All Topics  
Kraków

 
Kraków

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link






 

Kraków



 
 
Kraków , in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow (M-W: ), is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is 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 Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, with a population of 756,336 in 2007 (1,403,247 in the Kraków-Tarnów
Tarnów

Tarn?w is a city in southeastern Poland with 116,109 inhabitants The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarn?w Voivodeship....
 unincorporated area
Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of Real property that is not a part of any municipality. To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city or town with its own government....
).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Kraków'
Start a new discussion about 'Kraków'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Kraków , in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow (M-W:
Audiobutton
), is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is 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 Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, with a population of 756,336 in 2007 (1,403,247 in the Kraków-Tarnów
Tarnów

Tarn?w is a city in southeastern Poland with 116,109 inhabitants The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarn?w Voivodeship....
 unincorporated area
Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of Real property that is not a part of any municipality. To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city or town with its own government....
). Situated on the Vistula river in the Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland

Lesser Poland is one of the historical regions of Poland. It forms the southeastern corner of the country. It should not be confused with the modern Lesser Poland Voivodeship, which covers just a part of the historical region of Lesser Poland...
 region, the city
City

A city is an urban area with a high population density and a particular administrative, legal, or historical status.Large industrialized cities generally have advanced systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, house, and transportation and more....
 dates back to the 7th century. 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

Krak?w Voivodeship, refers to several historical Voivodeships of Poland in the surrounding regions, with the city of Krak?w as its capital....
 from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship
Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Lesser Poland Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,267,731 .It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Krak?w Voivodeship, Tarn?w Voivodeship, Nowy Sacz Voivodeship and parts of Bielsko-Biala Voivodeship and Katowice Voivodeship Voivodeships, pursuant to the 199...
.

Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish scientific, cultural and artistic life. As the former national capital with a history encompassing more than a thousand years, the city remains the spiritual heart of Poland. It is a major attraction for local and international tourists, attracting seven million visitors annually. Famous landmarks include the Main Market Square with St. Mary's Basilica
St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków

St. Mary's Basilica , is a Brick Gothic church built in the 14th century, adjacent to the Main Market Square, Krak?w in Krak?w, Poland. Standing 80m tall, it is particularly famous for its Altar of Veit Stoss ....
 and the Sukiennice Cloth Hall
Sukiennice

The Renaissance in Poland Sukiennice in Krak?w, Poland, one of the city's most recognizable icons, was once a major centre of international trade....
, the Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle

The Gothic architecture Wawel Castle was built at the behest of Casimir III of Poland and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard....
, the National Art Museum
National Museum, Kraków

The National Museum in Krak?w , established in 1879, is the main branch of Poland's National Museum, which has many permanent collections around the country....
, the Zygmunt Bell
Zygmunt (bell)

Zygmunt , named after King Sigismund I the Old, is a bell that hangs inside Zygmunt's Tower at Wawel Cathedral in Krak?w, Poland. It was cast in 1520 by Hans Beham from metal melted from the weapons of soldiers defeated by Polish forces....
 at the Wawel Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral

Wawel Cathedral is a church located on Wawel Hill in Krak?w, which is Poland's national sanctuary. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs....
, and the medieval St Florian's Gate
Florian Gate

The Florian Gate in Krak?w, Poland , named after St. Florian, is one of the best-known Gothic towers in Poland, and a focal point of Krak?w's Krak?w Stare Miasto....
 with the Barbican
Barbican of Kraków

File:Barbakan Krakow.jpgFile:Barbakan Krakow od Bramy Florianskiej.jpgThe Barbican of Krak?w is a fortified outpost or gateway to Krak?w - Stare Miasto ? a barbican ? one of the few remaining relics of the complex network of fortifications and defensive barriers encircling the city of Krak?w, Poland....
 along the Royal Coronation Route
Royal Road, Kraków

The Royal Road or Royal Route in Krak?w, Poland, begins at the northern end of the Middle Ages Krak?w - Stare Miasto and continues south through the centre of town towards the Wawel Hill, where the old kings' residence, the Wawel Castle, is located....
. In 1978 Kraków's historic centre, which includes the Old Town, Kazimierz
Kazimierz

Kazimierz is a historical district of Krak?w , best known for being home to a Jewish community from the 14th century until the Second World War....
 and the Wawel Castle was included in the list of World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 Sovereign state which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term....
s.

Etymology

The name of Kraków is traditionally derived from Krakus
Krakus

Krakus or Krak or Grakch is the name given to a legendary Poland prince and founder of Krak?w, the ruler of the tribe of Lechites ....
 (Krak, Grakch), the legendary founder of Kraków and a ruler of the tribe of Lechitians
Lechites

Lechites or Lekhites - name for some tribes of West Slavs whose shared quality was the usage of the Lechitic languages.*Lechitic languages group...
 (Poles
Poles

The Polish people, or Poles , are a West Slavs ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent....
). In Polish
Polish language

Polish , an official language of Poland, has the largest number of speakers of any West Slavic languages. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner through most of Poland, and it has a regular orthography....
, 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....
 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. As with all other proto-languages, no attested writings have been found; the language has been reconstructed by applying the comparative method to all the attested Slavic languages as well as other Indo-European languages....
 word meaning a judge's staff, or a Proto-Slavic word "krak" meaning an oak
Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some 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 pedigree 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 Wislanie
Vistulans

Vistulans were a Lechitic languages tribe inhabiting, since at least the seventh century, lands known today as Lesser Poland.In the 9th century, Vistulans created a tribal state, with major centers in Krak?w, Wislica, Sandomierz, and Strad?w....
.

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 .

The city is known in Czech
Czech 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 Czech people worldwide....
 and Slovak
Slovak language

The Slovak language , sometimes incorrectly called ?Slovakian?, is an Indo-European languages that belongs to the West Slavic languages .The Czech and Slovak languages are Mutual intelligibility which means that even after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia Czech may be used in all official proceedings and documents in Slovakia, and vice ver...
 as Krakov, in French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 as , in German
German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
 as , in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 as , and in Lithuanian
Lithuanian language

Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised 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....
 as . Ukrainian
Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
 and Yiddish
Yiddish language

Yiddish is a non-territorial High German languages of Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. Unlike other such languages, Yiddish is written with the Hebrew alphabet as opposed to a Latin alphabet....
 languages refer to it as and respectively. Names of Kraków in different languages
Names of European cities in different languages: I-L

IEnglish name! Other names or former names|-| Iasi| Iasi...
 are also available.

History


Middle Ages

Archaeological evidence suggests that a settlement had been established in the Stone Age
Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistory time period during which humans widely used Rock for toolmaking.Stone tools were made from a variety of different kinds of stone....
 on the present site of the 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 Krak?w, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level....
. A legend attributes its founding to the mythical ruler Krakus
Krakus

Krakus or Krak or Grakch is the name given to a legendary Poland prince and founder of Krak?w, the ruler of the tribe of Lechites ....
, who built it above a cave occupied by a ravenous dragon
Dragon

File:Ukiyo-e dragon 2.jpgThe dragon is a legendary creature with serpentine shape or otherwise reptilian traits that features in the mythology of many cultures....
, Smok Wawelski
Smok Wawelski

Smok Wawelski, also known as The Dragon of Wawel Hill or simply The Wawel Dragon, is a famous dragon in Polish mythology. He laired in a cave under Wawel Hill on the banks of the Vistula river....
. Many knights unsuccessfully attempted to oust the dragon by fighting it, but Krakus fed it a poisoned breakfast, which killed the dragon. He then was able to build the city on top of the hill. The bones are displayed at the entrance of the Wawel Cathedral. The first written record of the city's name dates back to 966, when a Sephardi Jew
Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews are a subgroup of Jews originating in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, usually defined in contrast to Ashkenazi or Mizrahi Jews....
ish traveller, Abraham ben Jacob
Abraham ben Jacob

Abraham ben Jacob, better known under his Arabic name of Ibr?h?m ibn Ya`q?b was a 10th century Hispano-Arabic, plausibly Sephardi-Jewish, traveller, probably a merchant, whose brief may have included diplomacy and espionage....
, described Kraków as a notable commercial centre.

