Kraków
Encyclopedia
Kraków (ˈkrakuf) also Krakow, or Cracow (lang), is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland
. Situated on the Vistula River
in the Lesser Poland
region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic hubs. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596; the capital of the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918; and the capital of Kraków Voivodeship
from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship
.
The city has grown from a Stone Age
settlement to Poland's second most important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill
and was already being reported as a busy trading centre of Slavonic
Europe in 965. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic
and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. The city has a population of approximately 760,000 whereas about 8 million people live within a 100 km radius of its main square
.
After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany
at the start of World War II, Kraków was turned into the capital of Germany's General Government
. The Jewish population of the city was moved into a walled zone known as the Kraków Ghetto
, from which they were sent to extermination camps such as Auschwitz
and the concentration camp at Płaszów.
In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II – the first Slavic
pope ever, and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. Also that year, UNESCO
approved the first ever sites for its new World Heritage List
, including the entire Old Town in inscribing Cracow's Historic Centre.
(Krak, Grakch), the legendary founder of Kraków and a ruler of the tribe of Lechitians
(Poles
). In Polish, is an archaic possessive
form of Krak and essentially means "Krak's (town)". Krakus's name may derive from "krakula", a Proto-Slavic
word meaning a judge's staff, or a Proto-Slavic word "krak" meaning an oak
, once a sacred tree most often associated with the concept of genealogy
. The first mention of Prince Krakus (then written as Grakch) dates back to 1190, although the town existed as early as the 7th century, inhabited by the tribe of Wiślanie
.
The city's full official name, used on ceremonial occasions, is , meaning "Royal Capital City of Kraków". In English, a person born, or living, in is a .
begins with evidence of a Stone Age settlement on the present site of the Wawel Hill. A legend attributes Kraków's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus
, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon
, Smok Wawelski
. The first written record of the city's name dates back to 966, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial centre owned by a Bohemian duke. Mieszko
took Kraków from Bohemians and incorporated it into the holdings of the Piast dynasty
towards the end of his reign.
In 1038, Kraków became the seat of the Polish government. By the end of the 10th century, the city was a leading centre of trade. Brick buildings were constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle
with St. Felix and Adaukt Rotunda, Romanesque
churches such as St. Adalbert's, a cathedral
, and a basilica
. The city was almost entirely destroyed during the Mongol invasion
of 1241. It was rebuilt in a form practically unaltered, and incorporated
in 1257 by the king, with city rights based on the Magdeburg law
allowing for tax benefits and new trade privileges for its citizens. In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols. A third attack followed in 1287, repelled thanks in part to the new built fortifications.
The city rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III of Poland founded the University of Kraków
, the second oldest university in central Europe
after the Charles University in Prague
. The city continued to grow under the joint Lithuanian
-Polish Jagiellon dynasty
. As the capital of the Kingdom of Poland
and a member of the Hanseatic League
, the city attracted many craftsmen, businesses, and guild
s as science and the arts began to flourish.
The 15th and 16th centuries were known as Poland's Złoty Wiek or Golden Age
. Many works of Polish Renaissance
art and architecture were created then, including ancient synagogue
s in Kraków's Jewish quarter of Kazimierz
, such as the Old Synagogue
. During the reign of Casimir IV
, various artists came to work and live in Kraków, and Johann Haller
established a printing press
in the city after Kasper Straube
had printed the Calendarium Cracoviense
, the first work printed in Poland, in 1473.
In 1520, the most famous church bell
in Poland, named Zygmunt
after Sigismund I of Poland
, was cast by Hans Behem. At that time, Hans Dürer
, a younger brother of Albrecht Dürer
, was Sigismund's court painter
. Hans von Kulmbach
made altarpiece
s for several churches. In 1572, King Sigismund II
, the last of the Jagiellons, died childless. The Polish throne passed to Henry III of France
and then to other foreign-based rulers in rapid succession, causing a decline in the city's importance that was worsened by pillaging during the Swedish invasion and by an outbreak of bubonic plague
that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. In 1596, Sigismund III
of the Swedish House of Vasa
moved the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Kraków to Warsaw
.
by its neighbors: Russia
, the Habsburg empire
, and Prussia
. In 1794, Tadeusz Kościuszko
initiated an unsuccessful insurrection
in the town's Main Square
which, in spite of his victorious Battle of Racławice against a numerically superior Russian army
, resulted in the third and final partition of Poland. Following the Uprising, Kraków became part of the Austrian partition
in a province of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
. In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte
captured former Polish territories from Austria and made the town part of the Duchy of Warsaw
. Following Napoleon's defeat in Russia, the Congress of Vienna
in 1815 mostly restored earlier structures, although it also created the partially independent Free City of Kraków
. As in 1794, an insurrection in 1846
failed; resulting in the city being annexed by Austria under the name the Grand Duchy of Krakow .
In 1866, Austria granted a degree of autonomy to Galicia after the Austro-Prussian War
, and Kraków became a Polish national symbol and a centre of culture and art, known frequently as the "Polish Athens" (Polskie Ateny) or "Polish Mecca". Many leading Polish artists of the period resided in Kraków, among them the seminal painter Jan Matejko
, laid to rest at Rakowicki Cemetery
, and the founder of modern Polish drama, Stanisław Wyspiański. Fin de siècle
Kraków evolved into a modern metropolis; running water
and electric streetcars
were introduced in 1901, and between 1910 and 1915, Kraków and its surrounding suburban communities were gradually combined into a single administrative unit called Greater Kraków (Wielki Kraków).
At the outbreak of World War I
on 3 August 1914, Józef Piłsudski formed a small cadre military unit, the First Cadre Company
—the predecessor of the Polish Legions
—which set out from Kraków to fight for the liberation of Poland. The city was briefly besieged by Russian troops in November 1914, but they were pushed back afterwards. The Austrian rule in Kraków ended in 1918 when the Polish Liquidation Committee
assumed power.
, Kraków restored its role as a major academic and cultural centre with the establishment of new universities such as the AGH University of Science and Technology
and the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts
, including a number of new and essential vocational schools. It became an important cultural centre for the Polish Jews
with a Zionist
youth movement relatively strong among the city's Jewish population. Kraków was also an influential centre of Jewish spiritual life, with all its manifestations of religious observance from Orthodox
, to Chasidic
and Reform
flourishing side by side.
Following the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Nazi German
forces turned the city into the capital of the General Government
, a colonial authority headed by Hans Frank
and seated in Wawel Castle
. In an operation called "Sonderaktion Krakau
", more than 180 university professors and academics were arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen
and Dachau concentration camps, though the survivors were later released on the request of prominent Italians. The Jewish population was first confined to a ghetto
and later murdered or sent to concentration camps, including Płaszów and Auschwitz
in Oświęcim. Roman Polanski
, the film director, is a survivor of the Ghetto, while Oskar Schindler
, the German businessman portrayed in the Steven Spielberg
film Schindler's List
, selected employees from the Ghetto to work in his enamelware
plant (Deutsche Emailwaren Fabrik, or Emalia for short), thus saving them from the camps.
Kraków remained relatively undamaged at the end of World War II
. After the war, under the Stalinist
regime, the intellectual and academic community of Kraków was put under total political control. The universities were soon deprived of their printing rights as well as their autonomy. The communist
government of the People's Republic of Poland
ordered construction of the country's largest steel mill
in the newly created suburb of Nowa Huta
. The creation of the giant Lenin Steelworks (now Sendzimir
Steelworks owned by Mittal
) sealed Kraków's transformation from a university city to an industrial centre. The new working class
, drawn by the industrialization of the city, contributed to its rapid population growth.
In an effort that spanned two decades, Karol Wojtyła
, cardinal archbishop of Kraków, successfully lobbied for permission to build the first churches in the new industrial suburbs. In 1978, Wojtyła was elevated to the papacy as John Paul II
, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In the same year, UNESCO
placed Kraków Old Town on the first ever list of World Heritage Sites.
Kraków lies in the southern part of Poland, on the Vistula River, in a valley at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains
, 219 m (718.5 ft) above sea level
; half way between the Jurassic Rock Upland
to the north, and the Tatra Mountains
100 km (62.1 mi) to the south, constituting the natural border with Slovakia
and the Czech Republic
; 230 km west from the border with Ukraine
. There are five nature reserve
s in Kraków, with a combined area of ca. 48.6 hectare
s (120 acre
s). Due to their ecological value, these areas are legally protected. The western part of the city, along its northern and north-western side, borders an area of international significance known as the Jurassic Bielany-Tyniec
refuge. The main motives for the protection of this area include plant and animal wildlife and the area's geomorphological
features and landscape. Another part of the city is located within the ecological 'corridor' of the Vistula River valley. This corridor is also assessed as being of international significance as part of the Pan-European ecological network. The city center is situated on the left (northern) bank of the river.
(Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification
system, one of the easternmost localities in Europe to do so (East of Tarnów
, and north of Kielce
the January mean dips below -3 C and thus becomes continental (Dfb) in nature). The city features a temperate climate. Average temperatures in summer range from 18 °C (64 °F) to 19.6 °C (67 °F) and in winter from -2.1 C to 0 °C (32 °F). The average annual temperature is 8.9 °C (48 °F). In summer temperatures often exceed 25 °C (77 °F), and sometimes even 30 °C (86 °F), while winter drops to -5 C at night and about 0 °C (32 °F) at day; during very cold nights the temperature drops to -15 C. In view of the fact that Kraków lies near the Tatra Mountains, there is often blowing halny
– a foehn wind, when the temperature rises rapidly, and even in winter reaches to 20 °C (68 °F).
The Kraków City Council has 43 elected members, one of whom is the mayor
, or President of Kraków, elected every four years. The election of the City Council and of the local head of government
, which takes place at the same time, is based on legislation
introduced on 20 June 2002. The current President of Kraków, re-elected for his third term in 2010, is Professor Jacek Majchrowski
. Several members of the Polish national Parliament (Sejm
) are elected from the Kraków constituency
. The city's official symbols
include a coat of arms
, a flag, a seal, and a banner.
The responsibilities of Kraków’s president include drafting and implementing resolutions, enacting city bylaws, managing the city budget, employing city administrators, and preparing against floods and natural disaster
s. The president fulfills his duties with the help of the City Council, city managers and city inspectors. In the 1990s, the city government
was reorganized to better differentiate between its political agenda
and administrative functions. As a result, the Office of Public Information was created to handle inquiries and foster communication between city departments and citizens at large.
In the year 2000, the city government introduced a new long-term program called "Safer City" in cooperation with the Police, Traffic, Social Services, Fire, Public Safety
, and the Youth Departments. Subsequently, the number of criminal offences went down by 3 percent between 2000 and 2001, and the rate of detection increased by 1.4 percent to a total of 30.2 percent in the same period. The city is receiving help in carrying out the program from all educational institutions and the local media, including TV, radio and the press.
