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Krakow Info - the 2003 News

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Krakow news
Go to the news section of Krakow Info to see the current stories from the city.

Selected Archive News Stories of Krakow Info in 2003

Year 2003 in the News of Krakow Info

2003 Head Start: 90,000 Had Fun, 40 Ton of Litter 
Some 90,000 revelers enjoyed the latest edition of Poland’s traditionally biggest New Year’s Eve party that takes place amid Krakow’s Rynek Glowny (Grand Square). This year they left behind nearly 40 tons of litter, mostly broken bottles, but no substantial property damage has been reported. It cost the municipality an equivalent of $5,700 to clean up. 

City Hall Offers Leniency to Biz Debtors 
86 businesses might take advantage of local tax amnesty announced by the Krakow municipality. They can have 85 percent of their arrears written off to the tune of some $1.5 million in total together with interest due. Most failed to pay the real estate tax. The acquittal is conditional on payment of other liabilities, such as state taxes, social security contributions, custom tariffs, etc., and companies employing 50 or more should show a feasible rescue plan. 

Krakow to Boost Polish Literature World-wide 
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a government agency for Poland’s culture promotion abroad, opened its literature chapter in Krakow with seat in the Villa Decius, a 16th-century Renaissance palace in the Wola Justowska posh residential area. The new entity will support translations of Polish books and look after Poland’s presence at book fairs and other such events throughout the world. The Adam Mickiewicz Institute’s Krakow division has Mr. Albrecht Lempp, Ph.D., as its head, a German linguist who settled in Krakow in 1998. 

Crime in Krakow Dwindles If Not Fast Enough 
Police records show that crime has slightly declined in Krakow in 2002. Last year there were 12,200 burglaries in the city with population of 750,000 as well as 2,100 robberies, 530 assaults, 2,900 car thefts, and 17 (seventeen) cases of homicide. 

New Museum Shows Plants-Turned-Stone 
Krakow’s Jagiellonski University opened a brand-new museum of petrified plants at 31 Kopernika street. It boasts exhibits dating back to all geological eras that came since the first vegetation had appeared 400 millions years ago. They are part of the 15,000-item collection the Krakow university has assembled over the last 150 years. It cost about $57,000 to launch the museum. 

50 More Policemen to Walk the Streets Krakow’s new police chief is reducing the number of the city’s precincts from the current 13 to eight since February 1. Also, their staff will no longer deal with traffic offenses and criminal investigations, nor bring suits before the courts of law, etc. in order to provide more time and resources for neighborhood policing. The chief promises that his changes will increase the number of officers patrolling the Krakow streets from 350 to 400 on every single day. 

Much Impressed 
An exhibition of American impressionists has opened in the Galeria Miedzynarodowego Centrum Kultury (International Culture Center) gallery at 25 Rynek Glowny (Grand Square) to the enthusiastic reception of Krakow’s enchanted public. The show “Masters of Light. Californian Impressionism 1890-1930” displays 58 canvases by such U.S. artists settled in the south California in the early 20th century as Franz A. Bischoff, Guy Rose, Colin Campbel Cooper, Granville Redmond, Meta Cressey, Alson S. Clark, and William Wendt. The paintings come from The Irvine Museum and a number of private collections. The exhibition stays open through May 4. 

Pliva Builds $11-million Plant in Krakow 
Croatian Pliva pharmaceutical concern wants to make the Krakow subsidiary its center of international operations as regards non-prescription products. To this end the concern is to invest further $11 million in a brand-new plant for effervescent compounds manufacturing to open in 2005. Pliva is currently Poland’s second largest pharmaceuticals producer with exports to 18 countries in Europe. Its Krakow subsidiary employs 1000. 

Ballet Festival: Five Months, Ten Nights 
Krakow’s 2003 Dedications ballet festival takes place May through November and is dedicated to the art of Mats Ek, the renowned Swedish choreographer famous for his cunning and humorous interpretations of classic works. On May 19 and 20 Maurice Bejart’s Compagnie M company dances his ‘Mere Teresa et les enfants du monde’, followed by Stockholm’s Royal Theater production of Mats Ek’s ‘Andromaque’ based on Racine’s play on June 20 and 21, Barcelona’s Compania del L’Institut del Teatre performing ‘It Dansa Jove’ on July 4 and 5, Sankt Petersburg’s Ballet Theater shows of Boris Ejfman’s ‘Who is Who’ in October, and Warsaw’s Grand Theater ballet dancing Mats Ek’s ‘Carmen’ and ‘A sort of...’ in November. The organizers also hope to bring Monte Carlo’s Ballet Trocadero in May. 