By the end of the 10th century, the city was a leading trading centre, incorporated into the holdings of the Piast dynasty
Piast dynasty

Piast dynasty was the first Polish historical Royal dynasty that ruled Poland from its beginnings starting with the semi-legendary Piast the Wheelwright....
. Brick buildings were constructed, including the Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle

The Gothic architecture Wawel Castle was built at the behest of Casimir III of Poland and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard....
, Romanesque
Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which evolved into the Gothic architecture style beginning in the 12th century....
 churches such as St. Adalbert's
Church of St. Wojciech

The Church of St. Wojciech , located to the side of the Main Market Square, Krak?w in Krak?w - Stare Miasto, Krak?w, is one of the oldest stone churches in Poland....
, a cathedral, and a basilica. The city was almost entirely destroyed during the Tatar invasions
Tatar invasions

The Mongol invasion of Europe from the east took place over the course of three centuries, from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.The terms Tatars or Tartars are applied to nomadic Turkic peoples who, themselves, were conquered by Mongols and incorporated to their horde....
 of 1241, 1259 and 1287. It was rebuilt and incorporated
Municipal corporation

A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local government, including city, county, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs....
 in 1257, 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 with it by a local ruler....
, with tax benefits and trade privileges for its citizens. The city again rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III of Poland
Casimir III of Poland

Casimir III the Great , last List of Polish monarchs from the Piast dynasty , was the son of King Wladyslaw I the Elbow-high and Jadwiga of Gniezno and Greater Poland....
 founded the University of Kraków
Jagiellonian University

The Jagiellonian University is located in Krak?w, Poland. Originally founded as Akademia Krakowska in 1364 by Casimir III of Poland, it is the second oldest university in Central Europe after the Charles University in Prague, and one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation....
, the second oldest university in central Europe
Central Europe

Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern Europe and Western Europe Europe. In addition, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe....
 after the University of Prague
Charles University in Prague

Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Being founded in 1347, it was the first one in the Holy Roman Empire and in Central Europe in general....
. The city continued to grow under the joint Lithuanian
Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until the 18th century. It was founded by Lithuanians, at the time one of the Lithuanian mythology Baltic tribes, whose initial lands covered Auk?taitija, the eastern part of present day Lithuania....
-Polish Jagiellon dynasty
Jagiellon dynasty

The Jagiellons were a royal dynasty originating from Lithuanian House of Gediminas dynasty that reigned in Central European countries between the 14th and 16th century....
 (1386–1572). As the capital of a powerful state
Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)

The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Poland state created by the accession of Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386....
 and a member of the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League was an Military alliance of Trade cities and their guilds that established and maintained trade monopoly along the coast of Northern Europe, from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea and inland, during the Late Middle Ages and Early modern period ....
, the city attracted many craftsmen, businesses, and guild
Guild

File:Windsorguildhall.jpgA guild is an association of artisan in a particular trade. The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers....
s as science and the arts began to flourish.

Golden age


The 15th and 16th centuries were known as Poland's Zloty Wiek, the Golden Age. Many works of Polish Renaissance
Renaissance in Poland

The Renaissance in Poland lasted from the late 15th century to the late 16th century and is widely considered to be the Golden Age of Polish culture....
 art and architecture were created there during that time, including ancient synagogue
Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer.Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer , smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices....
s in Kraków's Jewish quarter of Kazimierz
Kazimierz

Kazimierz is a historical district of Krak?w , best known for being home to a Jewish community from the 14th century until the Second World War....
, such as the renowned Old Synagogue
Old Synagogue (Kraków)

Old Synagogue is an Orthodox Judaism synagogue in Kazimierz district of Krak?w, Poland. It is the Oldest synagogues in the World 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 Jagiellon of the Jagiellon dynasty, was List of Lithuanian rulers from 1440, and List of Polish monarchs from 1447, until his death....
, crowned King of Poland in 1447, numerous artists, from as far as Nuremberg
Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a city in the Germany State of Bavaria, in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz River river and the Rhine?Main?Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city....
 and Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, came to work and live in Kraków. The king's children were taught by an Italian humanist, Filip Callimachus
Filip Callimachus

Filip Callimachus or Callimach was an Italy humanist and writer....
. In 1488, the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor

Image:HRR 14Jh.jpgThe Roman of the Emperor's title was a reflection of the translatio imperii principle that regarded the Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, a title left unclaimed in the West after the death of Julius Nepos in 480....
's Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate

A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events....
 Conrad Celtes
Conrad Celtes

Conrad Celtes was a Germany Renaissance humanist scholar and Neo-Latin poet....
 founded the Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana
Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana

Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana was an international academic society modelled after the Roman Academy, founded around 1488 in Cracow by Conrad Celtes, a Germany humanist scholar who in other areas founded several similar societies....
 (Vistula Literary Society), which was based on Roman Academies
Roman Academies

Roman academies includes a description of papal academies in Rome including historical and bibliographical notes concerning the more important of these....
. In 1489, sculptor Veit Stoss
Veit Stoss

Veit Stoss was a German sculptor of the late Gothic art school.According to Catholic Encyclopedia, Veit Stoss was one of the first artists from Northern Europe who could be compared with Italian Renaissance artists....
 finished his work on the High Altar
Altar of Veit Stoss

The altarpiece of Veit Stoss , also St. Mary's altar , is the largest Gothic architecture altarpiece in the World. It is located behind the main altar of St....
 of the St. Mary's Church
St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków

St. Mary's Basilica , is a Brick Gothic church built in the 14th century, adjacent to the Main Market Square, Krak?w in Krak?w, Poland. Standing 80m tall, it is particularly famous for its Altar of Veit Stoss ....
, followed by a marble sarcophagus
Sarcophagus

A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek language sa?? sarx meaning "flesh", and fa?e?? phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos the word came to refer to the limestone t...
 for King Casimir IV. Johann Haller
Johann Haller

Johann Haller or Jan Haller is considered to be one of the first commercial printers in Poland.Born in in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Haller is perhaps best known for publishing poems of Theophylact Simocatta in 1509 which had been translated from Greek by Nicolaus Copernicus....
 established a printing press
Printing press

A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1439, based on existing screw-presses used to press cloth, grapes etc., and possibly to print wood...
 in the city after Kasper Straube
Kasper Straube