) or boroughs, each with a degree of autonomy within its own municipal government. Prior to March 1991, the city had been divided into four quarters which still give a sense of identity to Kraków - the towns of Podgórze
, Nowa Huta
, and Krowodrza which were absorbed by Kraków as it expanded, and the ancient town center of Kraków itself.
The oldest neighborhoods of Kraków were incorporated into the city before the late 18th century. They include the Old Town (Stare Miasto), once contained within the city defensive walls
and now encircled by the Planty
park; the Wawel
District, which is the site of the Royal Castle and the cathedral; Stradom and Kazimierz
, the latter originally divided into Christian and Jewish quarters; as well as the ancient town of Kleparz
.
Major districts added in the 19th and 20th centuries include Podgórze
, which until 1915 was a separate town on the southern bank of the Vistula, and Nowa Huta
, east of the city centre, built after World War II
.
The current divisions were introduced by the Kraków City Hall on 19 April 1995. Districts were assigned Roman numerals
as well as the current name: Stare Miasto (I), Grzegórzki (II), Prądnik Czerwony (III), Prądnik Biały (IV), Krowodrza (V), Bronowice (VI), Zwierzyniec (VII), Dębniki (VIII), Łagiewniki-Borek Fałęcki (IX), Swoszowice (X), Podgórze Duchackie (XI), Bieżanów-Prokocim (XII), Podgórze
(XIII), Czyżyny (XIV), Mistrzejowice (XV), Bieńczyce (XVI), Wzgórza Krzesławickie (XVII), and Nowa Huta
(XVIII).
Among the most notable historic districts of the city are: Wawel Hill
, home to Wawel Castle
and Wawel Cathedral
, where many Polish kings are buried; the medieval Old Town, with its Main Market Square
(200 metres (656.2 ft) square); dozens of old churches and museums; the 14th-century buildings of the Jagiellonian University
; and Kazimierz
, the historical center of Kraków's Jewish social and religious life.
The Old Town district of Kraków is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art. Its rich variety of historic architecture includes Renaissance
, Baroque
and Gothic
buildings. Kraków's palaces, churches and mansions display great variety of color, architectural details, stained glass
, painting
s, sculpture
s, and furnishings.
In the Market Square stands the Gothic St. Mary's Basilica
(Kościół Mariacki). It was re-built in the 14th century and features the famous wooden altar (Ołtarz Wita Stwosza), the largest Gothic altarpiece
in the World, carved by Veit Stoss
. From the church's main tower a trumpet call (hejnał mariacki), is sounded every hour. The melody, which used to announce the opening and closing of city-gates, ends unexpectedly in midstream. According to legend, the tune was played during the 13th-century Tatar
invasion by a guard warning citizens against the attack. He was shot by a Tatar archer while playing, the bugle-call breaking off at the moment he died. The story was recounted in a book published in the late 1920s called The Trumpeter of Krakow
, which won a Newbery Award
.
Krakow had a recorded population of 754,854 in 2009. According to the 2006 data, the population of Kraków comprised about 2% of the population of Poland and 23% of the population of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship
. Selected demographic indicators are presented in a table (below), compiled on the basis of only the population living in Kraków permanently.
In the 1931 census, 78.1% of Cracovians declared Polish as their primary language, with Yiddish or Hebrew at 20.9%, Ukrainian 0.4%, German 0.3%, and Russian 0.1%. The ravages of history have greatly reduced the percentage of ethnic minorities
living in Kraków. The official and unofficial numbers differ, as in the case of Romani people. Hence, according to the 2002 census, among those who have declared their national identity (irrespective of language and religion) in Kraków Voivodeship, 1,572 were Slovaks
, followed by Ukrainians
(472), Jews
(50) and Armenians
(22). Romani people, officially numbered at 1,678, are estimated at over 5,000. Statistics collected by the Ministry of Education
reveal that, even though only 1% of adults (as per above) officially claim minority status, as many as 3% of students participate in programmes designed for ethnic minorities.
(Małopolska) region. Following the collapse of communism, the private sector has been growing steadily. There are about 50 large multinational companies
in the city, including Google
, IBM
, Motorola
, Delphi
, MAN SE, General Electric
, Hitachi, Philip Morris
, Capgemini
, and Sabre Holdings
, along with other British, German and Scandinavian-based firms. In 2005, Foreign direct investment
in Kraków has reached approximately 3.5 billion USD. Kraków has been trying to position itself as Europe's Silicon Valley, based on the large number of local and foreign hi tech companies. The unemployment rate
in Kraków was 4.8 percent in May 2007, well below the national average of 13 percent. Kraków is the second city in Poland (after Warsaw
) most often visited by foreigners. According to the World Investment Report 2011 by the UN
Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Kraków is also the most emerging city location for investment in global BPO projects (Business Process Outsourcing) in the world.
In 2011, the city budget, which is presented by the Mayor of Kraków on November 15 each year, has a projected revenue of 3,5 billion złoty. The primary sources of revenue were as follows: 14% from the municipal tax
ation on real estate
properties and the use of amenities
, 30% in transfers from the national budget
, and 34% in state subsidies. Projected expenditures, totaling 3,52 billion złoty, included 21% in city development costs and 79% in city maintenance costs. Of the maintenance costs, as much as 39% were spent on education and childcare. City of Kraków development costs included 41% toward road building, transport, and communication (combined), and 25% for the city's infrastructure and environment. The city has a high bond credit rating
, and some 60% of its population is below the age of 45.
capital of Poland, was named the official European Capital of Culture
for the year 2000 by the European Union
. It is a major attraction for both local and international tourists, attracting seven million visitors a year. Major landmarks include the Main Market Square
with St. Mary's Basilica
and the Sukiennice Cloth Hall
, the Wawel Castle
, the National Art Museum
, the Zygmunt Bell
at the Wawel Cathedral
, and the medieval St Florian's Gate
with the Barbican along the Royal Coronation Route
. Kraków has 28 museums and public art
galleries. Among them are the main branch of Poland's National Museum
and the Czartoryski Museum
, the latter featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci
and Rembrandt.
, and the Groteska Theatre of Puppetry, as well as the Opera Krakowska
and Kraków Operetta. The city's principal concert hall and the home of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra is the Kraków Philharmonic
(Filharmonia Krakowska) built in 1931.
Kraków hosts many annual and biannual artistic events, some of international significance such as the Misteria Paschalia (Baroque music), Sacrum-Profanum (contemporary music), the Cracow Screen Festival (popular music
), the Festival of Polish Music
(classical music), Dedications (theatre), the Kraków Film Festival
(one of Europe's oldest short films events), Biennial of Graphic Arts
, and the Jewish Culture Festival. Kraków was the residence of two Polish Nobel
laureates in literature, Wisława Szymborska and Czesław Miłosz; a third Nobel laureate, the Yugoslav writer Ivo Andric
, lived and studied in Kraków. Other former longtime residents include internationally-renowned Polish film
directors Andrzej Wajda
and Roman Polanski
.
Kraków's historic center, which includes the Old Town, Kazimierz
and the Wawel Castle, was included as the first of its kind on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site
s in 1978. The Old Town is the most prominent example of an old town in the country. For many centuries Kraków was the royal capital of Poland, until Sigismund III Vasa
relocated the court to Warsaw
in 1596. The whole district is bisected by the Royal Road
, the coronation route traversed by the Kings of Poland. The Route begins at St. Florian's Church
outside the northern flank of the old city walls in the medieval
suburb of Kleparz; passes the Barbican of Kraków (Barbakan) built in 1499, and enters Stare Miasto through the Florian Gate
. It leads down Floriańska Street through the Main Square, and up Grodzka to Wawel
, the former seat of Polish royalty overlooking the Vistula river. Old Town attracts visitors from all over the World. Kraków historic center is one of the 13 places in Poland that are included in the UNESCO
World Heritage Site
s. The architectural design of the Old Town had survived all cataclysms of the past and retained its original form coming from the medieval times. The Old Town district of Kraków is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art. Its rich variety of historic architecture includes Renaissance
, Baroque
and Gothic
buildings. Kraków's palaces, churches, theatres and mansions display great variety of color, architectural details, stained glass
, painting
s, sculpture
s, and furnishings.
Points of interest outside the city include the Wieliczka salt mine, the Tatra Mountains
100 km (62.1 mi) to the south, the historic city of Częstochowa
, the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz
, and Ojcowski National Park
, which includes Pieskowa Skała Castle.
There are dozens of gardens, parks and forests in Kraków, several, like the Planty Park
, Botanical Garden
, Park Krakowski
, Jordan Park
, Błonia Park and Strzelecki Park], are located in the center of the city and the surrounding districts.
The Planty Park
is the best-known park in Kraków. It was established between 1822 and 1830 in place of the old city walls, forming a green belt
around the Old Town. It consists of a chain of smaller gardens designed in various styles and adorned with monuments. The park has an area of 21 hectares (51.9 acre) and a length of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi), forming a scenic walkway popular with Cracovians.
The Jordan Park
, the first public park equipped with exercise fixtures, was founded in 1889 by Dr Henryk Jordan
on the banks of the Rudawa
river. The park equipped with running and exercise tracks, playgrounds, swimming pool, amphitheatre
, pavilions, and a pond for boat rowing
and water bicycles, is located on the grounds of Kraków’s Błonia Park. The less prominent Park Krakowski
was founded in 1885 by Stanisław Rehman but has since been greatly reduced in size because of rapid real estate development
. It was a popular destination point with many Cracovians at the end of the 19th century.
include Hutnik Kraków
, Wawel Kraków and one-time Polish champion Garbarnia Kraków
. There is also the first-league rugby club Juvenia Kraków
. Kraków has a number of additional, equally valued sports teams including eight-time Polish ice hockey
champions Cracovia Kraków and the twenty-time women's basketball champions Wisła Kraków.
The Cracovia Marathon
, with over a thousand participants from two dozen countries annually, has been held in the city since 2002. Poland's first F1 racing driver Robert Kubica
was born and brought up in Krakow, as was Top 10 ranked womans tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska
.
The construction of the new Krakow Arena has started in May 2011. For concerts, indoor athletics, hockey, basketball, futsal. The Arena will be ready in 2013 cost will be 363 million zł Will serve the viewers up to 15 thousand. In the case of concert, when the scene is set on the lower arena, hall can accommodate up to 18 thousand people.
is based on a fairly dense network of streetcar and bus lines operated by a municipal company, supplemented by a number of private minibus operators. Local trains connect some of the suburbs.
The bulk of the city’s historic area has been turned into a pedestrian zone with rickshaws and horse buggies; however, the tramlines run within a three-block radius.
Rail connections are available to most Polish cities. Trains to Warsaw
depart every hour. International destinations include Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Hamburg, Lvov, Kiev, and Odessa (June–September). The main railway station is located just outside the Old Town District and is well-served by public transport.
