Archive News Stories of 2011 from Krakow Info
Year 2011
Krakow's
New Footbridge Over Wisla River.
Pedestrians and cyclists can use a brand-new
145-meter-long bridge over the river Wisla. It
connects two areas gaining in popularity - Kazimierz
with its historic Jewish Quarter and trendy
nightspots and Podgorze where
Schindler’s Museum has recently opened.
The footbridge cost some ten million euro to build,
about a third of the sum covered by an EU fund.
UE Leaders 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.
8-million-plus Visited Krakow in 2010
Krakow attracted over 8.1 million visitors in 2010,
800,000 more than a year ago – estimates Malopolska
Tourist Organization. Foreigners constituted roughly
a quarter of the total number, i.e. 2.1 million, and
– in contrast to Polish tourists – they mostly
stayed overnight in the city. Over 26 percent of
them came from the UK while 11.2 percent were
Germans, 9.1 percent Italians, 8.3 percent
Frenchmen, and 6.3 percent Spaniards. In 2010 all
visitors spent some 3.5 billion zloties during their
stay in Krakow.
Hilton Is Here
Krakow’s first Hilton hotel has opened at 33
Konopnickiej street, not far from the Wawel Royal
Castle on the opposite bank of Wisla river. The
four-star, six-story Hilton Garden Inn
Kraków is Poland’s first hotel of the chain, one of
the many brands in the portfolio of the Hilton
Worldwide. As the rest of the pack,
Krakow’s hotel targets both tourists and
business travelers. It boasts 154 rooms and among
its amenities include a 24/7 convenience store on
the premises, a restaurant, 400-sq-meter conference
area, a complimentary business center, and
fitness facilities. The rooms are
equipped with empty mini-fridges instead of minibars.
Schindler’s Factory, Reincarnation
Minimalist blueprint of two Italian architects,
Florence’s Claudio Nardi and Leonardo Maria Proli,
had won the tender for the design of the Museum of
Contemporary Art on the grounds of the long defunct
Emalia works also known as Schindler’s factory made
famous by an Oscar-winning film by Steven, ‘Schindler’s
List’. The construction of a brand-new museum
was completed on November 16th, 2010 but it has
opened May 19th, 2011. It cost some ten million euro
to build. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow -
MOCAK is to coexist with another next door, devoted
to the history of Krakow during World War II, opened
in June 2010 in the historical buildings of
Schindler's factory (see its picture above).
Krakow Voting
This year's parliamentary elections on Sunday,
October 9th have produced few surprises in Krakow.
Incumbents of the centrist Civic Platform (Platforma
Obywatelska, PO) have won 45 percent of the vote in
the city which gives their party eight seats in Sejm,
the dominant lower house of the Polish parliament.
The main opposition Party, the nationalist Law and
Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc, PiS), has managed
to secure 30 percent and five seats. Brand-new force
on Poland's political scene, left-wing populist
Palikot's Movement (Ruch Palikota, RP), has
attracted nine percent of voters to get a single
seat in the Krakow parliamentary district. It has
gone to Ms Anna Grodzka, formerly Mr Ryszard Grodzki,
currently the only transsexual member of any
parliament in the world. Other parties failed to
clear the five-percent threshold. The turnout in
Krakow was sixty percent, i.e. 13 percent higher
than the average for the entire Poland.
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