Kasper Straube was a Germany 15th century printer from Bavaria. Having been active in Cracow between 1473 and 1477, decades before Johann Haller, his Latin language almanac Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474 of 1473 is regarded as the first work Early printing in Poland in Poland....
 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 printing. This incunabulum, known also as the Calendarium cracoviense , was published at Krak?w in 1473 by Kasper Straube, an itinerant Bavarian printer who worked in Krak?w between 1473 and 1476....
, 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 of worship....
 in Poland, named Zygmunt
Zygmunt (bell)

Zygmunt , named after King Sigismund I the Old, is a bell that hangs inside Zygmunt's Tower at Wawel Cathedral in Krak?w, Poland. It was cast in 1520 by Hans Beham from metal melted from the weapons of soldiers defeated by Polish forces....
 after Sigismund I of Poland
Sigismund I the Old

File:Poland and Lithuania in 1526.PNGSigismund I the Old of the Jagiellon dynasty reigned as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 to his death at age 81 in 1548....
, was cast by Hans Behem. At that time, Hans Dürer
Hans Dürer

Hans D?rer , was a German Renaissance Painting, Illustration, and Engraving.He was the younger brother of Albrecht D?rer, and after him, the most talented of 17 siblings....
, a younger brother of Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer

'Albrecht D?rer' was a Germans Painting, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His still-famous works include the Apocalypse woodcuts, commons:Image:Duerer - Ritter, Tod und Teufel .jpg , St....
, was Sigismund's court painter. 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 Krak?w St....
 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....
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
Henry III of France

Henry III of France , born Alexandre-?douard de Valois-Angoul?me, was King of France from 1574 to 1589, and as Henry of Valois, first elected List of Polish rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and List of Lithuanian rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1574....
 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 plague
Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease caused by the Enterobacteriaceae Yersinia pestis . Plague is a zoonotic, primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas....
 that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. In 1596, Sigismund III
Sigismund III Vasa

Sigismund III Vasa was Grand Duke of Lithuania and List of Polish monarchs, a monarch of joined Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and Monarch of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599....
, of the Swedish
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
 House of Vasa
House of Vasa

The House of Vasa was the Royal House of Sweden 1523-1654 and of Poland and Lithuania 1587-1668. It origined 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 World's largest cities of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains....
.

18th and early 19th century


Already weakened during the 18th century, by mid-1790 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had been twice partitioned
Partitions 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....
 by its neighbors: Russia
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
, the Habsburg empire
Habsburg Monarchy

The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austria branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918....
, and Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a Germany monarchy from 1701 to 1918 and, from 1871, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire....
. In 1794, Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko

Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kosciuszko of Roch III Coat of Arms was a Poland military leader who is regarded as a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States....
 initiated an unsuccessful insurrection
Kosciuszko Uprising

The Kosciuszko Uprising was an rebellion led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko in Poland and Lithuania in 1794. It was a failed attempt to liberate Poland and Lithuania of Russian Empire influence after the Second Partition of Poland and the creation of the Confederation of Targowica....
 in the town's Main Square which, in spite of his victorious Battle of Raclawice
Battle of Raclawice

The Battle of Raclawice was one of the first battles of the Poland Kosciuszko Uprising against Imperial Russia. It was fought on April 4, 1794 near the village of Raclawice in Lesser Poland....
 against numerically superior Russian army, resulted in the third and final partition of Poland
Partitions 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....
. The equestrian bronze statue of Kosciuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko Monument, Kraków

File:Kosciuszko Monument in Krakow.jpgTadeusz Kosciuszko Monument in Krak?w , is one of the best known bronze monuments in Poland. It is the work of artists: Leonard Marconi, professor of Lviv University born in Warsaw, and his son in law, sculptor Antoni Popiel....
 — Polish American hero of independence — was cast in 1900 and erected twenty years later at the entrance to Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle

The Gothic architecture Wawel Castle was built at the behest of Casimir III of Poland and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard....
 where he’s laid to rest. Following the Uprising, Kraków became part of the Austrian province of Galicia
Galicia (Central Europe)

Galicia is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after Ukra?ni?n city of Halych.The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lvivska oblast, Ternopilska oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast....
. In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
 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 Poland state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit....
, an independent, though subordinate, Polish state ruled by the King of Saxony, Frederick Augustus I. 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 the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815....
 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 Krak?w with its Territory , more commonly known as either the Free City of Krak?w or Republic of Krak?w , 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 unsuccessful Krak?w Uprising it...
. As in 1794, the city again became the center of an insurrection, the Kraków Uprising
Kraków Uprising

The Krak?w Uprising of February 1846 was an attempt led by Edward Dembowski to incite a Poland fight for national independence. Even though most of Poland was as Congress Poland part of the Russian Empire, the uprisings were mainly conducted by Poles in parts of Prussia and the Austrian Empire....
 of 1846, which failed to spread outside the city and was put down. Again, it resulted in an annexation by Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
, on 16 November 1846. The former Free City region became the Grand Duchy of Cracow ().

In 1866, Austria granted a degree of autonomy to Galicia
Galicia (Central Europe)

Galicia is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after Ukra?ni?n city of Halych.The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lvivska oblast, Ternopilska oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast....
 after the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War

The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Kingdom of Italy on the other, that resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states....
. As this form of Austrian rule was more benevolent than that exercised either by the Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
 in Congress Poland
Congress Poland

Congress Poland [], officially and formally Kingdom of Poland and informally known as Russian Poland was a constitutional personal union of the Russian Empire created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, replaced by the Central Powers in 1915 with the Kingdom of Poland ....
 or by Prussia
Prussia

Prussia was, most recently, a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This state had for centuries substantial influence on Germany and European history....
, Kraków became a Polish national symbol and a center of culture and art, sometimes known in Polish as Polskie Ateny ("Polish Athens"), to which Poles would flock to revere the symbols and monuments of Poland's past. Several important celebrations took place in Galicia during the period from 1866 to 1914, including the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald
Battle of Grunwald

The Battle of Grunwald took place on 15 July 1410 with the Jagiellon Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led by the king Wladyslaw II Jagiello, ranged against the Knights of the Teutonic Order, led by the Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen....
 in 1910. Many leading Polish artists of that period resided in Kraków, among them the seminal painter Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko

Jan Matejko was a Poland painting known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most Jan Matejko's Gallery include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and noble court scenes, and a gallery of List of Polish monarchs....
, and the founder of modern Polish drama, Stanislaw Wyspianski
Stanislaw Wyspianski

Stanislaw Wyspianski was a Polish playwright, Painting and poetry, as well as interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created a series of symbolic, national dramas within the artistic philosophy of the Young Poland Movement....
.

Fin de siècle
Fin de siècle

Fin de si?cle is French language 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 part of indoor plumbing, which became available in the late 19th century and common in the mid-20th century.The provision of tap water requires a massive infrastructure of piping, pumps, and water purification works....
 and electric streetcar
Tram

A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railroad car, of lighter weight and construction than a train, designed for the transport of passengers within, close to, or between villages, towns and/or cities, on tracks running primarily on streets....
s were introduced in 1901, and between 1910 and 1915, Kraków and 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, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 on August 3 1914, Józef Pilsudski
Józef Pilsudski

]]In 1892 Pilsudski returned from exile. In 1893 he joined the Polish Socialist Party and helped organize its Lithuanian branch. Initially he sided with the Socialists' more radical wing, but despite the socialist movement's ostensible internationalism he remained a Polish nationalist....
 formed a small cadre
Cadre

Cadre is the backbone of an organization, usually a political or military organization. The expression can be in the singular or the plural. Generally it is applied to a small core of committed and experienced people who are capable of providing leadership and of training newer members....
 military unit, the First Cadre Company
First Cadre Company

First Cadre Company was a military formation created by J?zef Pilsudski at the outbreak of World War I, on August 3, 1914 in Krak?w, from members of the Riflemen's Association and the Polish Rifle Squads....
 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 Komisja Tymczasowa Skonfederowanych Stronnictw Niepodleglosciowych 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 on 31 October 1918, when the Polish Liquidation Committee
Polish Liquidation Committee

Polish Liquidation Committee was a temporary Poland governmental body in Galicia formed towards the end of World War I. Created on October 28, 1918, with its seat in Krak?w, the Committee was headed by Wincenty Witos and Ignacy Daszynski....
 assumed power.