Prince Charles Champions Jewish Center in Krakow 
Britain’s World Jewish Relief organization secured the patronage of Prince Charles for its project to build a Jewish Center in Krakow at the cost of $1.6 million. According to the WJR spokesman, Shimon Cohen, the heir to the British throne not only donated an unspecified ‘considerable’ sum himself but he is also to attend a series of fundraising events in London. Krakow’s Jewish Center, scheduled for opening in 2005, will provide day care to the elders and serve as a social hub for the younger members of the city’s miniscule nowadays yet active Jewish community. The WJR, founded in 1933 to give support to the needy Jewish families abroad, is already engaged in similar projects in Argentina, Belarus, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and in the former Yugoslavia. 

Euro Windfall Short of Expectations 
Polish government has earmarked euro 500 million from the European funds for the Malopolska province in years 2004-2006 out of the total of €11.4 billion that Poland expects in financial assistance from the EU. This amounts to €153 per capita, less than in any of the country’s other 15 provinces, and well below Poland’s average of €284 per person. No wonder local politicians cry foul. 

Krakow Has New Budget 
City Council voted Krakow’s 2003 budget with outlays to the tune of an equivalent of $427.5 million, 4.9 percent increase over the previous year, and deficit of roughly $25 million. The municipality’s debt is to reach 58.9 percent of its revenue this year, slightly below the law-permitted 60 percent threshold. The city hall is going to spend equivalents of $107 million on education, $67 million on public transport, $31.75 million on housing, $13.25 million on culture, and $8.75 million on public safety. Administration will take roughly $26 million, while the debt service should cost some $15.75 million. The 43-strong City Council passed mayor’s budget bill with 26 ayes, 6 nays, and 7 abstentions. 

Leonardo’s ‘Lady with an Ermine’ May Wander More 
Two ‘biggest museums’ of the USA and France seek Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Lady with an Ermine from Krakow’s Czartoryskich Museum for their planned exhibitions, the museum’s management revealed without naming the solicitor institutions. The 500-year-old painting, arguably the best portrait by Leonardo and possibly the world’s finest female portrait ever painted, appears the most traveled masterpiece of this rank. Right now it is expected back from its 8-month American tour from the Milwaukee Art Museum to Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts to San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum. And before Leonardo’s beauty left Krakow for the States the Czartoryskich Museum’s trustees had vowed that after its return the picture would stay put in the city for ten years at least. Now some doubt the promise will be kept. 

Lufthansa Launches Its Back Office Center in Krakow 
Germany’s national carrier Lufthansa is opening its Europe’s accounting center in Krakow. It is to handle the bulk of the Lufthansa Group’s back office financial operations outside Germany, namely 90 percent of sales processing and 45 percent of bookkeeping workload. The airline’s managers praise Krakow’s virtues as a city of high-quality workforce and low costs. 

Krakow Film Festival Likes It Short 
62 movies, picked from a total of nearly 1300 entries from all over the world, will be showed at this year’s Krakow International Film Festival, May 28 through June 1. The festival is traditionally confined to short films, i.e. currently those under 50 minutes. Russia’s input consists of 8 pictures against British 6, French 5, German 4, and Polish 4, while most countries will be represented by a single movie including the recent Oscar winner from Denmark, Martin Strange-Hansen’s ‘Der Er En Yndig Mand’. The international festival is followed by a Polish one that features 40 native-produced short films. 

Krakow’s Marathon Runs May 10 
Male winner of the Krakow Marathon race on May 10 may expect award in cash amounting to an equivalent of $5,000 whereas the best woman half the sum. The Cracovia Marathon takes two 21.1-km loops through the downtown area with both the start and the finish at the city’s historic Rynek Glowny grand square. In 2002 some 1,000 men and women ran the marathon and organizers expect even more entries this year. Last year’s winner, Kenyan Thomas Magut, who finished at 2 h 19 min, is said to run again. He’ll face Poland’s top marathon runner Leszek Beblo among others. 