The Kraków airport, (John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice
, ,) is 11 km (7 mi) west of the city. Direct trains cover the route between Kraków Główny train station and the airport in 15 minutes. The annual capacity of the airport is estimated at 1.3 million passengers (second largest airport in Poland); however, in 2007 more than 3.042 million people used the airport, giving Kraków Airport 15 percent of all air passenger traffic in Poland. The passenger terminal is undergoing extension and is being adapted to meet the requirements of the Schengen Treaty
. Currently, the airport offers 59 connections and is operated by 2 terminals (international T1 and national T2). The Katowice International Airport
is located about 75 minutes from Krakow.
, the oldest and best known university in Poland and ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement as the best university in the country, was founded in 1364 as the Cracow University
and renamed in 1817 to commemorate the Jagiellonian dynasty
of Polish-Lithuanian kings. Its principal academic asset is the Jagiellonian Library
, with more than 4 million volumes, including a large collection of medieval manuscripts like Copernicus
' De Revolutionibus
and the Balthasar Behem Codex
. With 42,325 students (2005) and 3,605 academic staff, the Jagiellonian University is also one of the leading research centres in Poland. Famous historical figures connected with the University include Saint John Cantius
, Jan Długosz, Nicolaus Copernicus
, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski
, Jan Kochanowski
, King John III Sobieski
, Pope John Paul II
and Nobel laureates Ivo Andrić
and Wisława Szymborska.
AGH University of Science and Technology
, established in 1919, is the second-largest technical university
in Poland, with more than 15 faculties and student enrollment exceeding 30,000. It was ranked by the Polish edition of Newsweek
as the best technical university in the country for the year 2004. During its 80-year history, more than 73,000 students graduated from AGH with master's or bachelor's degrees. Some 3,600 persons were granted the degree of Doctor of Science
, and about 900 obtained the qualification of Habilitated Doctor
.
Other institutions of higher learning include Academy of Music in Kraków
first conceived as conservatory in 1888, one of the oldest and most prestigious conservatories in Central Europe and a major concert venue; Cracow University of Economics, established in 1925; Pedagogical University
, in operation since 1946; Agricultural University of Cracow
, offering courses since 1890 (initially as a part of Jagiellonian University
); Academy of Fine Arts
, the oldest Fine Arts
Academy in Poland, founded by the Polish painter Jan Matejko
; Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
; The Pontifical Academy of Theology; and Cracow University of Technology
, which has more than 37,000 graduates.
, CC Alps Valleys in Grenoble
, CC Benelux in Eindhoven/Leuven
, CC Iberia in Barcelona
, CC PolandPlus in Krakow, and CC Sweden in Stockholm
.
InnoEnergy is an integrated alliance of reputable organizations from the education, research and industry sectors. It was created based on long standing links of cooperation as well as the principles of excellence. The partners have jointly developed a strategy to tackle the weaknesses of the European innovation landscape in the field of sustainable energy.
The metropolitan city of Kraków is known as the city of churches. The abundance of landmark, historic temples along with the plenitude of monasteries and convents earned the city a countrywide reputation as the "Northern Rome" in the past. The churches of Kraków comprise over 120 places of worship of which over sixty were built in the 20th century. Denominations include Roman Catholicism (48 Churches), Jehovah's Witnesses
(10 Kingdom Hall
), Protestantism
(8 Churches), Buddhism
(5), Polish Orthodox Church
(1 Church), Polish Catholic Church
(1 Church) and Mariavite Church
.
Kraków contains also an outstanding collection of monuments of Jewish sacred architecture unmatched anywhere in Poland. Kraków was an influential center of Jewish spiritual life before the outbreak of World War II, with all its manifestations of religious observance from Orthodox
to Chasidic
and Reform
flourishing side by side. There were at least ninety synagogues in Kraków active before the Nazi German invasion of Poland, serving its burgeoning Jewish community of 60,000–80,000 (out of the city's total population of 237,000), established since the early 12th century.
Most synagogues of Kraków were ruined during World War II
by the Nazis who despoiled them of all ceremonial objects, and used them as storehouses for ammunition, firefighting equipment, as general storage facilities and stables. The post-Holocaust
Jewish population of the city had dwindled to about 5,900 before the end of 1940s, and by 1978, the number was further reduced in size to a mere 600 by some estimates. In recent time, thanks to the efforts of the local Jewish and Polish organizations including foreign financial aid from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
, many synagogues underwent major restorations, while others continue to serve as apartment
s.
and Slovak
as Krakov, in Hungarian as , in Lithuanian
as , in German as , in Latin
, Spanish
and Italian
as , in French as , in Portuguese
as and in Russian
as Краков. Ukrainian
and Yiddish
languages refer to it as (Краків) and respectively. Names of Kraków in different languages are also available.
, or maintains close relations, with more than 30 cities around the world:
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Situated on the Vistula River
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
in the Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland is one of the historical regions of Poland, with its capital in the city of Kraków. It forms the southeastern corner of the country, and should not be confused with the modern Lesser Poland Voivodeship, which covers only a small, southern part of Lesser Poland...
region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic hubs. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596; the capital of the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918; and the capital of Kraków Voivodeship
Kraków Voivodeship
Kraków Voivodeship, refers to several historical Voivodeships of Poland in the surrounding regions, with the city of Kraków as its capital.- Kraków Voivodeship 1975-1998 :...
from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship
Lesser Poland Voivodeship
Małopolska Voivodeship , or Lesser Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, in southern Poland...
.
The city has grown from a Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
settlement to Poland's second most important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill
Wawel Hill
Wawel Hill is the name of a Jurassic limestone outcrop formed about 150 million years ago. It is situated on the left bank of the Vistula River in Kraków, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level. Over the millennia, the hill provided a safe haven for people who settled there since...
and was already being reported as a busy trading centre of Slavonic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
Europe in 965. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. The city has a population of approximately 760,000 whereas about 8 million people live within a 100 km radius of its main square
Main Market Square, Kraków
The Main Market Square in Kraków is the most important market square of the Old Town in Kraków, Poland and a principal urban space located at the center of the city...
.
After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
at the start of World War II, Kraków was turned into the capital of Germany's General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
. The Jewish population of the city was moved into a walled zone known as the Kraków Ghetto
Kraków Ghetto
The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major, metropolitan Jewish ghettos created by Nazi Germany in the General Government territory for the purpose of persecution, terror, and exploitation of Polish Jews during the German occupation of Poland in World War II...
, from which they were sent to extermination camps such as Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
and the concentration camp at Płaszów.
In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II – the first Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
pope ever, and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. Also that year, UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
approved the first ever sites for its new World Heritage List
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
, including the entire Old Town in inscribing Cracow's Historic Centre.
Etymology
The name of Kraków is traditionally derived from KrakusKrakus
Krakus, Krak or Grakch was a legendary Polish prince and founder of Kraków, the ruler of the tribe of Lechitians . Krakus is also credited with building Wawel Castle. The first recorded mention of Krakus, then spelled Grakch, is in the Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae from 1190...
(Krak, Grakch), the legendary founder of Kraków and a ruler of the tribe of Lechitians
Lechites
Lechites – an ethnic and linguistic group of West Slavs, the ancestors of modern Poles and the historical Pomeranians and Polabians.-History:...
(Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
). In Polish, is an archaic possessive
Possessive case
The possessive case of a language is a grammatical case used to indicate a relationship of possession. It is not the same as the genitive case, which can express a wider range of relationships, though the two have similar meanings in many languages.See Possession for a survey of the different...
form of Krak and essentially means "Krak's (town)". Krakus's name may derive from "krakula", a Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic language
Proto-Slavic is the proto-language from which Slavic languages later emerged. It was spoken before the seventh century AD. As with most other proto-languages, no attested writings have been found; the language has been reconstructed by applying the comparative method to all the attested Slavic...
word meaning a judge's staff, or a Proto-Slavic word "krak" meaning an oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, once a sacred tree most often associated with the concept of genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
. The first mention of Prince Krakus (then written as Grakch) dates back to 1190, although the town existed as early as the 7th century, inhabited by the tribe of Wiślanie
Vistulans
Vistulans were an early medieval West Slavic tribe inhabiting the land of modern Lesser Poland.From the 1st century and possibly earlier, the Vistulans , were part of the Carpian Tribe, which got its name from the area that they lived in, which was beside the Carpathian Mountain Range...
.
The city's full official name, used on ceremonial occasions, is , meaning "Royal Capital City of Kraków". In English, a person born, or living, in is a .
Early history
Kraków's prehistoryPrehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
begins with evidence of a Stone Age settlement on the present site of the Wawel Hill. A legend attributes Kraków's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus
Krakus
Krakus, Krak or Grakch was a legendary Polish prince and founder of Kraków, the ruler of the tribe of Lechitians . Krakus is also credited with building Wawel Castle. The first recorded mention of Krakus, then spelled Grakch, is in the Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae from 1190...
, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
, Smok Wawelski
Smok Wawelski
The Wawel Dragon , also known as the Dragon of Wawel Hill, is a famous dragon in Polish folklore. He laired in a cave at the foot of Wawel Hill on the bank of the Vistula River. Wawel Hill is in Kraków, which was then the capital of Poland...
. The first written record of the city's name dates back to 966, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial centre owned by a Bohemian duke. Mieszko
Mieszko I of Poland
Mieszko I , was a Duke of the Polans from about 960 until his death. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was son of Siemomysł; grandchild of Lestek; father of Bolesław I the Brave, the first crowned King of Poland; likely father of Świętosława , a Nordic Queen; and grandfather of her son, Cnut the...
took Kraków from Bohemians and incorporated it into the holdings of the Piast dynasty
Piast dynasty
The Piast dynasty was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. It began with the semi-legendary Piast Kołodziej . The first historical ruler was Duke Mieszko I . The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir the Great...
towards the end of his reign.
| Ethnic Group | City proper | Kazimierz suburb |
Kleparz suburb |
Community |
| Poles | Circa 5,000 | Circa 1,500 | Circa 1,000 | 7,500 |
| Germans | Circa 3,500 | – | – | 3,500 |
| Jews | Circa 800 | – | – | 800 |
| Hungarians and/or Italians | Circa 200 | – | – | 200 |
| Others | Circa 500 | – | – | 500 |
| Subtotal (townsfolk) | 10,000 | 1,500 | 1,000 | 12,500 |
| Court, soldiery & clergy | Circa 2,500 | |||
| Grand total (population) | Circa 15,000 | |||
| Source: T. Ladenberger, Zaludnienie Polski na początku panowania Kazimierza Wielkiego, Lwów, 1930, p. 63 | ||||
In 1038, Kraków became the seat of the Polish government. By the end of the 10th century, the city was a leading centre of trade. Brick buildings were constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle
The Gothic Wawel Castle in Kraków in Poland was built at the behest of Casimir III the Great and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard. In the 14th century it was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland. Their reign saw the addition of the tower called the Hen's...
with St. Felix and Adaukt Rotunda, Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
churches such as St. Adalbert's, a cathedral
Wawel Cathedral
The Wawel Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Stanisław and Vaclav, is a church located on Wawel Hill in Kraków–Poland's national sanctuary. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs. It is the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Kraków...