1918 to the present


With the emergence of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland is the Republic of Poland between World War I and World War II....
, 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 Krak?w. 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 Krak?w Academy of Fine Arts , located in Krak?w, Poland, is the oldest Polish fine-arts academy, established in 1818....
, 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. Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in Europe and served as the center for Jewish culture, ranging from a long period of religious tolerance and prosperity among the country's Jewish population, to its nearly complete genocide destruction by Naz...
 with a Zionist
Zionism

Zionism is the international Jewish political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine....
 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 a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
, to Chasidic
Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism is a type of Orthodox Judaism or Haredi Judaism Orthodox Judaism religious movement. Some refer to Hasidic Judaism as Hasidism, and the adjective chasidic / hasidic applies....
 and Reform
Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to the spectrum of beliefs, practices and organizational infrastructure associated with Reform Judaism in Reform Judaism and in Reform Judaism ....
 flourishing side by side. façade of the Tempel Synagogue]] Following the invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland in 1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak invasion of Poland contingent....
 in September 1939, the Nazi German
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 forces turned the city into the capital of the General Government
General Government

The General Government refers to a part of the territories of Poland under German military occupation during World War II by Nazi Germany and was an autonomous part of "Greater Germany"....
, a colonial authority headed by Hans Frank
Hans Frank

Hans Michael Frank was a Germany 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 architecture Wawel Castle was built at the behest of Casimir III of Poland and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard....
. 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 Krak?w and other Krak?w 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 was a concentration camp in Germany, operating between 1936 and 1945. It was named after the Sachsenhausen quarter, part of the town of Oranienburg....
 and Dachau
Dachau concentration camp

Dachau was a Nazi Germany Nazi concentration camps, and the first one opened in Germany, located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria which is located in southern Germany....
 concentration camp
Internment

Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of ?interning?; confinement within the limits of a country or place"....
s, though the survivors were later released on the request of prominent Italians. The Jewish population was first confined to a ghetto
Kraków Ghetto

The Jewish Ghetto in Krak?w was one of the five main ghettos created by Nazi Germany in the General Government during their Military occupation of Poland in World War II....
 and later murdered or sent to concentration camps, including Plaszów
Kraków-Plaszów concentration camp

Plasz?w was a Nazi Germany concentration camp in the southern suburb of Krak?w, founded by the Nazis in Plasz?w soon after the German invasion of Poland and the creation of the General Government....
 and Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of Nazi Germany's Nazi concentration campss. Its remains are located in Poland approximately 50 kilometers west of Krak?w and 286 kilometers south of Warsaw....
 in Oswiecim.

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 military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
. Allegedly Germans planned to destroy it with massive amounts of explosives, but according to the most popular of several versions of the story, Soviet Marshal
Marshal of the Soviet Union

Marshal of the Soviet Union was the de facto highest military rank of the Soviet Union. . Stalin, however, refused this honor, and was always depicted wearing Marshal's insignia....
 Ivan Konev
Ivan Konev

Ivan Stepanovich Konev , was a Soviet Union military commander, who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II, liberated much of Eastern Europe from occupation by the Axis Powers, and helped in the capture of Nazi Germany's capital, Berlin....
, after being informed by the Polish patriots of the German plan, tried to preserve Kraków from destruction by ordering a lightning attack on the city. The credibility of these accounts has been recently questioned by Polish historian Andrzej Chwalba
Andrzej Chwalba

Andrzej Chwalba is a Polish historian. Professor of history at the Jagiellonian University , the university's prorector of didactics , head the Institute of Social and Religious History of Europe in 19th and 20th century....
, who in his recent works finds no evidence for any German plan of massive destruction and portrays Konev's strategy as ordinary, only accidentally resulting in reduced damage to Kraków, a fact that was later exaggerated into the myth of "Konev, savior of Kraków" by Soviet propaganda
Propaganda in the Soviet Union

The communist propaganda was extensively based on the Marxism-Leninism ideology to promote the Communist Party line. In societies with pervasive censorship, the propaganda was omnipresent and very efficient....
.

After the war, under the Stalinist
Stalinism

File:Joseph Stalin.jpgStalinism is a term that purportedly describes the political system of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1929?1953....
 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 socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarianism, classlessness, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general....
 government of the People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland

The People's Republic of Poland or Polish People's Republic was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1989 inclusively.Although the People's Republic of Poland was a sovereignty state as defined by international law, its leaders were at the very least approved by Soviet Union leaders....
 ordered construction of the country's largest steel mill
Steel mill

A steel mill 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....
 in the newly-created suburb of Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta

Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Krak?w, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city....
. The creation of the giant Lenin Steelworks (now Sendzimir
Tadeusz Sendzimir

Tadeusz Sendzimir was an Poland engineer and inventor of international renown with 120 patents in mining and metallurgy, 73 of which were awarded to him in the United States#Notes....
 Steelworks owned by Mittal
Mittal Steel Company

Mittal Steel Company Naamloze Vennootschap was the world's largest steel producer by volume, and also the largest in turnover. The company is now part of Arcelor Mittal....
) 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 academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in specific fields or types of work....
, drawn by the industrialization of the city, contributed to its rapid population growth. Also, in an effort that spanned two decades, Karol Wojtyla
Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II John Paul II is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. He has been Pope_John_Paul_II#Role_in_the_fall_of_Communism in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe, as well as significantly improving the Roman Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and A...
, cardinal archbishop of Kraków, successfully lobbied for permission to build the first churches in the new industrial suburbs.

Geography and climate


Kraków lies in the southern part of Poland, on the Vistula River in a valley at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc of roughly 1,500 km across Central Europe and Eastern Europe, making them the largest mountain range in Europe....
, above sea level, between the Jurassic Rock Upland
Polish Jura Chain

The Polish Jura Chain, also known as the Polish Jurassic Highland or Krak?w-Czestochowa Jurassic Highland Chain , is part of the Jurassic System of south?central Poland, stretching between the cities of Krak?w, Czestochowa and Wielun....
  to the north and the Tatra Mountains
Tatra Mountains

The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra , constitute a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They occupy an area of 750 km?, the major part of which lies in Slovakia....
  to the south. There are five nature reserves in Kraków, with a combined area of ca. 48.6 hectare
Hectare

A hectare is a unit of area equal to , or one square hectometre , and commonly used for surveying.The hectare is used in most countries around the world, especially in domains concerned with land ownership, land planning, and land management, including law , agriculture, forestry, and town planning....
s (120 acre
Acre

The acre is a Units of measurement of area in a number of different systems, including the Imperial unit#Measures of area and United States customary units#Units of area systems....
s). Due to their ecological value, these areas are legally protected. Kraków has also 192 nature monuments characterized by their unique scientific, historical and aesthetic value. The western part of the city, along its northern and north-western side, borders an area of international significance known as the Jurassic Bielany
Bielany (Kraków)

Bielany , originally a village near, since 1941 a neighbourhood of, Krak?w , located some west of the city centre. Nowadays Bielany is a part of Krak?w's Krak?w-Zwierzyniec district....
-Tyniec
Tyniec

Tyniec - a historic village in Poland on Vistula river, today a borough of Krak?w. Famous of its Benedictine abbey founded by king Casimir I of Poland in 1044....
 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. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look the way they do: to understand landform history and dynamics, and predict future changes through a combination of field observation, physical experiment, and numerical mathematical model....
 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 centre is situated on the left (northern) bank of the river.