Krakow’s Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival
The world’s biggest classical music festival in the holiday season, takes place through April 21. This year the 11-day series of concerts, recitals and other events features Beethoven’s masterpieces alongside works of his Baroque predecessors. The main festival venue is the Filharmonia hall at 1 Zwierzyniecka street but some major offerings can be also watched in the open air on giant TV screen amid the city’s central Rynek Glowny square. The Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival belongs to the European Festivals Association (EFA) 

Leonardo’s Belle Hardly Turns Cowboys 
On Barely 49,000 visitors saw Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait of ‘Lady with an Ermine from Krakow’s Czartoryskich Museum in Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts from December 12 to February 18. The unrivaled Renaissance beauty was the centerpiece of an exhibition of 70 outstanding treasures from various museums in Poland. The same show had enticed 150,000 to the Milwaukee Art Museum between September 13 and November 24 last year. And over six months in Japan at the turn of 2002 Krakow’s Leonardo attracted the record 700,000 attendance in three cities, Kyoto, Nagoya, and Yokohama. On March 7 ‘Lady with an Ermine’ has been moved with the accompanying exhibits to San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum. Leonardo’s masterpiece is expected back in Krakow before the end of May. 

Krakow’s Landmark Goes Opaque, For Its Good 
One of Krakow’s signature landmarks, the 14th-century basilica of the Virgin Mary’s (Kosciol Mariacki) at the Grand Square, is to undergo a $250,000 repair of its steep Gothic roof, starting mid-May. Replacement of covering copper sheets is the next stage of thorough renovation of Poland’s most famous church, after renewal of its indoors and cleaning of its external walls in the past years. Unfortunately, the overdue work requires 40-meter scaffolding to conceal and disfigure the landmark’s frame for the time being. 

Leonardo’s Is Back! 
Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait of ‘Lady with an Ermine’ has returned to its Krakow’s domicile in the Czartoryskich Museum from 8-month American tour. The unrivaled Renaissance beauty was the centerpiece of an exhibition of 70 outstanding treasures from various museums in Poland. The show had enticed 150,000 visitors to the Milwaukee Art Museum between September 13 and November 24 last year and 49,000 to Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts from December 12 to February 18 before it was moved to San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum. Over the last ten years ‘Lady with an Ermine’ made five journeys abroad and spent a total of 31 months in foreign lands. The Czartoryskich Museum’s trustees has vowed that now the Leonardo’s belle stays put in Krakow till 2010. 

Soup Coup 
Last year’s success has encouraged Krakow’s Kazimierz district’s restaurateurs to launch second edition of the Soup Festival on Saturday, May 24. Chefs of 23 local Krakow restaurants have entered the competition and promised to issue free helpings of their liquid specialties since 6 p.m. 

US President in Krakow 
President Bush visited Krakow briefly May 30/31 accompanied by the First Lady, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Adviser. He dropped in the city on Friday night and stay overnight through Saturday morning on his way to Sankt Petersburg’s, Russia, anniversary celebration and then to the G8 summit in Evian, France. Air Force One landed at Krakow’s Balice International Airport at 9:40 p.m. on May 30. Next morning, after spending the night at a Krakow hotel, George W. Bush visited the Auschwitz death camp site some 50 km west of Krakow. Later on the American president meet his Polish counterpart in the Wawel Royal Castle and at noon he delivered a foreign-policy speech to a congregation of roughly 2,000 local notables at the castle’s courtyard. Then he left for St. Petersburg. 

Bush Visit: Krakow’s Mayor Is Unwelcome 
Krakow’s mayor, Professor Jacek Majchrowski, was banned from attending President Bush’s greeting and farewell ceremonies at the city’s airport, on May 30 and May 31 respectively. The American side suggested that Prof. Majchrowski should be excluded after he had published an article in a local newspaper, critical of the Iraqi war. The item had appeared in ‘Gazeta Krakowska’ daily in April. The Krakow mayor, lawyer and accomplished historian who was elected in popular vote last November, has commented that the American wish infringes upon Poland’s sovereignty. 

Wieliczka Salt Mine Opens for the Disabled in Wheelchairs 
The handicapped in wheelchairs can now see Krakow’s world-famous Wieliczka Salt Mines thanks to four-year, million-dollar adaptation. They may tour the most popular parts of one of Europe’s prime tourist attractions, in that number two of its subterranean lakes, underground churches of St. Kunegunde’s and of the Cross, and the Dwarfs’ Cave. Till the end of 2003 the handicapped has been entitled to free admission after arranging the visit in advance through a phone call put at (+4812) 4159119 and (+4812) 4158635, or fax (+4812) 4158685. 