, and a basilica
St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków
St. Mary's Basilica , is a Brick Gothic church re-built in the 14th century , adjacent to the Main Market Square in Kraków, Poland...
. The city was almost entirely destroyed during the Mongol invasion
Mongol invasion of Poland
The Mongol Invasion of Poland from late 1240 to 1241 culminated in the battle of Legnica, where the Mongols defeated an alliance which included forces from fragmented Poland and members of various Christian military orders, led by Henry II the Pious, the Duke of Silesia. The first invasion's...
of 1241. It was rebuilt in a form practically unaltered, and incorporated
Municipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...
in 1257 by the king, with city rights based on the Magdeburg law
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg Rights or Magdeburg Law were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted by a local ruler. Modelled and named after the laws of the German city of Magdeburg and developed during many centuries of the Holy Roman Empire, it was...
allowing for tax benefits and new trade privileges for its citizens. In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols. A third attack followed in 1287, repelled thanks in part to the new built fortifications.
The city rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III of Poland founded the University of Kraków
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
, the second oldest university in central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
after the Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
. The city continued to grow under the joint Lithuanian
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
-Polish Jagiellon dynasty
Jagiellon dynasty
The Jagiellonian dynasty was a royal dynasty originating from the Lithuanian House of Gediminas dynasty that reigned in Central European countries between the 14th and 16th century...
. As the capital of the Kingdom of Poland
Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)
The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...
and a member of the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
, the city attracted many craftsmen, businesses, and guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s as science and the arts began to flourish.
Golden age
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
. Many works of Polish Renaissance
Renaissance in Poland
The Renaissance in Poland lasted from the late 15th to the late 16th century and is widely considered to have been the Golden Age of Polish culture. Ruled by the Jagiellon dynasty, the Kingdom of Poland actively participated in the broad European Renaissance...
art and architecture were created then, including ancient synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s in Kraków's Jewish quarter of Kazimierz
Kazimierz
Kazimierz is a historical district of Kraków , best known for being home to a Jewish community from the 14th century until the Second World War.-Early history:...
, such as the Old Synagogue
Old Synagogue (Kraków)
Old Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Kazimierz district of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest synagogue building still standing in Poland, and one of the most precious landmarks of Jewish architecture in Europe...
. During the reign of Casimir IV
Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV KG of the House of Jagiellon was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death.Casimir was the second son of King Władysław II Jagiełło , and the younger brother of Władysław III of Varna....
, various artists came to work and live in Kraków, and Johann Haller
Johann Haller
Johann Haller or Jan Haller is considered one of the first commercial printers in Poland.-Copernicus:Born in Rothenburg, Haller is perhaps best known for publishing in 1509 a volume of poems by Theophylact Simocatta which had been translated from Byzantine Greek by Nicolaus Copernicus...
established a printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
in the city after Kasper Straube
Kasper Straube
Kasper Straube was a German 15th century printer from Bavaria.He was active in Cracow between 1473 and 1477, decades before Johann Haller...
had printed the Calendarium Cracoviense
Almanach Cracoviense ad annum 1474
Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474 is a single-sheet astronomical wall calendar for the year 1474, and Poland's oldest known print...
, the first work printed in Poland, in 1473.
In 1520, the most famous church bell
Church bell
A church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...
in Poland, named Zygmunt
Zygmunt (bell)
The Royal Sigismund Bell is the largest of the five bells hanging in the Sigismund Tower of the Wawel Cathedral in the Polish city of Kraków. It was cast in 1520 by Hans Behem and named after its patron, Sigismund I, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, who commissioned it...
after Sigismund I of Poland
Sigismund I the Old
Sigismund I of Poland , of the Jagiellon dynasty, reigned as King of Poland and also as the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until 1548...
, was cast by Hans Behem. At that time, Hans Dürer
Hans Dürer
Hans Dürer , was a German Renaissance painter, illustrator, and engraver.He was the younger brother of Albrecht Dürer, and after him, the most talented of 17 siblings. He was certain to have been trained in the workshop of his already famous brother. He became the court painter for Sigismund I of...
, a younger brother of Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
, was Sigismund's court painter
Court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or noble family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Especially in the late Middle Ages, they were often given the office of valet de chambre...
. Hans von Kulmbach
Hans von Kulmbach
Artist Hans von Kulmbach was born around 1480 in Kulmbach, Franconia and died previous to Dec. 3, 1522 in Nuremberg. Hans von Kulmbach was the artist who created the Kraków St. John's Altar....
made altarpiece
Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
s for several churches. In 1572, King Sigismund II
Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus I was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548...
, the last of the Jagiellons, died childless. The Polish throne passed to Henry III of France
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
and then to other foreign-based rulers in rapid succession, causing a decline in the city's importance that was worsened by pillaging during the Swedish invasion and by an outbreak of bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. In 1596, Sigismund III
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
of the Swedish House of Vasa
House of Vasa
The House of Vasa was the Royal House of Sweden 1523-1654 and of Poland 1587-1668. It originated from a noble family in Uppland of which several members had high offices during the 15th century....
moved the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Kraków to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
.
18th to early 20th century
Already weakened during the 18th century, by the mid-1790s the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had been twice partitionedPartitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
by its neighbors: Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, the Habsburg empire
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
, and Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
. In 1794, Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
initiated an unsuccessful insurrection
Kosciuszko Uprising
The Kościuszko Uprising was an uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in Poland, Belarus and Lithuania in 1794...
in the town's Main Square
Main Market Square, Kraków
The Main Market Square in Kraków is the most important market square of the Old Town in Kraków, Poland and a principal urban space located at the center of the city...
which, in spite of his victorious Battle of Racławice against a numerically superior Russian army
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are the military services of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union. On 7 May 1992 Boris Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the Russian Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet Armed Forces troops on the territory of the RSFSR...
, resulted in the third and final partition of Poland. Following the Uprising, Kraków became part of the Austrian partition
Austrian partition
The Austrian partition refers to the former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by the Austrian Empire during the partitions of Poland in late 18th century.-History:...
in a province of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1918 .This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine...
. In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
captured former Polish territories from Austria and made the town part of the Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
. Following Napoleon's defeat in Russia, the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
in 1815 mostly restored earlier structures, although it also created the partially independent Free City of Kraków
Free City of Kraków
The Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Kraków with its Territory , more commonly known as either the Free City of Kraków or Republic of Kraków , was a city-state created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and controlled by its three neighbours until 1846, when in the aftermath of the...
. As in 1794, an insurrection in 1846
Kraków Uprising
The Kraków Uprising of February 1846 was an attempt, led by Edward Dembowski, to incite a Polish fight for national independence. Even though most of Poland was part of the Russian Empire, the Polish risings were conducted mainly in Prussia and in the Austrian Empire.-History:Most of the...
failed; resulting in the city being annexed by Austria under the name the Grand Duchy of Krakow .
In 1866, Austria granted a degree of autonomy to Galicia after the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
, and Kraków became a Polish national symbol and a centre of culture and art, known frequently as the "Polish Athens" (Polskie Ateny) or "Polish Mecca". Many leading Polish artists of the period resided in Kraków, among them the seminal painter Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings...
, laid to rest at Rakowicki Cemetery
Rakowicki Cemetery
Rakowicki Cemetery is one of the best known cemeteries of Poland, located in the centre of Kraków. It lies within the Administrative District No. 1 Stare Miasto meaning "Old Town" – not to be confused with the historic Kraków Old Town further west...
, and the founder of modern Polish drama, Stanisław Wyspiański. Fin de siècle
Fin de siècle
Fin de siècle is French for "end of the century". The term sometimes encompasses both the closing and onset of an era, as it was felt to be a period of degeneration, but at the same time a period of hope for a new beginning...
Kraków evolved into a modern metropolis; running water
Tap water
Tap water is a principal component of "indoor plumbing", which became available in urban areas of the developed world during the last quarter of the 19th century, and common during the mid-20th century...
and electric streetcars
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
were introduced in 1901, and between 1910 and 1915, Kraków and its surrounding suburban communities were gradually combined into a single administrative unit called Greater Kraków (Wielki Kraków).
At the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
on 3 August 1914, Józef Piłsudski formed a small cadre military unit, the First Cadre Company
First Cadre Company
First Cadre Company was a military formation created by Józef Piłsudski at the outbreak of World War I, on August 3, 1914 in Kraków, from members of the Riflemen's Association and the Polish Rifle Squads. The company numbered 144 soldiers under command of Tadeusz Kasprzycki. The formation...
—the predecessor of the Polish Legions
Polish Legions in World War I
Polish Legions was the name of Polish armed forces created in August 1914 in Galicia. Thanks to the efforts of KSSN and the Polish members of the Austrian parliament, the unit became an independent formation of the Austro-Hungarian Army...
—which set out from Kraków to fight for the liberation of Poland. The city was briefly besieged by Russian troops in November 1914, but they were pushed back afterwards. The Austrian rule in Kraków ended in 1918 when the Polish Liquidation Committee
Polish Liquidation Committee
The Polish Liquidation Committee was a temporary Polish government body in Galicia formed towards the end of World War I. Created on October 28, 1918, with its seat in Kraków, the Committee was headed by Wincenty Witos and Ignacy Daszyński...
assumed power.
1918 to the present
With the emergence of the Second Polish RepublicSecond Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
, Kraków restored its role as a major academic and cultural centre with the establishment of new universities such as the AGH University of Science and Technology
AGH University of Science and Technology
AGH University of Science and Technology is the second largest technical university in Poland, located in Kraków. The university was established in 1919, and was formerly known as the University of Mining and Metallurgy...
and the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts
The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, or Kraków Academy of Fine Arts , located in Kraków, Poland, is the oldest Polish fine-arts academy, established in 1818.It is a state-run university that offers 5- and 6-year Master's degree programs...
, including a number of new and essential vocational schools. It became an important cultural centre for the Polish Jews
History of the Jews in Poland
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the...
with a Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
youth movement relatively strong among the city's Jewish population. Kraków was also an influential centre of Jewish spiritual life, with all its manifestations of religious observance from Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
, to Chasidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
and Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
flourishing side by side.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
forces turned the city into the capital of the General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
, a colonial authority headed by Hans Frank
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank was a German lawyer who worked for the Nazi party during the 1920s and 1930s and later became a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany...
and seated in Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle
The Gothic Wawel Castle in Kraków in Poland was built at the behest of Casimir III the Great and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard. In the 14th century it was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland. Their reign saw the addition of the tower called the Hen's...
. In an operation called "Sonderaktion Krakau
Sonderaktion Krakau
Sonderaktion Krakau was the codename for a German operation against professors and academics from the University of Kraków and other Kraków universities at the beginning of World War II....