Kraków has a temperate climate. Average temperatures in summer range from to and in winter from to . The average annual temperature fluctuates between and . Kraków usually sees between 23 and 58 days per year with below-freezing temperatures. Predominantly western winds, conducive to rainfall, are typical of summer months, whereas eastern winds, decreasing the amount of precipitation, blow mostly in winter.




Districts

Hejnalista Krakowski
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

The Florian Gate in Krak?w, Poland , named after St. Florian, is one of the best-known Gothic towers in Poland, and a focal point of Krak?w's Krak?w Stare Miasto....
 and now encircled by the Planty
Planty Park

Planty is a city park in Krak?w, Poland. It encircles the District of Krak?w - Stare Miasto , where the Middle Ages Defensive wall used to stand....
 park; the Wawel
Wawel

Wawel is an built environment erected over many centuries atop a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula River in Krak?w, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level....
 District, which is the site of the Royal Castle and the cathedral; Stradom and Kazimierz
Kazimierz

Kazimierz is a historical district of Krak?w , best known for being home to a Jewish community from the 14th century until the Second World War....
, the latter originally divided into Christian and Jewish quarters; as well as the ancient town of Kleparz
Kleparz

Kleparz ? a borough of Krak?w situated to the north of the Old Town. It was a separate town between 1366 and 1792....
. Major districts added in the 19th and 20th centuries include Podgórze
Podgórze

Podg?rze is a district of Krak?w, Poland, situated on the right bank of the Vistula River. Initially a fishing village at the foot of Lasota Hill was granted city status by the Austria Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1784....
, 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 Krak?w, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city....
, east of the city centre, built after World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
.

Since March 27, 1991, Kraków has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with a degree of autonomy within its own municipal government (Rada Dzielnicy). The current divisions were introduced by the Kraków City Hall on April 19, 1995. Districts were assigned Roman numerals as well as the current name: Stare Miasto (I), Grzegórzki
Grzegórzki

Grzeg?rzki is an administrative District No. II of Krak?w, Poland. Till 1990 it was a part of District No. I Krak?w - Stare Miasto. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (II), Pradnik Czerwony
Pradnik Czerwony

Pradnik Czerwony is an administrative District No. III of Krak?w, Poland. Till 1990 it was a part of District No. I Krak?w - Stare Miasto. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (III), Pradnik Bialy
Pradnik Bialy

Pradnik Bialy is an administrative District No. IV of Krak?w, Poland. Till 1990 it was a part of District No. V, Krowodrza. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (IV), Krowodrza
Krowodrza

Krowodrza is an administrative District No. V of Krak?w, Poland, until 24 may 2006 also known as District V, Lobz?w. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (V), Bronowice
Bronowice

Bronowice is an administrative District No. VI of Krak?w, Poland, split in 1990 from District No. V, Krowodrza. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (VI), Zwierzyniec
Kraków-Zwierzyniec

Zwierzyniec is an administrative District No. VII of Krak?w, Poland. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (VII), Debniki
Debniki

Debniki is an administrative District No. VIII of Krak?w, Poland, split in 1990 from District No. XIII, Podg?rze. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (VIII), Lagiewniki-Borek Falecki
Lagiewniki-Borek Falecki

Lagiewniki–Borek Falecki is an administrative District IX of Krak?w, Poland, also known as District IX Lagiewniki. Till 1990 it was a part of District Podg?rze....
 (IX), Swoszowice
Swoszowice

Swoszowice is an administrative District X of Krak?w, Poland. Till 1990 it was a part of District Podg?rze. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (X), Podgórze Duchackie
Podgórze Duchackie

Podg?rze Duchackie is an administrative District XI of Krak?w, Poland. Until 24 may 2006 it was known as District XI Wola Duchacka. Wola Duchacka was a part of District Podg?rze till 1990 ....
 (XI), Biezanów-Prokocim
Biezanów-Prokocim

Biezan?w-Prokocim is an administrative District XII of Krak?w, Poland. Until 24 may 2006 it was known as District XII Prokocim-Biezan?w....
 (XII), Podgórze
Podgórze

Podg?rze is a district of Krak?w, Poland, situated on the right bank of the Vistula River. Initially a fishing village at the foot of Lasota Hill was granted city status by the Austria Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1784....
 (XIII), Czyzyny
Czyzyny

Czyzyny is an administrative District XIV of Krak?w, Poland. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (XIV), Mistrzejowice
Mistrzejowice

Mistrzejowice is an administrative District XV of Krak?w, Poland. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (XV), Bienczyce
Bienczyce

Bienczyce is an administrative District XVI of Krak?w, Poland. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (XVI), Wzgórza Krzeslawickie
Wzgórza Krzeslawickie

Wzg?rza Krzeslawickie is an administrative District XVII of Krak?w, Poland. Till 24 may 2006 it was known as District XVII Grebal?w. Since March 27, 1991, Krak?w has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with the degree of autonomy within its own municipal government ....
 (XVII), and Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta

Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Krak?w, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city....
 (XVIII).

Among the most notable historic districts of the city are: 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 Krak?w, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level....
, home to Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle

The Gothic architecture Wawel Castle was built at the behest of Casimir III of Poland and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard....
 and Wawel Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral

Wawel Cathedral is a church located on Wawel Hill in Krak?w, which is Poland's national sanctuary. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs....
, where many Polish kings are buried; the medieval Old Town, with its Main Market Square (200 metres, or 656 feet, square); dozens of old churches and museums; the 14th-century buildings of the Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University

The Jagiellonian University is located in Krak?w, Poland. Originally founded as Akademia Krakowska in 1364 by Casimir III of Poland, it is the second oldest university in Central Europe after the Charles University in Prague, and one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation....
; and Kazimierz
Kazimierz

Kazimierz is a historical district of Krak?w , best known for being home to a Jewish community from the 14th century until the Second World War....
, the historical centre 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, in which there was a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome thought and material culture....
, Baroque
Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture, starting in the early 17th century in Italy, took the humanist Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical, theatrical, sculptural fashion, expressing the triumph of absolutist church and state....
 and Gothic
Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. 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

For the Blackford Oakes novel, see Stained Glass The term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it....
, painting
Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
s, sculpture
Sculpture