Krakow Has Voted in Favor of EU 
67.41 percent of Krakow’s registered voters cast their ballots in the nation-wide two-day weekend referendum, June 7-8, on Poland’s accession to the European Union. They voted by overwhelming majority, with 83 percent ‘ayes’ against 17 percent ‘nays’, in favor of joining the EU. Turnout in the whole Malopolska province was 60 percent, with 76 percent votes in favor. This mirrors the whole-nation results where turnout amounted to 58.85 percent and “yes” votes to 76.9 percent. 

Krakow IT Make a Foray in Microsoft Heartland 
One of Krakow’s IT companies, ComArch, has won $2.2 million contract to provide USA’s state of Washington, Microsoft’s home, with software to administer its government’s communications and computer networks. In the bidding the Krakow firm outdid American giants. The Washington State has resolved to buy its two applications, Tytan and InsightNet, as well as their implementation. ComArch is a rising star of Poland’s high-tech sector, its 2002 sales amounted to mere $43.5 million. 

Land of Fertility 
Malopolska province, whose largest city and capital is Krakow, beats Poland’s other 15 administrative regions in its inhabitants’ virility, according to freshly released data from the 2002 census. Over the intervening ten years from the previous census Malopolska had the largest population increase in the country, 4.7 percent, mostly due to its high birth rate. It also bests other provinces in the number of American expatriates. 

street cafe at Krakow's central square
Grand Square On Line 

Krakow’s central Rynek Glowny grand square has been turned into a zone of free wireless internet access, Poland’s first and one of world’s few to date. All you need to get connected is a laptop with a PCMCIA card or an external WiFi device. Once online, there appears a welcome window with ads that are source of revenue for two firms, Xylab and DRQ, providing the service. 

Taking a Look Under the Rynek Glowny Sq. 
Krakow’s huge central Rynek Glowny grand square have been partly turned into a site of archeological excavations. Archeologists have got an opportunity to explore the plaza prior to next year’s long overdue thorough renovation of its paving. The Rynek Glowny, whose vastness surpassed any square in other cities of medieval Europe, used to have many buildings amid it and most of them have not survived. The ancient Krakow forum still remains the city’s hub

Soldiers to Police Krakow 
Under new scheme to boost safety in Polish cities the Krakow police has been reinforced with 98 conscripts who volunteered to walk the streets rather than join the army. They have undergone basic police training and will stay on the beat for a year. Military service is mandatory in Poland but nowadays number of available conscripts far surpasses needs of the armed forces. 

More of the World’s Heritage in the Krakow Region 
UNESCO has added further four sites in the Krakow area to its prestigious list of the world’s culture and nature heritage. Of south Poland’s six wooden village churches newly entered in the register on July 3 those of Debno Podhalanskie, Lipnica Murowana, Sekowa and Binarowa are situated in the Malopolska Province whose capital city is Krakow. They all date back to the 15th century. The region’s other World Heritage sites are Krakow’s entire Old Town historic district, the Wieliczka Salt Mine Auschwitz, and Kalwaria Zebrzydowska’s Calvary sanctuary

58 Tests HIV-Positive in the Province 
Seven more inhabitants of the Malopolska province, of which Krakow is the largest city and capital, has tested HIV-positive in the first half of 2003–freshly released health data reveal. It adds to the total of 65 cases that occurred in years 1989 to 2002, in the province’s population of 3.2 million. Since 14 of the infected with the virus developed AIDS and died to date, now the number of known HIV-positive patients amounts to 58, or one in roughly 55,000 inhabitants. Last year nine new instances of HIV infection occurred throughout the entire province. 

Krakow’s Police Have Got State-of-the-art Command & Control 
The state police has introduced a $11-million modern system of command and control in Krakow. Its heart is a state-of-the-art operations room with digital wall map of the entire city that traces every move of 60 new patrol cars equipped with computers with access to central databases. The operations are integrated with number 112 police call center and remote-TV 24/7-surveillance system. The latter now consists of four cameras at Krakow’s central Rynek Glowny grand square but soon another 20 are to be installed throughout the city in vital points. 