", more than 180 university professors and academics were arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
and Dachau concentration camps, though the survivors were later released on the request of prominent Italians. The Jewish population was first confined to a ghetto
Kraków Ghetto
The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major, metropolitan Jewish ghettos created by Nazi Germany in the General Government territory for the purpose of persecution, terror, and exploitation of Polish Jews during the German occupation of Poland in World War II...
and later murdered or sent to concentration camps, including Płaszów and Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
in Oświęcim. Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
, the film director, is a survivor of the Ghetto, while Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler was an ethnic German industrialist born in Moravia. He is credited with saving over 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories, which were located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.He is the subject of the...
, the German businessman portrayed in the Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
film Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
, selected employees from the Ghetto to work in his enamelware
Vitreous enamel
Vitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...
plant (Deutsche Emailwaren Fabrik, or Emalia for short), thus saving them from the camps.
Kraków remained relatively undamaged at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the war, under the Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
regime, the intellectual and academic community of Kraków was put under total political control. The universities were soon deprived of their printing rights as well as their autonomy. The communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
government of the People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
ordered construction of the country's largest steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
in the newly created suburb of Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city.- History :...
. The creation of the giant Lenin Steelworks (now Sendzimir
Tadeusz Sendzimir
Tadeusz Sendzimir of Ostoja coat of arms was a Polish engineer and inventor of international renown with 120 patents in mining and metallurgy, 73 of which were awarded to him in the United States.His name has been given to revolutionary methods of processing steel and metals used in every...
Steelworks owned by Mittal
Mittal Steel Company
Mittal Steel Company N.V. was one of the world's largest steel producers by volume, and also one of the largests in turnover. The company is now part of ArcelorMittal....
) sealed Kraków's transformation from a university city to an industrial centre. The new working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
, drawn by the industrialization of the city, contributed to its rapid population growth.
In an effort that spanned two decades, Karol Wojtyła
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, cardinal archbishop of Kraków, successfully lobbied for permission to build the first churches in the new industrial suburbs. In 1978, Wojtyła was elevated to the papacy as John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In the same year, UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
placed Kraków Old Town on the first ever list of World Heritage Sites.
Geography
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
, 219 m (718.5 ft) above sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
; half way between the Jurassic Rock Upland
Polish Jura Chain
The Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, also known as the Polish Jurassic Highland or Polish Jura , is part of the Jurassic System of south–central Poland, stretching between the cities of Kraków, Częstochowa and Wieluń...
to the north, and the Tatra Mountains
Tatra Mountains
The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra , are a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland, and are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains...
100 km (62.1 mi) to the south, constituting the natural border with Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
; 230 km west from the border with Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. There are five nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
s in Kraków, with a combined area of ca. 48.6 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s (120 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s). Due to their ecological value, these areas are legally protected. The western part of the city, along its northern and north-western side, borders an area of international significance known as the Jurassic Bielany-Tyniec
Tyniec
Tyniec is a historic village in Poland on the Vistula river, since 1973 a part of the city of Kraków . Tyniec is notable for its famous Benedictine abbey founded by king Casimir the Restorer in 1044.-See also:...
refuge. The main motives for the protection of this area include plant and animal wildlife and the area's geomorphological
Geomorphology
Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...
features and landscape. Another part of the city is located within the ecological 'corridor' of the Vistula River valley. This corridor is also assessed as being of international significance as part of the Pan-European ecological network. The city center is situated on the left (northern) bank of the river.
Climate
Kraków has an Oceanic climateOceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...
(Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
system, one of the easternmost localities in Europe to do so (East of Tarnów
Tarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
, and north of Kielce
Kielce
Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...
the January mean dips below -3 C and thus becomes continental (Dfb) in nature). The city features a temperate climate. Average temperatures in summer range from 18 °C (64 °F) to 19.6 °C (67 °F) and in winter from -2.1 C to 0 °C (32 °F). The average annual temperature is 8.9 °C (48 °F). In summer temperatures often exceed 25 °C (77 °F), and sometimes even 30 °C (86 °F), while winter drops to -5 C at night and about 0 °C (32 °F) at day; during very cold nights the temperature drops to -15 C. In view of the fact that Kraków lies near the Tatra Mountains, there is often blowing halny
Halny
Halny – a foehn wind that blows in southern Poland and in Slovakia in the Carpathian Mountains. The most turbulent halny blows in Podhale, coming from the South, down the slopes of the Tatra Mountains; in Slovakia, on the other side of the mountains, it comes from the North.Halny is a warm...
– a foehn wind, when the temperature rises rapidly, and even in winter reaches to 20 °C (68 °F).
Governance
The Kraków City Council has 43 elected members, one of whom is the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
, or President of Kraków, elected every four years. The election of the City Council and of the local head of government
Head of government
Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled prime minister, chief minister, premier, etc...
, which takes place at the same time, is based on legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
introduced on 20 June 2002. The current President of Kraków, re-elected for his third term in 2010, is Professor Jacek Majchrowski
Jacek Majchrowski
Prof. dr hab. Jacek Maria Majchrowski is the mayor of the Royal Capital City of Kraków, a lawyer and historian, and a professor at Jagiellonian University.-Biography:Majchrowski was born on 13 January 1947 in Sosnowiec...
. Several members of the Polish national Parliament (Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
) are elected from the Kraków constituency
Members of Polish Sejm elected from Kraków constituency
Members of Polish national Parliament elected from Kraków constituency include:*Andrzej Adamczyk, *Bogusław Bosak, *Barbara Bubula,...
. The city's official symbols
Symbols of Kraków
The city of Kraków uses a coat of arms, a seal, official colors, a flag, and a banner as its official symbols. Additionally, a number of semi-official and unofficial symbols of the city are also used.- Official symbols :...
include a coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, a flag, a seal, and a banner.
The responsibilities of Kraków’s president include drafting and implementing resolutions, enacting city bylaws, managing the city budget, employing city administrators, and preparing against floods and natural disaster
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
s. The president fulfills his duties with the help of the City Council, city managers and city inspectors. In the 1990s, the city government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
was reorganized to better differentiate between its political agenda
Political agenda
A political agenda is a set of issues and policies laid out by an executive or cabinet in government that tries to influence current and near-future political news and debate....
and administrative functions. As a result, the Office of Public Information was created to handle inquiries and foster communication between city departments and citizens at large.
In the year 2000, the city government introduced a new long-term program called "Safer City" in cooperation with the Police, Traffic, Social Services, Fire, Public Safety
Public Safety
Public safety involves the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety of the general public from significant danger, injury/harm, or damage, such as crimes or disasters .-See also:* By nation...
, and the Youth Departments. Subsequently, the number of criminal offences went down by 3 percent between 2000 and 2001, and the rate of detection increased by 1.4 percent to a total of 30.2 percent in the same period. The city is receiving help in carrying out the program from all educational institutions and the local media, including TV, radio and the press.
Districts
Kraków is divided into 18 administrative districts (dzielnicaDzielnica
In the Polish system of local administration, a dzielnica is an administrative subdivision or quarter of a city or town. A dzielnica may have its own elected council , and those of Warsaw each have their own mayor...
) or boroughs, each with a degree of autonomy within its own municipal government. Prior to March 1991, the city had been divided into four quarters which still give a sense of identity to Kraków - the towns of Podgórze
Podgórze
Podgórze is a district of Kraków, Poland, situated on the right bank of the Vistula River. Initially a village at the foot of Lasota Hill was granted city status by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II in 1784 and has become Royal Free City of Podgorze...
, Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city.- History :...
, and Krowodrza which were absorbed by Kraków as it expanded, and the ancient town center of Kraków itself.
The oldest neighborhoods of Kraków were incorporated into the city before the late 18th century. They include the Old Town (Stare Miasto), once contained within the city defensive walls
Florian Gate
St. Florian's Gate or Florian Gate in Kraków, Poland, is one of the best-known Polish Gothic towers, and a focal point of Kraków's Old Town. It was built about the 14th century as a rectangular Gothic tower of "wild stone", part of the city fortifications against Turkish attack.-History:The tower,...
and now encircled by the Planty
Planty Park
Planty is one of the largest city parks in Kraków, Poland. It encircles the Stare Miasto , where the Medieval city walls used to stand until the early 19th century. The historic Old Town is not to be confused with the Administrative District No. 1 Stare Miasto extending further east.The park has an...
park; the Wawel
Wawel
Wawel is an architectural complex erected over many centuries atop a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula River in Kraków, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level. It is a place of great significance to the Polish people. The Royal Castle with an armoury and the...
District, which is the site of the Royal Castle and the cathedral; Stradom and Kazimierz
Kazimierz
Kazimierz is a historical district of Kraków , best known for being home to a Jewish community from the 14th century until the Second World War.-Early history:...
, the latter originally divided into Christian and Jewish quarters; as well as the ancient town of Kleparz
Kleparz
Kleparz – a neighbourhood in Kraków situated to the north of the Old Town. It was a separate town between 1366 and 1792. It is now part of the Stare Miasto administrative district.-History:...
.
Major districts added in the 19th and 20th centuries include Podgórze
Podgórze
Podgórze is a district of Kraków, Poland, situated on the right bank of the Vistula River. Initially a village at the foot of Lasota Hill was granted city status by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II in 1784 and has become Royal Free City of Podgorze...
, which until 1915 was a separate town on the southern bank of the Vistula, and Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city.- History :...
, east of the city centre, built after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The current divisions were introduced by the Kraków City Hall on 19 April 1995. Districts were assigned Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
as well as the current name: Stare Miasto (I), Grzegórzki (II), Prądnik Czerwony (III), Prądnik Biały (IV), Krowodrza (V), Bronowice (VI), Zwierzyniec (VII), Dębniki (VIII), Łagiewniki-Borek Fałęcki (IX), Swoszowice (X), Podgórze Duchackie (XI), Bieżanów-Prokocim (XII), Podgórze
Podgórze
Podgórze is a district of Kraków, Poland, situated on the right bank of the Vistula River. Initially a village at the foot of Lasota Hill was granted city status by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II in 1784 and has become Royal Free City of Podgorze...
(XIII), Czyżyny (XIV), Mistrzejowice (XV), Bieńczyce (XVI), Wzgórza Krzesławickie (XVII), and Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city.- History :...
(XVIII).
Wawel Hill
Wawel Hill is the name of a Jurassic limestone outcrop formed about 150 million years ago. It is situated on the left bank of the Vistula River in Kraków, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level. Over the millennia, the hill provided a safe haven for people who settled there since...
, home to Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle
The Gothic Wawel Castle in Kraków in Poland was built at the behest of Casimir III the Great and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard. In the 14th century it was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland. Their reign saw the addition of the tower called the Hen's...
and Wawel Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral
The Wawel Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Stanisław and Vaclav, is a church located on Wawel Hill in Kraków–Poland's national sanctuary. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs. It is the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Kraków...