Sculpture is Three-dimensional space artwork created by shaping or combining hard and or plastic material, sound, and or text and or light, commonly Stone sculpture , metal, glass, or wood....
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 built in the 14th century, adjacent to the Main Market Square, Krak?w in Krak?w, Poland. Standing 80m tall, it is particularly famous for its Altar of Veit Stoss ....
 (Kosciól Mariacki). It was built in the 14th century and features the famous wooden altar carved by Veit Stoss
Veit Stoss

Veit Stoss was a German sculptor of the late Gothic art school.According to Catholic Encyclopedia, Veit Stoss was one of the first artists from Northern Europe who could be compared with Italian Renaissance artists....
. A trumpet call, hejnal mariacki
Hejnal mariacki

The Heynal , also known as the Cracovian Hymn, is a traditional five-note Poland tune closely tied to the history and traditions of the city of Krakow....
, is sounded from the church's main tower every hour. The melody played ends unexpectedly in midstream. According to legend, the tune was played during a 13th-century Tatar
Tatars

Tatars , sometimes spelled Tartars, refers to a Turkic people ethnic group mainly inhabiting Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, and Poland....
 invasion by a guard warning citizens against the attack. He was shot by a Tatar warrior while playing, the melody 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 children's historical novel by Eric P. Kelly, won the Newbery Medal for excellence in United States children's literature in 1929....
, which won a Newberry 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 ....
..

Transport


Public transport is based around a fairly dense network of tramway 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
Warsaw

Warsaw is the Capital and World's largest cities of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains....
 depart every hour. International destinations include Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Hamburg, Lvov, Kiev, and Odessa (June–September). The main railway station
Kraków Main station

Krak?w Main station is the largest and the most centrally located railway station in Krak?w.The building, constructed between 1844 and 1847 , is parallel to the tracks....
 is located just outside the Old Town District and is well-served by public transport.

Kraków airport, (John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice
John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice

John Paul II International Airport Krak?w-Balice is an international airport located near Krak?w, in the village of Balice, 11 km west of the city centre, in southern Poland....
, ) is west of the city. Direct trains cover the route between Kraków Glówny train station
Kraków Main station

Krak?w Main station is the largest and the most centrally located railway station in Krak?w.The building, constructed between 1844 and 1847 , is parallel to the tracks....
 and the airport in 15 minutes. The annual capacity of the airport is estimated at 1.3 million passengers; 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

File:SchengenAgreement map.svgThe Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed between five of the then ten member states of the European Community in 1985....
.

Economy


Kraków is one of Poland's most important economic centres. Its population has quadrupled since the end of World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
. Following the collapse of communism, history and tradition intermingled with the general trend toward a market economy. The private sector is growing. Offshoring
Offshoring

Offshoring describes the relocation by a company of a business process from one country to another -- typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting....
 of information technology
Information technology

Information technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America , is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to data conv...
 (IT) work in recent years has become important to the economy of Kraków and to that of Poland in general. There are about 20 large multinational companies in Kraków, including Google
Google

Google Inc. is an United States public company, earning revenue from AdWords related to its Google search, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Apps, Orkut, and YouTube services as well as selling advertising-free versions of the Google Search Appliance....
, IBM
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
, General Electric
General Electric

The General Electric Company, or GE is a multinational corporation United States technology and Service s conglomerate incorporated in the State of New York....
, Capgemini
Capgemini

Capgemini is a major France Corporation, one of the world's largest information technology, management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies with a staff of over 91,000 operating in 36 countries....
, Motorola
Motorola

Motorola, Inc. is an United States, multinational, Fortune 100, telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It is a manufacturer of wireless telephone handsets, also designing and selling wireless network infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal amplifiers....
, and Sabre Holdings
Sabre Holdings

Sabre Holdings or Sabre, Inc. is an American travel technology company, encompassing several brands in three global travel distribution channels: travel agency, airline, and direct to consumer....
, along with other British and German-based firms. The unemployment rate in Kraków was 4.8 percent in May 2007, well below the national average of 13 percent. Since the joining of the European Union
European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European Union member state, located primarily in Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community....
 in 2004, there has been a sense of a defined future and a solid economic base for the city and the region. International investment, tourism and the property market have grown toward the Western European average. Residential prices in Kraków have doubled in three years, reaching those of Warsaw and attracting developers and banks with their exponential growth.

In 2006, the city budget
Budget of Kraków

The budget of the city of Krak?w, which is presented by the Mayor of Krak?w on the 15th of November each year, in 2006 had a projected revenue of 2,150 million zloty....
, which is presented by the Mayor of Kraków on November 15 each year, had a projected revenue of 2,150 billion zloty
Polish zloty

The zloty As a result of inflation in the early 1990s, the currency underwent Denomination #Redenomination. Thus, on 1 January 1995, 10 000 old zlotych became one new zloty ....
. 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 an individual or Legal person by a state or the functional equivalent of a state.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entity....
ation on real estate
Real estate

Real estate is a law term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings, specifically property that is fixed in location.
 properties and the use of amenities
Amenity

In the contexts of real estate and lodging, amenities are any tangible or intangible benefits of a property, especially those which increase the attractiveness or value of the property or which contribute to its comfort or convenience....
, 30% in transfers from the national budget
Budget

Budget generally refers to a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more good ....
, and 34% in state subsidies. Projected expenditures, totaling 2,349 billion zloty, 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.

Government


The Kraków City Council
Kraków City Council

The Krak?w City Council has forty-three elected members, one of whom is the mayor, or the President of Krak?w, elected every four years in an Local election by Voting through a secret ballot....
 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
Head of government

The 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, President of the Government, Premier, etc....
, which takes place at the same time, is based on legislation
Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgation by a legislature or other governing body. The term may refer to a single law, or the collective body of enacted law, while "statute" is also used to refer to a single law....
 introduced on 20 June 2002. The current President of Kraków, re-elected for his second term in 2006, is Professor Jacek Majchrowski
Jacek Majchrowski

Jacek Majchrowski is the mayor of the Krak?w, a lawyer, and a professor at Jagiellonian University. He has written many books about history....
.

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 disasters. 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. (See also: List of mayors of Kraków, and the Members of Polish national Parliament (Sejm) elected from Kraków constituency
Members of Polish Sejm elected from Kraków constituency

Members of Polish national Parliament elected from Krak?w constituency include:*Andrzej Adamczyk, *Boguslaw Bosak, *Barbara Bubula, *Kazimierz Chrzanowski, ...
.
)

Demographics

See also: Urban demographics of Poland
Demographics of Poland

This article is about the demographics features of the population of Poland, including population density, Ethnic group, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....
.


Demographic indicators Years Kraków
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
Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Lesser Poland Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,267,731 .It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Krak?w Voivodeship, Tarn?w Voivodeship, Nowy Sacz Voivodeship and parts of Bielsko-Biala Voivodeship and Katowice Voivodeship Voivodeships, pursuant to the 199...
. 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
Slovaks

File:Pribina, Nitra .jpgFile:J?no??k.jpgFile:Slovak USC2000 PHS.svgFile:Madonna in the Slovak national museum.jpgFile:Slovak soldiers on parade, detail.jpg...
, followed by Ukrainians
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
 (472), Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s (50) and Armenians
Armenians

The Armenians are a nation and ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands. A large concentration of them has remained there, especially in Armenia, but many of them are also scattered elsewhere throughout the world ....
 (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) claim their official status, as many as 3% of students participate in programmes designed for ethnic minorities.

