Tourist attractions
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Museums
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Tourist attractions in the region
Information offices
Recommended tourist attractions
Krakow is the most popular Polish tourist destination. It is full of historic monuments, churches and squares. Majority of them is situated near the Main Square (Old Town). The other part of the historic city is Kazimierz District where before World War II main inhabitants were Jews. We recommend just taking a walk (or taking the wagonette) through the Old Town and Kazimierz District.
Museums
The Jagiellonian University Museum
We invite you to visit The Jagiellonian University Museum. Museum is placed in Collegium Maius, situated at the corner of St.Anna and Jagiellonska Streets, is the oldest university edifice in Poland. Its history goes back to the year 1400, when King Wladyslaw Jagiello purchased the Pecherz family’s corner house and donated it to the University.
Bunkier Sztuki Modern Art Gallery
An interesting place to see is a gallery of modern art “Bunkier Sztuki”. We encourage you to get acquainted with artistic events closer to the time conference. The Gallery and its cafe (Bunkier Cafe) was called by the New York Times as one of the hidden treasure in Europe.
Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology
The museum is located in front of the Wawel hill, on the other bank of Vistula River. The Manggha Museum has no analogy in Poland, but also in Europe (the only similar centre in the World is in Haifa, Israel). Since its foundation (1994), it has combined two functions: that of a museum per se and also that of a centre of culture. Manggha might be also interesting for the architecture lovers (architect author of the project of Manggha is Arata Isozaki).
Historical Museum of the City of Krakow
In the city center there are several worth seeing museum exhibitions. Everyone will find something for themselves in the offer of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow (unfortunately the site in Polish only). We especially recommend the interactive exhibition Rynek Underground as well as a walk along the walls of the city and visit the Barbacan.
The listed below departments of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow are not situated in the Old Town:
– Old Synagouge (Kazimierz District) – the oldest (still standing) synagogue in Krakow and Poland, now is a museum documenting Jewish life in Kraków.
– museum situated in former Oskar Schindler’s Factory (Podgórze District) which history was presented in the movie Schindler’s List, (Lipowa Street 4).
– guests interested in visiting monument of communist era in Poland (before 1989) should visit Nowa Huta District (The New Stell Mill); in English. There are guided tours in Nowa Huta as well.
Main Square is definitely a place worth to visit, beside the underground museum you can find there Town Hall, Gothic Church of St. Mary’s and The Sukiennice, a huge market hall built in the 13th century, which is now an art gallery.
The most famous, and probably important for Poles, monument in Krakow is Wawel Royal Castle. Walk up the castle hill, visiting the royal chambers and dragon mouth can be a good idea to spend an afternoon. In this amazing palace complex there is also beautiful Cathedral (many distinguished Polish people are interred in the Cathedral and royal coronations took place there).
It is located in the southern end of Main Square. Inside the church, there is a huge wooden altar made by Veitt Stoss (famous medieval sculptor) – the largest piece of art of this kind. Every hour from one of the towers there is played a tune (hejnał).
The church is situated on Grodzka Street 64 (between Wawel Hill and Main Square). It is the oldest Baroque building in Poland. The facade is based on the church Il Gesu in Rome. There is also longest Foucault’s pendulum in Poland (46,5 m) (showings on Thursdays).
Tourist attractions outside the city
One of the oldest and biggest salt mine in Poland, now serves as a museum. It is also a world class monument, featuring among twelve objects on the UNESCO’s World Cultural and Natural Heritage List. Wieliczka city is easily accessible from Krakow by car, bus (MPK in Krakowbuses 204, 301 and 304 or 904 at night) or train (the trip from Krakow should take around 20-30 minutes). There are no individual tours, only a tour guide (individual visitors must wait until a group of 35 guests gathers). Interesting place is also Saltworks Museum (at Zamkowa Street).
Auschtwitz Nazi Camp
Auschwitz is a cluster of labour, concentration and extermination camps built by the Nazi Germans during the World War II and located outside the town of Oświęcim (about 60 km from Krakow). During the years Auschwitz become a symbol of Nazi terror, genocide and Holocaust. The visit in Auschwitz may take several hours. Get to Oświęcim is quite easy with buses or train (but it will take longer than travel by other means), also guided tours from Krakow are available.
Information Offices
For more detailed information visit this website, or one of the InfoKrakow Tourist Information Offices or ask us!
- Wyspiański Pavilion, pl. Wszystkich Świętych 2
- ul. św. Jana 2
- ul. Szpitalna 25 (in Planty park outside the underground passage leading from Train Station)
- ul. Powiśle 11 (in the pavilion at the foot of Wawel hill)
- Sukiennice, Rynek Główny 1-3
- International Airport Balice