, where many Polish kings are buried; the medieval Old Town, with its Main Market Square
Main Market Square, Kraków
The Main Market Square in Kraków is the most important market square of the Old Town in Kraków, Poland and a principal urban space located at the center of the city...
(200 metres (656.2 ft) square); dozens of old churches and museums; the 14th-century buildings of the Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
; and Kazimierz
Kazimierz
Kazimierz is a historical district of Kraków , best known for being home to a Jewish community from the 14th century until the Second World War.-Early history:...
, the historical center of Kraków's Jewish social and religious life.
The Old Town district of Kraków is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art. Its rich variety of historic architecture includes Renaissance
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
, Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
and Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
buildings. Kraków's palaces, churches and mansions display great variety of color, architectural details, stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
, painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s, and furnishings.
In the Market Square stands the Gothic St. Mary's Basilica
St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków
St. Mary's Basilica , is a Brick Gothic church re-built in the 14th century , adjacent to the Main Market Square in Kraków, Poland...
(Kościół Mariacki). It was re-built in the 14th century and features the famous wooden altar (Ołtarz Wita Stwosza), the largest Gothic altarpiece
Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
in the World, carved by Veit Stoss
Veit Stoss
Veit Stoss was a leading Bavarian sculptor, mostly in wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque"...
. From the church's main tower a trumpet call (hejnał mariacki), is sounded every hour. The melody, which used to announce the opening and closing of city-gates, ends unexpectedly in midstream. According to legend, the tune was played during the 13th-century Tatar
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
invasion by a guard warning citizens against the attack. He was shot by a Tatar archer while playing, the bugle-call breaking off at the moment he died. The story was recounted in a book published in the late 1920s called The Trumpeter of Krakow
The Trumpeter of Krakow
The Trumpeter of Krakow, a young adult historical novel by Eric P. Kelly, won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1929....
, which won a Newbery Award
Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
.
Demographics
| Demographic indicators | Years | Kraków |
| in thousands | 1978 1988 1995 2002 |
693,6 746,6 732,9 758,5 |
| person/km² | 1978 1988 1995 2002 |
2,156 2,285 2,243 2,320 |
| per 100 men | 1978 1988 1995 2002 |
110 110 112 113 |
| per 1000 | 1999 2000 2001 |
−1.7 −1.5 −1.5 |
Lesser Poland Voivodeship
Małopolska Voivodeship , or Lesser Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, in southern Poland...
. Selected demographic indicators are presented in a table (below), compiled on the basis of only the population living in Kraków permanently.
In the 1931 census, 78.1% of Cracovians declared Polish as their primary language, with Yiddish or Hebrew at 20.9%, Ukrainian 0.4%, German 0.3%, and Russian 0.1%. The ravages of history have greatly reduced the percentage of ethnic minorities
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
living in Kraków. The official and unofficial numbers differ, as in the case of Romani people. Hence, according to the 2002 census, among those who have declared their national identity (irrespective of language and religion) in Kraków Voivodeship, 1,572 were Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
, followed by Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
(472), Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
(50) and Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
(22). Romani people, officially numbered at 1,678, are estimated at over 5,000. Statistics collected by the Ministry of Education
Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Poland
Ministry of National Education of Poland was created in 2006. The ministry prerogatives do not include higher education, which falls under Ministry of Science and Higher Education ....
reveal that, even though only 1% of adults (as per above) officially claim minority status, as many as 3% of students participate in programmes designed for ethnic minorities.
Economy
Kraków is one of Poland's most important economic centers, and the economic hub of the Lesser PolandLesser Poland
Lesser Poland is one of the historical regions of Poland, with its capital in the city of Kraków. It forms the southeastern corner of the country, and should not be confused with the modern Lesser Poland Voivodeship, which covers only a small, southern part of Lesser Poland...
(Małopolska) region. Following the collapse of communism, the private sector has been growing steadily. There are about 50 large multinational companies
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
in the city, including Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, Delphi
Delphi
Delphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the god...
, MAN SE, General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
, Hitachi, Philip Morris
Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...
, Capgemini
Capgemini
Capgemini is a French global IT services company, one of the world's largest management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies with a staff of 114,274 operating in 40 countries. It is headquartered in Paris and was founded in 1967 by Serge Kampf, the current chairman, in...
, and Sabre Holdings
Sabre Holdings
Sabre Holdings or Sabre, Inc. is an American privately held travel technology company, encompassing several brands in three global distribution system channels: travel agency, airline, and direct to consumer. These areas are serviced by TSG's three main business groups...
, along with other British, German and Scandinavian-based firms. In 2005, Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
in Kraków has reached approximately 3.5 billion USD. Kraków has been trying to position itself as Europe's Silicon Valley, based on the large number of local and foreign hi tech companies. The unemployment rate
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
in Kraków was 4.8 percent in May 2007, well below the national average of 13 percent. Kraków is the second city in Poland (after Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
) most often visited by foreigners. According to the World Investment Report 2011 by the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Kraków is also the most emerging city location for investment in global BPO projects (Business Process Outsourcing) in the world.
In 2011, the city budget, which is presented by the Mayor of Kraków on November 15 each year, has a projected revenue of 3,5 billion złoty. The primary sources of revenue were as follows: 14% from the municipal tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
ation on real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
properties and the use of amenities
Amenity
In real property and lodging, amenities are any tangible or untangible benefits of a property, especially those that increase its attractiveness or value or that contribute to its comfort or convenience...
, 30% in transfers from the national budget
Budget
A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
, and 34% in state subsidies. Projected expenditures, totaling 3,52 billion złoty, included 21% in city development costs and 79% in city maintenance costs. Of the maintenance costs, as much as 39% were spent on education and childcare. City of Kraków development costs included 41% toward road building, transport, and communication (combined), and 25% for the city's infrastructure and environment. The city has a high bond credit rating
Bond credit rating
In investment, the bond credit rating assesses the credit worthiness of a corporation's or government debt issues. It is analogous to credit ratings for individuals.-Table:...
, and some 60% of its population is below the age of 45.
Culture
Kraków, the unofficial culturalCulture of Poland
The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate 1000 year history Its unique character developed as a result of its geography at the confluence of various European regions...
capital of Poland, was named the official European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
for the year 2000 by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. It is a major attraction for both local and international tourists, attracting seven million visitors a year. Major landmarks include the Main Market Square
Main Market Square, Kraków
The Main Market Square in Kraków is the most important market square of the Old Town in Kraków, Poland and a principal urban space located at the center of the city...
with St. Mary's Basilica
St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków
St. Mary's Basilica , is a Brick Gothic church re-built in the 14th century , adjacent to the Main Market Square in Kraków, Poland...
and the Sukiennice Cloth Hall
Sukiennice
The Renaissance Sukiennice in Kraków, Poland, is one of the city's most recognizable icons. It is the central feature of the Main Market Square in the Kraków Old Town . It was once a major centre of international trade. Traveling merchants met there to discuss business and to barter...
, the Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle
The Gothic Wawel Castle in Kraków in Poland was built at the behest of Casimir III the Great and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard. In the 14th century it was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland. Their reign saw the addition of the tower called the Hen's...
, the National Art Museum
National Museum, Kraków
The National Museum in Kraków , established in 1879, is the main branch of Poland's National Museum, which has many permanent collections around the country.-History:...
, the Zygmunt Bell
Zygmunt (bell)
The Royal Sigismund Bell is the largest of the five bells hanging in the Sigismund Tower of the Wawel Cathedral in the Polish city of Kraków. It was cast in 1520 by Hans Behem and named after its patron, Sigismund I, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, who commissioned it...
at the Wawel Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral
The Wawel Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Stanisław and Vaclav, is a church located on Wawel Hill in Kraków–Poland's national sanctuary. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs. It is the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Kraków...
, and the medieval St Florian's Gate
Florian Gate
St. Florian's Gate or Florian Gate in Kraków, Poland, is one of the best-known Polish Gothic towers, and a focal point of Kraków's Old Town. It was built about the 14th century as a rectangular Gothic tower of "wild stone", part of the city fortifications against Turkish attack.-History:The tower,...
with the Barbican along the Royal Coronation Route
Royal Road, Kraków
The Royal Road or Royal Route in Kraków, Poland, begins at the northern end of the medieval Old Town and continues south through the centre of town towards Wawel Hill, where the old royal residence, Wawel Castle, is located...
. Kraków has 28 museums and public art
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
galleries. Among them are the main branch of Poland's National Museum
National Museum, Kraków
The National Museum in Kraków , established in 1879, is the main branch of Poland's National Museum, which has many permanent collections around the country.-History:...
and the Czartoryski Museum
Czartoryski Museum
The Czartoryski Museum and Library is a museum located in Kraków, Poland, founded in Puławy in 1796 by Princess Izabela Czartoryska. The Puławy collections were partly destroyed after the November uprising of 1830–1831 and the subsequent confiscation of the Czartoryskis' property by the Russians...
, the latter featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
and Rembrandt.
Performing arts
The city has several famous theatres, including the Narodowy Stary Teatr (the National Old Theatre), the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, the Bagatela Theatre, the Ludowy TheatreLudowy Theatre
The Ludowy Theatre in Kraków, located at Osiedle Teatralne in District Nowa Huta, opened on December 3, 1955; at a time, when the official policy of Socialist realism came to an end; and, the 1956 de-stalinization of People's Republic of Poland was about to begin...
, and the Groteska Theatre of Puppetry, as well as the Opera Krakowska
Opera Krakowska
The Opera Krakowska , located at Lubicz 48 Street in Kraków, Poland, was founded in 1954. The company stages 200 performances each year, including ballet, operettas and musicals for the young, with an audience occupancy rate of 98%...
and Kraków Operetta. The city's principal concert hall and the home of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra is the Kraków Philharmonic
Kraków Philharmonic
The Kraków Philharmonic or the Cracow Philharmonic , is the primary concert hall in Kraków, Poland, named after the renown Polish composer and pianist Karol Szymanowski. It is the home of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra....
(Filharmonia Krakowska) built in 1931.
Kraków hosts many annual and biannual artistic events, some of international significance such as the Misteria Paschalia (Baroque music), Sacrum-Profanum (contemporary music), the Cracow Screen Festival (popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
), the Festival of Polish Music
Music of Poland
Artists from Poland, including famous composers like Chopin or Lutosławski and traditional, regionalized folk musicians, create a lively and diverse music scene, which even recognizes its own music genres, such as poezja śpiewana.- Beginning :...
(classical music), Dedications (theatre), the Kraków Film Festival
Kraków Film Festival
The Kraków Film Festival is one of Europe's oldest events dedicated to documentary, animation and other short film forms. It has been organised year after year since 1961....
(one of Europe's oldest short films events), Biennial of Graphic Arts
Graphic arts
A type of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of art forms. Graphic art is typically two-dimensional and includes calligraphy, photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, lithography, typography, serigraphy , and bindery. Graphic art also consists of drawn plans and layouts for interior...