Education


Kraków is a major center of education. Eleven university or academy-level institutions offer courses in the city, with 170,000 students and 10,000 faculty, plus about a dozen colleges.

Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University

The Jagiellonian University is located in Krak?w, Poland. Originally founded as Akademia Krakowska in 1364 by Casimir III of Poland, it is the second oldest university in Central Europe after the Charles University in Prague, and one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation....
, 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 Academy
Jagiellonian University

The Jagiellonian University is located in Krak?w, Poland. Originally founded as Akademia Krakowska in 1364 by Casimir III of Poland, it is the second oldest university in Central Europe after the Charles University in Prague, and one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation....
 and renamed in 1817 to commemorate the Jagiellonian dynasty
Jagiellon dynasty

The Jagiellons were a royal dynasty originating from 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 Krak?w and with almost 5.5 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 the first astronomer to formulate a scientifically-based heliocentrism cosmology that displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
' De Revolutionibus
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium , first printed in 1543 in Nuremberg, is the seminal work on Copernican heliocentrism and the masterpiece of 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 Krak?w. Compiled in 1505, the codex was named for the chancellor at the time, Balthasar Behem....
. 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 Poland priest, Scholasticism and theologian. In English he is also known as John of Kanty or John of Kanti....
, Jan Dlugosz
Jan Dlugosz

Jan Dlugosz , also known as Joannes, Ioannes or Johannes Longinus or Dlugossius, was a Poland chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Cardinal Olesnicki of Krak?w....
, Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus was the first astronomer to formulate a scientifically-based heliocentrism cosmology that displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski
Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski

Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski was a Poles Renaissance scholar, Humanism and theology, called "the father of Polish democracy."...
, Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski

Jan Kochanowski was a Polish Renaissance List of Polish language poets who established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish Polish literature language ....
, 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....
, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II John Paul II is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. He has been Pope_John_Paul_II#Role_in_the_fall_of_Communism in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe, as well as significantly improving the Roman Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and A...
 and Nobel laureates Ivo Andric
Ivo Andric

Ivo Andric was a Yugoslavs novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature from Bosnia and Herzegovina. His novels, e.g....
 and Wislawa Szymborska
Wislawa Szymborska

Wislawa Szymborska is a Poland poetry, essayist and translator. She was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. In Poland, her books reach sales rivaling prominent prose authors—although she once remarked in a poem entitled "Some like poetry" [Niekt?rzy lubia poezje] that no more than two out of a thousand people care for the a...
.

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 Krak?w. 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 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 United States weekly newsmagazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally....
 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
Habilitation

Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a person can achieve by their own pursuit in certain European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate , the habilitation requires the candidate to write a postdoctoral thesis based on independent scholarly accomplishments, reviewed by and defended before an academic c...
.

Other institutions of higher learning include Cracow University of Economics, established in 1925; Academy of Music in Kraków
Academy of Music in Kraków

The Academy of Music in Krak?w is located in downtown Krak?w, Poland. It was first conceived as a College or university school of music in 1888 by Wladyslaw Zelenski , and is known as the alma mater of the contemporary Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki....
, first conceived as a conservatory
College or university school of music

Category:Limited geographic scopeCategory:USA-centricA university school of music or college of music, or academy of music or conservatoire — also known as a conservatory or a conservatorium — is a higher education institution dedicated to teaching the art...
 in 1888; Pedagogical University
Pedagogical University of Cracow

Pedagogical University of Cracow , located in Krak?w, 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 system....
, in operation since 1946; Agricultural University of Cracow
Agricultural University of Cracow

The Agricultural University of Cracow , located in Krak?w, 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 is located in Krak?w, Poland. Originally founded as Akademia Krakowska in 1364 by Casimir III of Poland, it is the second oldest university in Central Europe after the Charles University in Prague, and one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation....
); Academy of Fine Arts
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts

The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, or Krak?w Academy of Fine Arts , located in Krak?w, Poland, is the oldest Polish fine-arts academy, established in 1818....
, the oldest Fine Arts Academy in Poland, founded by the Polish painter Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko

Jan Matejko was a Poland painting known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most Jan Matejko's Gallery include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and noble court scenes, and a gallery of List of Polish monarchs....
; Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts

Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts , located in Krak?w, 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 Stary Teatr, the Slowacki Theatre Actors' Studio, and...
; The Pontifical Academy of Theology; and Cracow University of Technology
Cracow University of Technology

Tadeusz Kosciuszko University of Technology is a university located in downtown Krak?w, Poland, established in 1946 and, as an institution of higher learning granted full autonomy in 1954....
, which has more than 37,000 graduates.

Culture

|
Gothic Altar Veit Stoss
|- ||}

Kraków is considered by many to be the cultural
Culture of Poland

The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate 1000 year History of Poland. Its unique character developed at the crossroads of the Latinate and Byzantine Empire worlds, in continual dialog with the many ethnic groups living in Poland....
 capital of Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is 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 Enclave and exclave, to the north....
. It was named the European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture

The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one calendar year during which it is given a chance to showcase its culture life and cultural development....
 for the year 2000 by the European Union
European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European Union member state, located primarily in Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community....
. Kraków has 28 museums and public art galleries. Among them are the main branch of Poland's National Museum
National Museum, Kraków

The National Museum in Krak?w , established in 1879, is the main branch of Poland's National Museum, which has many permanent collections around the country....
 and the Czartoryski Museum
Czartoryski Museum

The Czartoryski Museum was founded in Krak?w in 1796 by Princess Izabela Czartoryska to preserve Poland heritage in keeping with the Princess' motto: "The Past to the Future"....
, the latter featuring works by Leonardo
Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italy polymath, being a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, Painting, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
 and Rembrandt
Rembrandt

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Netherlands Painting and etching. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in History of the Netherlands....
. The city has several famous theaters, including: National Stary Theatre, a.k.a. The Old Theatre, Juliusz Slowacki Theatre
Juliusz Slowacki Theatre

Juliusz Slowacki Theatre in Krak?w, Poland, , built in 1893, was modeled after some of the best European Baroque theatres, and named after Polish poet Juliusz Slowacki in 1909....
, Bagatela Theatre, The Ludowy Theatre, and Groteska Theatre of Puppetry, as well as Opera Krakowska and Kraków Operetta.

Kraków hosts many annual and biannual artistic events, some of international significance, such as the Misteria Paschalia (baroque music), Sacrum-Profanum (contemporary music), Cracow Screen Festival (popular music), Festival of Polish Music (classical music), Dedications (theatre), Festival of Short Feature Films, Biennial of Graphic Arts, and the Jewish Culture Festival. It became the residence of two Polish Nobel
Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
 laureates in literature: Wislawa Szymborska
Wislawa Szymborska

Wislawa Szymborska is a Poland poetry, essayist and translator. She was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. In Poland, her books reach sales rivaling prominent prose authors—although she once remarked in a poem entitled "Some like poetry" [Niekt?rzy lubia poezje] that no more than two out of a thousand people care for the a...
 and Czeslaw Milosz
Czeslaw Milosz

Czeslaw Milosz ; was a Poles poet, prose and translator. From 1961 to 1978 he was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley....
; a third Nobel laureate, the Yugoslav writer Ivo Andric
Ivo Andric

Ivo Andric was a Yugoslavs novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature from Bosnia and Herzegovina. His novels, e.g....
 also lived and studied in Kraków. Other former residents include famous Polish film directors Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda

Andrzej Wajda is a Poland film director. Recipient of an honorary Academy Awards, he is one of the most prominent members of the Polish Film School....
 and Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski

Roman Raymond Polanski is an Academy Award-winning and four-time nominated Poland-France film director, writer, actor and film producer.Polanski began his career in Poland, and later became a celebrated director of both art house and commercial films, making such films as Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown ....
.