New Immigration Law Makes It Easier for Aliens 
Illegal aliens in Krakow–or anyplace in this country–may take advantage of abolition if they apply to the province’s ‘wojewoda’ (prefect) between September 1 and December 31. Those who have lived in Poland at least since the end of 1996 are entitled to yearly, renewable residence permit provided they own or rent a dwelling and have either job or proven resources to support themselves and the family. Newly introduced law allows also for ‘tolerated residence’ of foreigners who are unfit for refugee status but cannot be returned to their native countries for humanitarian reasons. A wojewoda grants the ‘tolerated resident’ a right to stay in the country for limited time that can be extended if necessary, and such person don’t need any work permits and is eligible for social security, universal health care, and state-funded education

Krakow’s Triennial Lives Up to Expectations 
Some 300 artists from 52 countries have sent their entries for Krakow’s International Graphic Art Triennial 2003. They make the central show in the Bunkier Sztuki and Palac Sztuki adjacent galleries at Szczepanski Pl. that opens September 19. On top of it come 50-plus other exhibitions in various venues all over the city, from the National Museum’s main hall (Grand Prix 2000 winner, Poland’s Tomasz Struk, since Sep. 19) to Austrian Consulate (Austria’s young artists since Sep. 20). The Krakow triennial has been for decades one of the world’s prime festivals of graphic arts, from woodcuts to serigraphy to digital. 

Old Tunes, New Fiddle 
The moving spirit behind Krakow’s Beethoven Easter Festival, Elzbieta Penderecka, has launched a private association to organize the next year’s edition of the city’s premier classical-music event, parting ways with the erstwhile patron, municipal Festival Bureau. The new body has its seat in Krakow but Mrs. Penederecka, privately wife of renowned composer Krzysztof Penderecki, hasn’t ruled out moving the festival elsewhere altogether or in part. Krakow’s mayor, Professor Majchrowski, says the municipality claims no rights to the musical event it has underwritten since the very beginning in 1996. 

Krakow’s Hospital at the Forefront against Cancer 
The Krakow university hospital’s 1st Surgery Clinic has got a brand-new, state-of-the-art tool to fight cancer. The $500,000 Mobetron machine destroys micro metastases round the tumor that are otherwise left behind after the surgery. Krakow is just ninth place in the world, and the only one outside the USA and Japan that can boast such device. 

The Oldest and Still Growing 
Over 38,500 students have enrolled at Krakow’s 639-year-old Jagiellonian University, Poland’s oldest and most respected, this academic year 2003/2004 that began on October 1st, an increase of seven percent. New studies added to the university’s curriculum include applied economics, international economics, Ukrainian studies, applied computer science, biophysics and molecular biophysics. 

Krakow Has Got Brand-new School 
Yet another institution of higher education has joined vast array of Krakow’s university-level education establishments this year. On October 1 the Jozef Tischner Higher European School, named after Krakow’s late philosopher-priest, entered its first year of teaching. For starters its curriculum consists of sociology, international relations, European integration, public relations, and business communication. It has managed to enroll 440 freshmen to date. 

Krakow to Tap EU Money, Fingers Crossed 
Krakow’s municipality has applied for around 46.5 millions euro next year in subsidies from the EU assistance funds to finance the city’s various projects, from transportation to tourist promotion. Yet only a fraction of the sum can be reasonably hoped for since for beginning just euro 30 millions or so will be made available this time to all municipalities in the Malopolska Province, whose capital city and by far the biggest subdivision is Krakow. Now the proposed projects are subject to evaluation by the provincial government and those authorized will come under still closer scrutiny of the Brussels bureaucracy. Polish government has earmarked euro 180 millions of the EU money for the Malopolska province over the next three years. 

You Are Watched 
Seventeen new surveillance TV cameras have been installed in the busiest spots of Krakow’s downtown, the bulk in places often frequented by foreign visitors, in addition to the four that already surveyed the central Rynek Glowny grand square. They all relay images in real time to five district police stations and the operations room in the police city headquarters via an integrated computer system that also enables to control their movements. The cameras give resolution high enough to read newsprint 20-30 meters away. They cost $3,750 apiece, and the whole system $500,000. 

Krakow’s Main Musical Event Goes Warsaw 
Organizers of the Beethoven Easter Festival have announced they are moving it next year from Krakow to Warsaw, Poland’s capital city. To make up for the loss of one of the city’s signature cultural events, Krakow’s municipality contemplates some other classical music festival in the early springtime, though no details have been disclosed to date. Since 1996 the Beethoven Easter Festival took place in Krakow annually, over the week or two preceding Easter and on the holiday itself. 

Museum Shows Sweet Home of the Past 
Brand-new museum of period interiors has opened in The Hippolits’ House (Kamienica Hippolitow) at 3 Mariacki Pl., next to the basilica of the Virgin Mary’s. The branch of the City of Krakow Historical Museum recreates the dwelling of a Krakow burgher family from the 17th through the 19th century. Genuine period furniture, works of art, bibelots, and various homey artifacts fill the well-preserved residence of The Hippolits patrician family, with rooms rich in architectural details, elaborate stuccos and graceful frescos. 