, and the Jewish Culture Festival. Kraków was the residence of two Polish Nobel
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureates in literature, Wisława Szymborska and Czesław Miłosz; a third Nobel laureate, the Yugoslav writer Ivo Andric
Ivo Andric
Ivan "Ivo" Andrić was a Yugoslav novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire...
, lived and studied in Kraków. Other former longtime residents include internationally-renowned Polish film
Cinema of Poland
The history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as history of cinematography, and it has universal achievements, even though Polish movies tend to be less commercially available than movies from several other European nations....
directors Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda is a Polish film director. Recipient of an honorary Oscar, he is possibly the most prominent member of the unofficial "Polish Film School"...
and Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
.
Architecture
Kazimierz
Kazimierz is a historical district of Kraków , best known for being home to a Jewish community from the 14th century until the Second World War.-Early history:...
and the Wawel Castle, was included as the first of its kind on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
s in 1978. The Old Town is the most prominent example of an old town in the country. For many centuries Kraków was the royal capital of Poland, until Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
relocated the court to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
in 1596. The whole district is bisected by the Royal Road
Royal Road, Kraków
The Royal Road or Royal Route in Kraków, Poland, begins at the northern end of the medieval Old Town and continues south through the centre of town towards Wawel Hill, where the old royal residence, Wawel Castle, is located...
, the coronation route traversed by the Kings of Poland. The Route begins at St. Florian's Church
St. Florian's Church
The Collegiate Church of St. Florian is a historic church in Kraków, Poland. It stands at the northern end of Matejko Square and the former centre of the mediaeval city of Kleparz, now a district of Kraków. The edifice marks the beginning of the Royal Road....
outside the northern flank of the old city walls in the medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
suburb of Kleparz; passes the Barbican of Kraków (Barbakan) built in 1499, and enters Stare Miasto through the Florian Gate
Florian Gate
St. Florian's Gate or Florian Gate in Kraków, Poland, is one of the best-known Polish Gothic towers, and a focal point of Kraków's Old Town. It was built about the 14th century as a rectangular Gothic tower of "wild stone", part of the city fortifications against Turkish attack.-History:The tower,...
. It leads down Floriańska Street through the Main Square, and up Grodzka to Wawel
Wawel
Wawel is an architectural complex erected over many centuries atop a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula River in Kraków, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level. It is a place of great significance to the Polish people. The Royal Castle with an armoury and the...
, the former seat of Polish royalty overlooking the Vistula river. Old Town attracts visitors from all over the World. Kraków historic center is one of the 13 places in Poland that are included in the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
s. The architectural design of the Old Town had survived all cataclysms of the past and retained its original form coming from the medieval times. The Old Town district of Kraków is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art. Its rich variety of historic architecture includes Renaissance
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
, Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
and Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
buildings. Kraków's palaces, churches, theatres and mansions display great variety of color, architectural details, stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
, painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s, and furnishings.
Points of interest outside the city include the Wieliczka salt mine, the Tatra Mountains
Tatra Mountains
The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra , are a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland, and are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains...
100 km (62.1 mi) to the south, the historic city of Częstochowa
Czestochowa
Częstochowa is a city in south Poland on the Warta River with 240,027 inhabitants . It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously the capital of Częstochowa Voivodeship...
, the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
, and Ojcowski National Park
Ojców National Park
Ojców National Park is a national park in Kraków County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship in southern Poland, established in 1956. It takes its name from the village of Ojców, where it also has its headquarters....
, which includes Pieskowa Skała Castle.
Parks and gardens
Planty Park
Planty is one of the largest city parks in Kraków, Poland. It encircles the Stare Miasto , where the Medieval city walls used to stand until the early 19th century. The historic Old Town is not to be confused with the Administrative District No. 1 Stare Miasto extending further east.The park has an...
, Botanical Garden
Botanical Garden in Kraków
Botanical Garden of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków is a botanical garden, founded in 1783 in Kraków. It's located east of the Old City and occupies 9.6 hectares. It belongs to the Jagiellonian University and is classified as a historical location.-External links:...
, Park Krakowski
Park Krakowski
Park Krakowski, located in Krakow, Poland, was founded in 1885 by city councillor Stanisław Rehman. It was built on the grounds leased from the military. The park was modelled after similar parks in Vienna...
, Jordan Park
Jordan Park
Jordan Park, also known as Jordan's Garden or Park Jordana, was established in 1889 as the first public playground in Kraków, Poland, and the first of its kind in Europe. It was equipped with exercise fixtures modeled after those of similar playgrounds in the United States...
, Błonia Park and Strzelecki Park], are located in the center of the city and the surrounding districts.
The Planty Park
Planty Park
Planty is one of the largest city parks in Kraków, Poland. It encircles the Stare Miasto , where the Medieval city walls used to stand until the early 19th century. The historic Old Town is not to be confused with the Administrative District No. 1 Stare Miasto extending further east.The park has an...
is the best-known park in Kraków. It was established between 1822 and 1830 in place of the old city walls, forming a green belt
Green belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...
around the Old Town. It consists of a chain of smaller gardens designed in various styles and adorned with monuments. The park has an area of 21 hectares (51.9 acre) and a length of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi), forming a scenic walkway popular with Cracovians.
The Jordan Park
Jordan Park
Jordan Park, also known as Jordan's Garden or Park Jordana, was established in 1889 as the first public playground in Kraków, Poland, and the first of its kind in Europe. It was equipped with exercise fixtures modeled after those of similar playgrounds in the United States...
, the first public park equipped with exercise fixtures, was founded in 1889 by Dr Henryk Jordan
Henryk Jordan
Henryk Jordan , was a Polish philanthropist, physician and pioneer of physical education in Poland...
on the banks of the Rudawa
Rudawa River
Rudawa is a small river in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland; a tributary of the Vistula river. Rudawa joins Vistula in Kraków near the district of Zwierzyniec. Through the city, the flow of the river is controlled by artificial embankments...
river. The park equipped with running and exercise tracks, playgrounds, swimming pool, amphitheatre
Amphitheatre
An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...
, pavilions, and a pond for boat rowing
Watercraft rowing
Watercraft rowing is the act of propelling a boat using the motion of oars in the water. The difference between paddling and rowing is that with rowing the oars have a mechanical connection with the boat whereas with paddling the paddles are hand-held with no mechanical connection.This article...
and water bicycles, is located on the grounds of Kraków’s Błonia Park. The less prominent Park Krakowski
Park Krakowski
Park Krakowski, located in Krakow, Poland, was founded in 1885 by city councillor Stanisław Rehman. It was built on the grounds leased from the military. The park was modelled after similar parks in Vienna...
was founded in 1885 by Stanisław Rehman but has since been greatly reduced in size because of rapid real estate development
Real estate development
Real estate development, or Property Development, is a multifaceted business, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of improved land or parcels to others...
. It was a popular destination point with many Cracovians at the end of the 19th century.
Sports
Football is one of the most popular sports in the city, and the teams with the largest following are thirteen-time Polish champions Wisła Kraków, and five-time champions Cracovia. Other football clubsFootball team
A football team is the collective name given to a group of players selected together in the various team sports known as football.Such teams could be selected to play in an against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-star team or even selected as a...
include Hutnik Kraków
Hutnik Kraków
KS Hutnik Nowa Huta is a Polish football club from the Nowa Huta district of Kraków. The club was founded in 1950. Hutnik have played seven seasons in the Polish Ekstraklasa . The team's greatest success is a third place in the 1995/96 season, as a result of which they qualified for the UEFA Cup...
, Wawel Kraków and one-time Polish champion Garbarnia Kraków
Garbarnia Kraków
RKS Garbarnia Kraków is a Polish football and sports club from Ludwinow - a historical district of the city of Kraków. The club’s unusual name comes from the nearby tannery of the Dluzynski brothers, which was the original club sponsor...
. There is also the first-league rugby club Juvenia Kraków
Juvenia Kraków
Juvenia Kraków is a Polish rugby union club based in Kraków, Poland. It was founded in 1906 as a football club. Since 1973 it has been playing rugby union. Now Juvenia Kraków is playing in Rugby Ekstraliga....
. Kraków has a number of additional, equally valued sports teams including eight-time Polish ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
champions Cracovia Kraków and the twenty-time women's basketball champions Wisła Kraków.
The Cracovia Marathon
Cracovia Marathon
The Cracovia Marathon is an annual marathon held in the city of Kraków, Poland, usually in May. It was established in 2002 and has been run every year since. The competition features professional athletes and amateur fun runners. A total of 3200 people finished the race in 2011.-Past...
, with over a thousand participants from two dozen countries annually, has been held in the city since 2002. Poland's first F1 racing driver Robert Kubica
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006...
was born and brought up in Krakow, as was Top 10 ranked womans tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska
Agnieszka Radwanska
Agnieszka Radwańska is a WTA Tour Polish tennis player.Her career high singles ranking is World No. 8, which she achieved on 22 February 2010. As of 24 October 2011, she is ranked World No. 8. In 2007, Radwańska became the first Polish player in history to claim a WTA Tour singles title when she...
.
The construction of the new Krakow Arena has started in May 2011. For concerts, indoor athletics, hockey, basketball, futsal. The Arena will be ready in 2013 cost will be 363 million zł Will serve the viewers up to 15 thousand. In the case of concert, when the scene is set on the lower arena, hall can accommodate up to 18 thousand people.
Transport
Public transportPublic transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
is based on a fairly dense network of streetcar and bus lines operated by a municipal company, supplemented by a number of private minibus operators. Local trains connect some of the suburbs.
The bulk of the city’s historic area has been turned into a pedestrian zone with rickshaws and horse buggies; however, the tramlines run within a three-block radius.
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
depart every hour. International destinations include Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Hamburg, Lvov, Kiev, and Odessa (June–September). The main railway station is located just outside the Old Town District and is well-served by public transport.
The Kraków airport, (John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice
John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice
-Traffic:Figures in MillionsThe busiest international routes are to London and Dublin.-Getting there:In addition to road access by private car or taxi, other options are:-By train:...
, ,) is 11 km (7 mi) west of the city. Direct trains cover the route between Kraków Główny train station and the airport in 15 minutes. The annual capacity of the airport is estimated at 1.3 million passengers (second largest airport in Poland); however, in 2007 more than 3.042 million people used the airport, giving Kraków Airport 15 percent of all air passenger traffic in Poland. The passenger terminal is undergoing extension and is being adapted to meet the requirements of the Schengen Treaty
Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...
. Currently, the airport offers 59 connections and is operated by 2 terminals (international T1 and national T2). The Katowice International Airport
Katowice International Airport
Katowice International Airport is an international airport, located in Pyrzowice, north of center of Katowice, Poland. The airport has third biggest passenger flow in Poland....
is located about 75 minutes from Krakow.
