Well know but somehow different

Each city has its hallmarks, places or buildings that are its symbols or are very recognisable. In Kraków these might be e.g. the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), the Town Hall Tower (Wieża Ratuszowa), the Awel Castle or the building of Main Post Office (Poczta Główna). 

Below you can see photographs of Kraków hallmarks from the collection of the Museum of Photography in Kraków. If you know Kraków at least a bit, please give them a closer look as what you know now might have looked different some time ago:

The Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) before its renovation in 1875-79 

https://zbiory.mhf.krakow.pl/node/115525?select[q]=navigart%2Fselect&select[page]=1&select[id]=search&select[content]=krak%C3%B3w&select[limit]=20

The Town Hall Tower with the neo-gothic guardhouse (on the left) that was torn down after the World War II

https://zbiory.mhf.krakow.pl/node/115632?select[q]=navigart%2Fselect&select[page]=1&select[id]=search&select[content]=krak%C3%B3w&select[limit]=20

Wawel Hill before tearing down of buildings at its foot 

https://zbiory.mhf.krakow.pl/node/115619?select[q]=navigart%2Fselect&select[page]=1&select[id]=search&select[content]=krak%C3%B3w&select[limit]=20

Building of the Main Post Office before the changes made in 1930-31

https://zbiory.mhf.krakow.pl/node/115327?select[q]=navigart%2Fselect&select[id]=search&select[content]=poczta%2C%20krak%C3%B3w&select[limit]=20

 

A lighthouse in Kraków?

I suppose that even if you are a foreigner either living or just visiting Kraków for a short time you would not expect to find a lighthouse in the city. It is not located by the sea nor it is a river port. However, thanks to one of its citizens from the 19th century one of the city towers becomes a lighthouse for a few days every year. 

Haby you got any ideas who was this citizen that I'm refering to in the above introcution? Somebody whose name does not seem Polish and his English was mastered enough to earn him a title of one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. A person who left Poland at an early age and travelled to exotic countries, living the life of a sailor for a long time and gathering enough of thoughts and experience on the condition of human beings. A writer whose texts are that universal though written in the 19th and early 20th century that they inspire e.g. Francis Ford Coppola. 

Yes, I'm speaking about Joseph Conrad, born as Józef Korzeniowski. It is thanks to him and the fact of his short period of living in Kraków (in Poselska Street you can find a plaque commemorating this fact) and the organisers of the Conrad Festival that the City Hall Tower becomes a lighthouse for a few days in October. 

And since October and this year edition of the festival is getting closer and closer I wanted to remind you of the person and also you can check for yourself if the light on the City Hall Tower will again lead all the lovers of literature to Kraków between 19 and 25 of October. 

While waiting fir this magical moment in October we can have a look at the pictures of lighthouses  (also exotic one) from the online collection of the National Museum in Kraków:

You can also visit the branch of the Museum of Kraków-Rynek Underground to move back in time to the centuries when Kraków was among the cities of the Hanzeatic League (mostly ports) as an important centre of trade. 

Wawel Hill during the summer

Surprisingly, though it's holiday season due to COVID-caused decrease in torusism it is a perfect time to visit the Wawel Hill and its 2 most important hallmarks - the Wawel Cathedral and part of the Wawel Castle. But the reason is not only less crowd but:

(1) newly open tourist route during which you can visit very rarely accessible parts of the Wawel Hill - aomong others the so called Batory's courtyard (see photos below) and the remains of saint Gereon's Church. 

The so called Batory's Courtyard 

(located between the Cathedral and the inner courtyard)

The visit allows for not only a bit of time travel to the very beginnings of the Wawel Hill as the royal seat but also a posibility to have a look at the city from a different perspective (beautiful views). 

(2) access to Sigismundus Chapel which is called the "pearl of the Renneisance north of the Alps" (http://www.katedra-wawelska.pl/)

A portrait of young Sigismund Augustus (from the National Museum of Kraków online collection https://zbiory.mnk.pl/en/home-page)   

Sigismundus Chapel is open throughtout the month of August because of the 500th anniversary of king Sigismund Augustus birth (1 August 1520) while normally it is only possible to have a look inside throught a metal gate (except for very early hours in Advent before Christmas at the special masses).