THE KRAKOW NEWS 

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Currencies exchange rates in Krakow. 

/official median rate of exchange/

One euro buys 4 Polish zloties (PLN). 

One US dollar buys 3.2 Polish zloty (PLN). 

One Swiss franc buys 2.8  Polish zloties (PLN).

One British sterling buys 4.6 Polish zloties (PLN). 

One Japanese yen buys 0.03 Polish zloty (PLN).

Nearly 300 Monuments In Need of Repair
Committee supervising restoration of Krakow’s historic buildings expects some 300 of them to undergo extensive renovation in the years 2011 to 2015, at a cost of 513 million zloties (about 122 million euro). Besides the Wawel Royal Castle and Cathedral the list of historic buildings earmarked for renovation in the first half of the next decade includes such Krakow’s famous ancient monuments as St. Mary’s basilica, the Dominican monastery, the Franciscan monastery, Corpus Christi church, St. Catherine’s church, Skalka Sanctuary, High Synagogue and Remuh cemetery, Tyniec Abbey, Cistercian Abbey in Mogila, and Bielany monastery. Fortunately, none of the city’s top landmarks requires comprehensive restoration. -

A Reincarnation: John Paul II Papal University in Krakow 
Pope Benedict XVI has turned Krakow’s Papal Academy of Theology into John Paul II Papal University. Thus it becomes the seventh university among 25 institutions of higher learning in Krakow. Currently its 300-plus faculty members teach over 3,000 students. The university has five departments – theology, philosophy, history and cultural heritage, social sciences, and a theology department in Tarnow. Krakow’s John Paul II Papal University (Uniwersytet Papieski Jana Pawla II) is the fifth incarnation of the institution of higher learning whose tradition dates back to 1397. 

UE Leaders Likely to Meet in Krakow in 2011. 
Polish government has selected Krakow as one of likely sites of the summit meetings of the European Union. They will take place on the territory of Poland during the Polish six-month presidency of the EU that starts on July 1st, 2011 to end on December 31st, 2011. The summits include the Council of the Union rendezvous of the heads of states and governments as well as meetings on the ministerial level. 

President Kaczynski Entombed in the Krakow Cathedral. 
Poland's late president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria have been buried in the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow on Sunday, April 18th. U.S. President Barack Obama, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and numerous other heads of state and government failed to attend the funeral in Krakow due to a cloud of volcanic ash hovering over Europe. The decision to entomb President Kaczynski and wife in one of the cathedral crypts sparked a fierce controversy in Krakow and entire Poland as the site had been reserved for the burial of royalty and the nation’s greatest war heroes. The country's first couple died in the presidential plane crash near Russia’s Smolensk on April 10th, 2010.  

Da Vinci's Masterpiece, Lady with an Ermine: Gone for Some Time
One of the world’s finest portraits by Leonardo da Vinci, ‘Lady with an Ermine’, is to be missing in Krakow till September, 2010 or possibly longer. Last October Poland’s most famed and valued work of art left its home in Princes Czartoryski Museum for Budapest's exhibition ‘From Botticelli to Titian’ in the Museum of Fine Arts. Now da Vinci's masterpiece is meant to grace a show of items from the Czartoryskis Museum in the Warsaw Royal Castle. 

Car Theft Is Up, Back. 
After five years in a row of decline the number of stolen cars rose in Krakow last year. Recently published police statistics reveal 1,039 motor vehicle thefts in 2009 compared to 818 in 2008. Areas worst hit by the scourge are high-rise housing developments of Pradnik Bialy, Pradnik Czerwony, Prokocim, and Podgorze. German-built cars, notably Volkswagens and Audis, remain the most popular makes with car thieves in Krakow. Even more alarming is the sharp increase in the number of muggings that rose in Krakow almost by half in 2009 compared with year 2008.

Old Town’s Piazza Tops the List of the World’s Marvels
Krakow’s Rynek Glowny central square has been voted the most beautiful place on earth by readers of the Polish edition of the National Geographic magazine. And according to them, the world’s second most attractive site is Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow while the city’s Kazimierz town district comes fourth. The highest-ranking foreign sight is Norway’s Geiranger Fjord at the fifth place, and Peru’s Machu Picchu has been chosen our planet’s must-see wonder number seven. 

New Attraction in the Making 
An underground archeological museum beneath Krakow’s Rynek Glowny central square is to combine excavations of medieval buildings, exhibitions of ancient artifacts, and multimedia presentations including holographic reconstruction of historical architecture. The new museum is expected to open in the fall of 2010 at the earliest. It will cost about 14 million euro to launch. 

Schindler’s Factory, Reincarnation

Minimalist blueprint of two Italian architects, Florence’s Claudio Nardi and Leonardo Maria Proli, has won the tender for the design of the Museum of Modern Art in the long defunct Emalia works also known as Schindler’s factory made famous by an Oscar-winning film by Steven, ‘Schindler’s List’. The museum will cost some ten million euro to build till 2011. It is to coexist with another museum, devoted to the history of Krakow during World War II, opened this June. The tender attracted eight competing designs from various countries and the second prize has been awarded to a Berlin team Zvi Hecker Architect.