Education
Kraków is a major centre of education. More than ten university or academy-level institutions offer courses in the city, with 170,000 students. Jagiellonian UniversityJagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
, the oldest and best known university in Poland and ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement as the best university in the country, was founded in 1364 as the Cracow University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
and renamed in 1817 to commemorate the Jagiellonian dynasty
Jagiellon dynasty
The Jagiellonian dynasty was a royal dynasty originating from the Lithuanian House of Gediminas dynasty that reigned in Central European countries between the 14th and 16th century...
of Polish-Lithuanian kings. Its principal academic asset is the Jagiellonian Library
Jagiellonian Library
Jagiellonian Library is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the biggest libraries in Poland, serving as a public library, university library and part of the Polish national library system...
, with more than 4 million volumes, including a large collection of medieval manuscripts like Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
' De Revolutionibus
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus...
and the Balthasar Behem Codex
Balthasar Behem Codex
The Balthasar Behem Codex is a collection of the privileges and statutes of the city of Kraków. Compiled in 1505, the codex was named for the chancellor at the time, Balthasar Behem. The book's text is in Latin...
. With 42,325 students (2005) and 3,605 academic staff, the Jagiellonian University is also one of the leading research centres in Poland. Famous historical figures connected with the University include Saint John Cantius
John Cantius
Saint John Cantius was a renowned Polish priest, Scholastic philosopher, physicist and theologian. He is also known as John of Kanty or John of Kanti.-Biography:...
, Jan Długosz, Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski
Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski
Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski was a Polish Renaissance scholar, humanist and theologian, called "the father of Polish democracy." His book De Republica emendanda was widely read and praised across most of Renaissance Europe.-Life:Modrzewski was born in Wolbórz Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (ca....
, Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language.He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz, and the greatest Slavic poet, prior to the 19th century.-Life:Kochanowski was born at...
, King John III Sobieski
John III Sobieski
John III Sobieski was one of the most notable monarchs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, from 1674 until his death King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Sobieski's 22-year-reign was marked by a period of the Commonwealth's stabilization, much needed after the turmoil of the Deluge and...
, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
and Nobel laureates Ivo Andrić
Ivo Andric
Ivan "Ivo" Andrić was a Yugoslav novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire...
and Wisława Szymborska.
AGH University of Science and Technology
AGH University of Science and Technology
AGH University of Science and Technology is the second largest technical university in Poland, located in Kraków. The university was established in 1919, and was formerly known as the University of Mining and Metallurgy...
, established in 1919, is the second-largest technical university
Institute of technology
Institute of technology is a designation employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system...
in Poland, with more than 15 faculties and student enrollment exceeding 30,000. It was ranked by the Polish edition of Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
as the best technical university in the country for the year 2004. During its 80-year history, more than 73,000 students graduated from AGH with master's or bachelor's degrees. Some 3,600 persons were granted the degree of Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
, and about 900 obtained the qualification of Habilitated Doctor
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
.
Other institutions of higher learning include Academy of Music in Kraków
Academy of Music in Kraków
The Academy of Music in Kraków is a conservatory located in downtown Kraków, Poland.-History:The Academy, until 1945 as a conservatory under the name Cracow Conservatory or Conservatory of the Music Society, was founded in 1888 by the eminent Polish composer Władysław Żeleński thanks to artistic...
first conceived as conservatory in 1888, one of the oldest and most prestigious conservatories in Central Europe and a major concert venue; Cracow University of Economics, established in 1925; Pedagogical University
Pedagogical University of Cracow
Pedagogical University of Cracow , located in Kraków, Poland, was founded on May 11, 1946, as the National Higher College of Teacher Training and since gained notoriety for training highly-qualified teaching staff for the local educational...
, in operation since 1946; Agricultural University of Cracow
Agricultural University of Cracow
The Agricultural University of Cracow , located in Kraków, Poland, became an independent university by decree of the Council of Ministers as of 28 September 1972...
, offering courses since 1890 (initially as a part of Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
); Academy of Fine Arts
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts
The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, or Kraków Academy of Fine Arts , located in Kraków, Poland, is the oldest Polish fine-arts academy, established in 1818.It is a state-run university that offers 5- and 6-year Master's degree programs...
, the oldest Fine Arts
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
Academy in Poland, founded by the Polish painter Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings...
; Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts , located in Kraków, Poland, was founded in 1946 by a well-known Polish actor, Juliusz Osterwa, who took the initial steps leading to the establishment of the Academy through the amalgamation of three local studios, the Theatre Actors' Studio at...
; The Pontifical Academy of Theology; and Cracow University of Technology
Cracow University of Technology
Tadeusz Kościuszko University of Technology is a university located in downtown Kraków, Poland, established in 1946 and, as an institution of higher learning granted full autonomy in 1954....
, which has more than 37,000 graduates.
Knowledge and Innovation Community EIT
Krakow is one of the co-location centres of Knowledge and Innovation Community (Sustainable Energy) of The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The complete list of co-location centers - KIC Inno Energy include: CC Germany in KarlsruheKarlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, CC Alps Valleys in Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, CC Benelux in Eindhoven/Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, CC Iberia in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, CC PolandPlus in Krakow, and CC Sweden in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
InnoEnergy is an integrated alliance of reputable organizations from the education, research and industry sectors. It was created based on long standing links of cooperation as well as the principles of excellence. The partners have jointly developed a strategy to tackle the weaknesses of the European innovation landscape in the field of sustainable energy.
Religious sites
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
(10 Kingdom Hall
Kingdom Hall
A Kingdom Hall is a place of worship used by Jehovah's Witnesses. The term was first suggested in 1935 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, for a building in Hawaii...
), Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
(8 Churches), Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
(5), Polish Orthodox Church
Polish Orthodox Church
The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church, , is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches in full communion...
(1 Church), Polish Catholic Church
Polish Catholic Church
The Polish Catholic Church is an Old Catholic denomination in Poland which belongs to the Union of Utrecht. It is a member of the World Council of Churches and the Polish Ecumenical Council. It is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church nor is it in communion with the Pope. In 2009 the...
(1 Church) and Mariavite Church
Mariavite Church
The Mariavite Church is an independent Christian church that emerged from the Catholic Church of Poland at the turn of the 20th century. Initially, it was an internal movement leading to a reform of the Polish clergy. After a conflict with Polish bishops, it became a separate and independent...
.
Kraków contains also an outstanding collection of monuments of Jewish sacred architecture unmatched anywhere in Poland. Kraków was an influential center of Jewish spiritual life before the outbreak of World War II, with all its manifestations of religious observance from Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
to Chasidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
and Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
flourishing side by side. There were at least ninety synagogues in Kraków active before the Nazi German invasion of Poland, serving its burgeoning Jewish community of 60,000–80,000 (out of the city's total population of 237,000), established since the early 12th century.
Most synagogues of Kraków were ruined during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by the Nazis who despoiled them of all ceremonial objects, and used them as storehouses for ammunition, firefighting equipment, as general storage facilities and stables. The post-Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
Jewish population of the city had dwindled to about 5,900 before the end of 1940s, and by 1978, the number was further reduced in size to a mere 600 by some estimates. In recent time, thanks to the efforts of the local Jewish and Polish organizations including foreign financial aid from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is a worldwide Jewish relief organization headquartered in New York. It was established in 1914 and is active in more than 70 countries....
, many synagogues underwent major restorations, while others continue to serve as apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
s.
Contemporary foreign names for the city
Kraków is referred to by various names in different languages. The city is known in CzechCzech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
and Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
as Krakov, in Hungarian as , in Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
as , in German as , in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
as , in French as , in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
as and in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
as Краков. Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
and Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
languages refer to it as (Краків) and respectively. Names of Kraków in different languages are also available.
Twin towns — Sister cities
Kraków is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
, or maintains close relations, with more than 30 cities around the world:
 BordeauxBordeaux Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture... , France (since 1993)  BratislavaBratislava Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava... , Slovakia Slovakia The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...  BudapestBudapest Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter... , Hungary (since 2005)  Cambridge, Mass.Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent... , USA (since 1989)  CuritibaCuritiba Curitiba is the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is the largest city with the biggest economy of both Paraná and southern Brazil. The population of Curitiba numbers approximately 1.75 million people and the latest GDP figures for the city surpass US$61 billion according to... , Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people... (since 1993)  CuscoCusco Cusco , often spelled Cuzco , is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cuzco Province. In 2007, the city had a population of 358,935 which was triple the figure of 20 years ago... , Peru Peru Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.... Edinburgh Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area... , United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... (since 1995)  FesFes Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region.... , Morocco Morocco Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara... (since 2004)  FlorenceFlorence Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area.... , Italy (since 1992)  Frankfurt, Germany (since 1991) GöteborgGothenburg Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area... , Sweden (since 1990) |
 GroznyGrozny Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989... , Russia (since 1997)  InnsbruckInnsbruck - Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus... in Austria (since 1998)  KievKiev Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press.... , Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia... (since 1993)  LahoreLahore Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a... , Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...  La Serena, ChileChile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far... (since 1995) LeipzigLeipzig Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing... , Germany (since 1995)  LeuvenLeuven Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium... , Belgium (since 1991) LvivLviv Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following... , Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia... (since 1995) MilanMilan Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,... , Italy (since 2003) NurembergNuremberg Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664... , Germany (since 1991) OrléansOrléans -Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire... , France (since 1992) |
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Further reading
- Jane Hardy, Al Rainnie, Restructuring Krakow: Desperately Seeking Capitalism. Published 1996 by Mansell Publishing, 285 pages. Business, economics, finance. ISBN 0720122317.
- Edward Hartwig, Kraków, with Jerzy Broszkiewicz (contributor). Published 1980, by Sport i Turystyka, 239 pages. ISBN 8321723217.
- Bolesław T. Łaszewski, Kraków: karta z dziejów dwudziestolecia. Published 1985, by Bicentennial Pub. Corp. (original from the University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
), 132 pages. ISBN 0912757086 - Joanna Markin, Bogumiła Gnypowa, Kraków: The Guide. Published 1996 by Pascal Publishing, 342 pages. ISBN 8387037281.
- Tim Pepper, Andrew Beattie, Krakow. Published 2007 by Hunter Pub Inc., 160 pages. ISBN 1843063085. The book includes description of public art galleries and museums.
- Scott Simpson, Krakow. Published 2003 by Thomas CookThomas CookThomas Cook of Melbourne, Derbyshire, England founded the travel agency that is now Thomas Cook Group.- Early days :...
, 192 pages. Transport, geography, sightseeing, history, and culture. Includes weblinks CD. ISBN 1841571873. - Dorota Wąsik, Emma Roper-Evans, Krakow. Published 2002 by Somerset. Cultural guidebook series, 160 pages. ISBN 9630059304.
- Richard Watkins, Best of Kraków, Published 2006, by Lonely PlanetLonely PlanetLonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...
, 64 pages, complemented by fold-out maps. ISBN 1741048222.