Between the 22nd and 26th September I was in Kraków where I bought many cards for my collection.
Kraków is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Until 1569 it was the capital of the Kingdom of Poland. Today it is an important academic, cultural and economic centre. The Historic Centre of Kraków was one of the first sites to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978. In 2000 was Kraków the European Capital of Culture.
The Main Square or Rynek Główny is the principal urban space in Kraków. It dates back to the 13th century and is one of the largest medieval town squares in Europe. Many important events in Kraków's and Poland's history happened on this place. Two examples are the Prussian Homage of 1525 and mass demonstrations of the Solidarity movement. Today the square is one of the most important tourist destinations in Kraków and is known for its lively street life.
The Saint Mary's Cathedral is a Catholic church on Kraków's Main Square. It was built in the 14th century in the Brick Gothic style and is considered to be one of the best examples of Polish Gothic architecture. A special treasure of the church is the Altarpiece of Veit Stoss.
The Kraków Cloth Hall or Sukiennice is the central feature of the Main Square. It was once a major centre of international trade, where traveling merchants met to discuss business and to barter. Its current appearance dates back to the Renaissance. During its golden age in the 15th century the hall was the source of a variety of exotic imports from the east like spices, silk, leather and wax, while textiles, lead, and salt were exported from there.
The Adam Mickiewicz Monument in front of the Cloth Hall is one of the best known bronze monuments in Poland. It was unveiled in 1898 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Adam Mickiewicz, the greatest Polish Romantic poet of the 19th century. In 1940 the monument was destroyed by the Nazis amid tears of the local population and was restored in 1955.
Located under the Main Square is the Rynek Underground, a museum about medieval trade in Kraków and the city's European identity. It was opened in 2010.
The Wawel Hill is a fortified architectural complex erected over many centuries atop a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula River at an altitude of 228 metres above sea level. It is a place of great significance to the Polish people.
The Wawel Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church located on Wawel Hill. It is a Polish national sanctuary, as it was the place were the Polish Kings were coronated and were many are also buried beside other famous persons of Polish history such as Józef Piłsudski or Adam Mickiewicz. Sigismund's Chapel, built at the behest of Sigismund I the Old between 1517 and 1533 and adjoining the southern wall of the cathedral, is one of the most notable pieces of architecture in Kraków and perhaps the purest example of Renaissance architecture outside Italy. The church is also the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Kraków and as such strongly connected to Karol Wojtyla, who in 1978 became Pope John Paul II.
The Wawel Castle is one of the largest castles and one of the most historically and culturally significant sites in Poland. It represents nearly all European architectural styles of medieval, renaissance and baroque periods. Until 1609 it was the residence of the Polish Kings, but after that tough times for the castle began. After the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 for example the castle was mostly demolished and the remaining part was modernised by Austrians with defensive walls and used as barracks, which just ended when Franz Joseph I of Austria made it a royal residence again.
In Polish folklore the Wawel is famous as home of the Wawel Dragon, which was immortalised by a metal sculpture placed at the foot of the hill in 1972.
Kazimierz is a district of Kraków, which was an independent city until the 19th century. Since it was founded in the 14th century it had been a place of coexistence and interpenetration of Polish and Jewish cultures, which lasted until the Jewish inhabitants were forcibly relocated by the Nazis in 1941. Today Kazimierz is one of the major tourist attractions of Kraków and an important center of cultural life of the city.
Located in Kazimierz is the very interesting Galicia Jewish Museum. The Galicia Jewish Museum shows a photo exhibition documenting the remnants of Jewish culture and life in Polish Galicia, which used to be very vibrant in this area. The exhibition was created by the British photojournalist Chris Schwarz and Professor Jonathan Webber as a result of a twelve-year collaboration. It was opened in 2004.
At the museum I also found a card of the Tempel Synagogue, a major place of worship and booming center of Jewish culture, which I visited before I visited the museum.
The National Museum in Kraków was established in 1879 and is today the main branch of Poland's National Museum. While the Main Building features one of the largest galleries of painting and sculpture from the late 19th century on in Poland, other divisions of the museum are spread around the city.
The most famous exhibit that is currently shown at the Main Building is Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine. The painting was bought in Italy in 1798 by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski and due to various wars and political conflicts it was moved various times between Kraków, Puławy, Sieniawa, Paris, Dresden, Berlin, Wrocław and Schliersee in Bavaria. Apart from various exhibition journeys around the World it had been shown in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków since 1946. As that museum is currently renovated, the painting is shown in the National Museum instead.
One of the divisions of the National Museum is the Sukiennice Museum in the Cloth Hall, which was actually the main location when the museum was founded in 1879. Today it holds the largest permanent exhibit of the 19th century Polish painting and sculpture shown in four grand rooms. The collection includes some of the most famous and important Polish paintings of that period like Prussian Homage by Jan Matejko (unfortunately no postcard available), Nero's Torches by Henryk Siemiradzki or Ecstasy by Władysław Podkowiński.
The Europeum is the youngest branch of the National Museum and was just opened in 2013. It shows the collection of European art of the National Museum. A masterpiece shown at the museum is The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. Also it currently shows Rembrandt's Landscape with the Good Samaritan, which actually belongs to the Czartoryski Museum.
The Jagiellonian University was founded by Casimir III the Great in 1364 and is thus the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest surviving universities in the World. Notable students include Nicolaus Copernicus, Stanisław Lem and Karol Wojtyła. It is traditionally considered Poland's most reputable institution of higher learning. The Collegium Maius is the university's oldest building and houses the Jagiellonian University Museum.
The Kraków Barbican is a fortified outpost once connected to the city walls and a historic gateway leading into the Old Town of Kraków. It is one of the few remaining relics of the complex network of fortifications and defensive barriers that once encircled the city.
Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory is a former metal item factory. It is one of the places where Oskar Schindler saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust by employing them and now houses a museum.
The Eagle Pharmacy was during World War II the only pharmacy within the borders of Kraków's ghetto. It was a source of various resources and medicaments which helped in avoiding deportation and was used as a place for conspiratorial meetings.
In Pomorska Street was the headquarters of the Gestapo in Kraków. Together with Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory and the Eagle Pharmacy it forms a memorial trail.
The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is a Roman Catholic Baroque church. It is especially known for the sculptures of apostles in front of it.
The Grunwald Monument is an equestrian statue of King of Poland Władysław II Jagiełło and was constructed in 1910 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald. It was destroyed in 1939 by the Nazis, but was reconstructed in 1976.
The Juliusz Słowacki Theatre is a Eclectic theatre-opera house erected in 1893. It was modeled after some of the best European Baroque and Eclectic theatres.
Nowa Huta is the easternmost district of Kraków. It was created as Socialist ideal city and was supposed to be an ideological counterweight to the liberal Kraków, but failed to do so.
The Nativity scene or szopka tradition in Kraków is since 2018 an Intangible Heritage of the UNESCO.
The two other cards I bought in Kraków are a postal card about Postcrossing, on which I got a special postmark, and an illustration of the Wawel Dragon with a seal of the Town Hall Tower on the backside.
