Trip to Cracow

CRACOW TOURS
SCHOOL TRIPS TO CRACOW, AUSCHWITZ SCHOOL TRIP
CRACOW CITY BREAKS, WEEKEND BREAKS TO CRACOW
CONFERENCES IN CRACOW
AUSCHWITZ TOUR, TRIPS TO AUSCHWITZ
WIELICZKA TOUR, TOURS TO WIELICZKA

RYNEK GLOWNY (THE MAIN MARKET SQUARE)

Cracovians claims that there are no days when they would not pay a visit to the Main Market Square. It is centrally located, largest of all the squares in the city and always filled with people. It has been this way since the 13th century when a new part of the city was founded. The medieval rules for urban planning created Europe’s most spacious square. In the square itself and around it there are many historical buildings: Sukiennice (Cloth Hall), Church of St. Mary, St. Adalbert’s Church and the Town Hall Tower.

During medieval times it was a place where harvested products, coal, lead and poultry were sold. Market traditions are kept alive by flower traders, souvenir dealers and bagel sellers of course.

Dinner on the Square

Guided tour

HEJNAL MARIACKI (ST. MARY’S TRUMPET CALL)

The time in the Square is counted using a trumpet call played every hour from one of St. Mary’s Towers onto the four world’s sides. Every Pole knows well the trumpet melody because it has been broadcast at 12 o’clock by Poland’s Radio since the 1930s. Every attentive listener wondered why the melody ended abruptly before completion. A popular story explains the reason: during medieval times music was played as a warning signal. A watchman saw Mongolian troops approaching the town. The gates leading towards the city were closed in time, but the player was hit in his throat by an arrow while playing the warning signal. Therefore the melody is played with its abrupt end as a memory of the trumpet player.

THE ALTAR OF VEIT STOSS IN ST. MARY’S CHURCH

The wooden altar in the church of St. Mary is the medieval art masterpiece. The giant work impresses with its scale and realism. The statues of the apostles received features of Cracovian inhabitants. Master Stoss had worked at the altar for 12 years. The Biggest sculptures were carved in wood of trees that were 500 years old then.

WAWEL DRAGON

Once upon a time during the reign of King Krak there was a dragon that settled in a cave under the Wawel Hill. He had quite a good appetite and liked robust cows. If Cracovians missed delivering what the dragon had demanded, it was angry and chased people around to devour them. The Cracovians were worried because there were not many cows left. Many knights tried to kill the dragon, but without any success. When everyone lost their hope, a young and poor shoemaker Dratewka approached the king. The boy proposed a trick that would have helped to get rid of the dragon. A lamb was filled with sulphur and left at the dragon’s cave. The dragon ate the whole lamb which made him so thirsty that he drank so much that there was no water left in the Vistula River. Then the dragon exploded. Skin that was collected was handed to the shoemaker. Since then he sewed dragon leather shoes for elegant Cracovians.

Do you think it is just a legend? The story was told by Wincenty Kadlubek, one of Poland’s greatest historians and chroniclers in the Middle Ages.

The statue of the dragon is still sprinkling fire – it’s enough to text a number that is displayed on a sign in front of the statue to see flames come out of its mouth.

BLONIA (PASTURE)

Blonia is a large meadow with a surface area of ​​48 ha (thus even greater than the Vatican City) in Cracow city centre. Until the end of the 19th century there was a place where the sisters of the Norbertine Order had pastures for their cows. Later the municipality decided to turn the place into a meadow for walking and picnics for Cracovians.

Blonia was a venue for important events: inspection of the troops of Napoleon, Russian Tsar and Austrian Emperor, the first landing of an aircraft in the history of the city, a gathering spot for patriotic demonstrations. Thousands of people took part in masses during John Paul II’s four pastoral visits and also during the visit of Benedict XVI in 2006. Céline Dion also sang here.

MOUNDS IN CRACOW

It is worth climbing any of the historic mounds when visiting Cracow.

The oldest of them is the Krakus Mound from the 5th century. Jan Dlugosz, the chronicler in the 15^th century, wrote that this was burial mound built by two sons to their deceased father. The hill is well visible from different places throughout the city, including the parliamentary chamber in the Royal Palace that was to be an inspiration to kings and politicians when making their decisions.

The Kosciuszko Mound is the most famous and most visited of all the heights. The Senate of the Republic of Cracow decided to build the mound in 1820, i.e. three years after Kosciuszko’s death. The building was funded by Poles from all annexed parts of the partitioned Poland and by Polish expats. The investment was also supported by Angelica Catalani – Italian opera singer – and Bertel Thorvaldsen – Danish sculptor. The mound is located in a hilly district of Zwierzyniec wherefrom you can experience a great view of Cracow’s Old Town.

AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum – former German, Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Oswiecim. It is the most visited museum and cultural institution in Poland.

STELLA TJAJKOVSKI – It’s not worth crying

Stella Tchaikovsky was born in Danzig (present Gdansk) in 1923. Her family moved to Polish Lodz before the outbreak of the war. They had an opportunity to emigrate to America, but the family had different plans for their children, so they stayed in Poland and eventually were closed in a ghetto after the Germans attacked the country. They were deported to Auschwitz after the liquidation of the ghetto. In August 1944 she was selected with other women to be killed in the gas chamber. She was 22 years old then.

“When the white door of the gas chamber was closed, I was sure that I would get out of there. There was a terrible panic inside. The women threw themselves onto the floor. I just sat down and waited for the door to open. I survived by a pure coincidence. This was the only day in Auschwitz when the supply of Zyklon B was over.

Stella Tchaikovsky was transported to the concentration camp in Stutthof. In March 1945 prisoners were evacuated by the sea towards Kiel. The boat with the prisoners aboard was bombed by British bombers. She was one of the few who survived the bombing. After the war she studied piano in Lodz. Since 1958 she has lived in Sweden. There she was a virtuoso and a professor of music at the University of Gothenburg.

KAZIMIERZ

Kazimierz had been an autonomous city until the 19th century, separated from Krakow with the branch of the Vistula River. Kasimir the Great founded the city in the 1300s. The city got its name from the king. The important part of this city was an independent Jewish quarter with many synagogues and merchant houses. Soon Kazimierz became a distinguished centre for Jewish culture both in Poland and in Europe.

The city became part of Cracow when the old river branch was drained and turned into an avenue.

Nowadays Kazimierz is an alternative city centre famous for restaurants with vegan menus and cosy cafés as well as a venue for the popular Jewish culture festival and a flea market.

SALT FROM WIELICZKA

Salt was not only a spice but also the most important preservative during the Middle Ages. It was expensive. A pot of salt was as much as a pair of shoes in Cracow. To spill salt meant a bad omen that is why Judas on Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper may be seen after having spilled salt crystals.

Salt mining in Wieliczka dates back to 3 thousand years before Christ. Salt was saturated of liquid which leaked from rocks. At the end of the 12^th century first mines were built. The mine now consists of 30 km long corridors between 60 and 30 m below the ground.

Tourists are advised to walk along the 3 kilometre long underground trail and may admire many statues curved in salt, underground chambers, corridors and even chapels. Here you will become acquainted with tools, transport means and history of the salt mines.

The salt mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia are inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The mine in Wieliczka has been voted by the Poles as one of country’s seven wonders.

The above offer is intended as information and does not constitute a commercial offer within the meaning of article 66 § 1 of the Polish Civil Code and other relevant legal provisions.