Conservation vs. Cuts 
Though Krakow’s prime landmarks are now well preserved, 234 of the city’s historical buildings urgently need renovation till 2010, says document released jointly by the city’s conservation authorities. The total cost of over $100 million is manageable if the government current subsidies to the tune of roughly $7,500,000 a year will stand. Unfortunately, as Poland’s crippling budget deficit looms large in the country’s politics the parliament seems set on cuts across the board. 

Krakow’s Downtown To Get a New Mall 
Construction of 112,000-square-meter Galeria Kazimierz shopping and entertainment center has started in downtown Krakow on the six-hectare site of 125-year-old meat-processing plant that at long last has moved uptown a couple of years ago. Developer, the Globe Trade Center corporation, promises the mall with 160 shops, a 3,000-sq-m deli, and a ten-theater cinema multiplex will open in the first quarter of 2005. The 70-million-euro project fuses together brand-new architecture and relic industrial buildings of the former plant. 

Say Sayonara 
Construction of 360-square-meter Japanese Language School started by the Manggha Center for Japanese Art and Technology at 26 Konopnickiej street, on the Wisla river bank just opposite the Wawel Royal Castle. Japan’s rail workers trade union donated $200,000 for the building while the Japanese government has given $400,000 for state-of-the-art equipment. 

Krakow Has Attracted 5.5 Million Visitors in 2003 
Some 1.8 million tourists visited Krakow this summer, and roughly 240,000 of them came from abroad. In the whole year 2003 about 5.5 million visitors are expected to show up in the city that is Poland’s top attraction, and more than million to stay overnight. Among the foreigners the largest contingent, 12.1 percent, form Germans followed by Americans (10.5 percent), Britons (9.7 percent), Frenchmen (8.1 percent) and Italians (8.1 percent), Israelis (8 percent), and Norwegians (6.5 percent). The busiest months are June and August, while the quietest prove January and February. An average tourist spends some $55 while in Krakow (a foreigner, $255 or so) and the windfall for the city totals roughly $450 million a year. 

Comfy Kiev Connection 
New comfy express train service has been launched between Krakow and Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. On a 16-hour journey in brand-new air-conditioned sleeping cars with facilities for the disabled the passengers can enjoy DVD and radio, and take shower. The night express runs three times a week either direction, and a one-way ticket is an equivalent of $40 first class and $35 second class. 

City Bus/Tram Ticket Is $0.6 in 2004 
Krakow’s municipality has resolved to raise fares at the city’s buses and streetcars since January 1, 2004. New price of a one-way ticket is 2.4 zloty (an equivalent of roughly $0.6). An hourly ticket allowing for changing lines is to be 3 zloty, while the cost of a 24-hour unlimited-travel pass for all municipal buses and streetcars has been set at ten zloty, it’s 48-hour equivalent at 18 zloty, and a 72-hour one at 24 zloty. A monthly pass is 90 zloty. 

And Public Toilet Is $0.25 
For the first time since 1994 Krakow’s municipality has increased fees at the city’s 29 public lavatories it manages. From January 1, 2004, a use of urinal entails cost of 0.5 zloty, while the privacy of a cubicle has been valued at one zloty (i.e. an equivalent of $0.25 or so). The municipal yearly outlays for maintenance of the public conveniences total an equivalent of about $375,000. 

Krakow’s Authorities Hope to Lure Cheap Carriers And Boost Tourism 
Krakow’s municipality, the Malopolska Province’s government, and a property-management agency of Poland’s Ministry of Defense have launched together a joint-stock company, Krakowski Port Lotniczy (The Krakow Airport), with a single purpose to bring cheap, no-frills airlines to the city. In 5-8 months the new firm is to build a passenger terminal near Balice international airport in order to use its landing strip. Krakow’s officials behind the project expect the first carrier to start regular services this June or September. Without naming names, they revealed that six interested airlines have already approached them about signing up. 

Other Krakow's News Stories of the Past: 

Krakow Info Archive News of 2009

Krakow Info News of 2008

Krakow Info Archive News of 2007

Krakow Info News of 2006

Krakow Info News of 2005

Krakow Info News of 2004

Krakow Info News of 2002


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Festivals in Krakow
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