the city’s wonders are
worth seeing at any rate.
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Krakow is one of just six
places in the world that can boast a painting by Leonardo da
Vinci. And of his three female portraits Krakow’s Lady
with an ermine is arguably the most beautiful
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The 42-foot-high and
36-foot-wide Veit Stoss' magnum opus is the largest Gothic
sculpture in the world. It consists of 200 fine limewood
sculptures treated with color and gold foil. The central part,
with huge lifelike statues of the saints, depicts dramatically
the Virgin Mary's Quietus among the Apostles.
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Subterranean world of labyrinthine passages, giant caverns,
underground lakes and chapels with sculptures in the
crystalline salt and rich ornamentation carved in the salt
rock. Nine centuries of mining in Wieliczka produced a total
of some 200 kilometers of passages as well as 2,040 caverns
of varied size.
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The gold-plated dome of the Sigismund Chapel crowns the best
example of Renaissance art and architecture with no match
without Italy and few equals within.
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The 81-meter-tall tower got its fabulous Gothic spire with
eight turrets in 1478 after the last two stories had been
added in 1408.
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Krakow’s famous
Christmas
cribs: colorful, ingenious, richly decorated and brightly
illuminated, can be 2-m-tall and 3-m-wide.
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Giant Zygmunt bell
is a third heavier and 350 years older than its famed London
cousin, the Big Ben.
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The world’s
arguably greatest modern stained-glass window, the powerful
depiction of the Creation, shines above the entrance to
the basilica of St. Francis’
since 1900.
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Every full hour a golden trumpet shows above Krakow’s
central
Grand Square
in the west window just below the spire of the higher,
municipal tower of the
Basilica of the Virgin Mary's.
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Krakow’s churches shelter some 25 sacred images whose
supernatural powers are well established.
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Bodies get mummified by themselves in the crypts of a
picturesque Baroque complex of the Reformed-Franciscan
monastery and the adjoining
church of St. Casimir’s.
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Krakow boasts the world’s only known representation of a
Slavonic deity. For some Slavic tribes Swiatowit (a.k.a.
Swietowit, a.k.a. Svantevit) was the leading god of their
pantheon, the one responsible for war and harvests.
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Krakow
Poland's prime tourist attraction and a must in Central
Europe boasts numerous world-class monuments, charming
vistas, delightful atmosphere, and the best restaurants.
Krakow Musts
Krakow Museums
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