Points of interest outside the city include the Wieliczka salt mine, the Tatra Mountains
Tatra Mountains

The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra , constitute a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They occupy an area of 750 km?, the major part of which lies in Slovakia....
  to the south, the historic city of Czestochowa
Czestochowa

Czestochowa is a city in south Poland on the Warta with 248,894 inhabitants . It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously the capital of Czestochowa Voivodeship ....
, the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of Nazi Germany's Nazi concentration campss. Its remains are located in Poland approximately 50 kilometers west of Krak?w and 286 kilometers south of Warsaw....
, and Ojcowski National Park
Ojców National Park

Ojc?w National Park is a List of national parks of Poland in Krak?w County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, established in 1956. It takes its name from the village of Ojc?w, where it also has its headquarters....
, which includes Pieskowa Skala
Pieskowa Skala

Pieskowa Skala , first mentioned before 1315 as "castrum Peskenstein" in documents of Poland king Wladyslaw I the Elbow-high , is located near the village of Suloszowa in the valley of river Pradnik, 27 km north of Krak?w, Poland, within the boundaries of the Ojc?w National Park....
 Castle.

Parks


Planty
Planty Park

Planty is a city park in Krak?w, Poland. It encircles the District of Krak?w - Stare Miasto , where the Middle Ages Defensive wall used to stand....
 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 (52 acres) and a length of 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), forming a scenic walkway popular with Cracovians.

The first public park equipped with exercise fixtures was founded by Dr Henryk Jordan
Henryk Jordan

Henryk Jordan , was a Poland philanthropist, physician and pioneer of physical education in Poland. A professor of obstetrics from 1895 at Krak?w's Jagiellonian University, Jordan became best known for organizing children?s playgrounds, called "Jordan?s Gardens" after him....
 on the banks of the Rudawa
Rudawa River

Rudawa is a small river in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, and a tributary of the Vistula river. Rudawa joins Vistula in Krak?w near the district of Zwierzyniec....
 river in 1889. The Jordan Park
Jordan Park

Jordan Park, known also as Jordan's Garden, was set up in 1889 as the first public playground in Krak?w, Poland, and the first of its kind in Europe....
, equipped with running and exercise tracks, playgrounds, swimming pool, amphitheatre
Amphitheatre

An amphitheatre is an open-air venue for spectator sports, concerts, rallies, or theatrical performances. There are two similar, but distinct types of amphitheatres: Ancient amphitheatres, built by the ancient Rome, were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used for spectator sports; these comp...
, 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 watercraft 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....
 and water bicycles, is on the grounds of Kraków’s Blonia. The less prominent Park Krakowski
Park Krakowski

Park Krakowski, located in Krakow, Poland, was founded in 1885 by city councillor Stanislaw Rehman. It was built on the grounds leased from the military....
 was founded in 1885 by Stanislaw Rehman
Stanislaw Rehman

Stanislaw Rehman , was a city councillor in Krak?w, Poland. In 1885 Rehman founded a city park known as Park Krakowski. The park was built on the grounds leased from the military and opened for the public in 1887....
 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.

Sports

Football (soccer) is one of the most popular games locally, as it is in Poland as a whole. The teams with considerable following are eleven-time Polish champions Wisla Kraków
Wisla Kraków

Wisla Krak?w is a Polish football club based in Krak?w, Poland. From 1906-1945 and from 1990-1997 it was known as Sports Society Wisla , after World War II the club became known as Wisla Krak?w....
. and five-time champions Cracovia Kraków
Cracovia Kraków

Cracovia Krak?w, Recently, the club has announced plans to build a new 15,000 seat stadium designed by a Spain architectural firm Estudio Lamela....
. Other football clubs include Hutnik Kraków
Hutnik Kraków

KS Hutnik Krak?w is a Polish football club from the Nowa Huta district of Krak?w. The club was founded in 1950. Hutnik have played seven seasons in the Polish Orange_Ekstraklasa ....
, Wawel Kraków and Garbarnia Kraków
Garbarnia Kraków

RKS Garbarnia Krak?w is a Poland football and sports club from Ludwinow - a historical district of the city of Krak?w. 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 Krak?w is a Polish rugby club based in Cracow, Poland. It was founded in 1906 as a football club. Since 1973 it has been playing rugby union....
. Kraków has a number of additional, equally valued sports teams including six-time Polish ice hockey
Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to simply as hockey, is a team sport played on ice. It is a fast paced and physical sport. Ice hockey is most popular in areas that are sufficiently cold for natural reliable seasonal ice cover such as Canada, the northern United States, Scandinavia and Russia, though with the advent of indoor artificial ice r...
 champions Cracovia Kraków and the twenty-time women's basketball champions Wisla Kraków.

The Cracovia Marathon
Cracovia Marathon

The Cracovia Marathon is an annual marathon held in the city of Krak?w, Poland; usually in May. It was established in 2002 and has been run every year since....
, with over a thousand participants from two dozen countries annually, has been held in the city since 2002.

Symbols


The city's official symbols are the coat of arms, the flag (see top of this page), the seal, and the banner (right). In addition to these, a number of semi-official and unofficial symbols, such as the "Cracovia" logo used in Kraków's promotional materials, or an image of the Wawel dragon wearing a Kraków cap, and a stylized crowned letter K, are also used, since most of Kraków's official symbols are legally restricted.

Twin towns - Sister cities

Kraków is twinned
Town twinning

Town twinning, also known as sister cities, is a concept whereby towns or city in geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links between their inhabitants....
, or maintains close relations with, more than 30 cities around the world:

Bordeaux
Bordeaux

is a Port city on the Garonne in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its aire urbaine at a 2008 estimate. It is the Capital of the Aquitaine regions of France, as well as the Prefectures in France of the Gironde Departments of France....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 (since 1993)
Bratislava
Bratislava

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 427,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River....
, Slovakia
Slovakia

Slovakia . It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements....
 
Budapest
Budapest

Budapest is the Capitals of Hungary of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commerce, Industry, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe....
, Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
 (since 2005)
Cambridge, Mass.
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England....
, USA
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 (since 1989)
Curitiba
Curitiba

Curitiba is the capital city of the Brazilian Brazilian state of Paran? . The city has the largest population and also the largest economy in Southern Region, Brazil....
, Brazil
Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
 (since 1993)
Cusco
Cusco

||}Cusco 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 Cusco Province....
, 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, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, UK
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 (since 1995)
Fes
Fes, Morocco

Fes or Fez is the fourth largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech with a population of 946,815 . It is the capital of the F?s-Boulemane Region....
, Morocco
Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
 (since 2004)
Florence
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 (since 1992)
Frankfurt, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 (since 1991)
Göteborg
Gothenburg

Gothenburg ) is the second largest city in Sweden after Stockholm and the fifth largest amongst the Nordic countries. The city is located on the south west-coast....
, Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
 (since 1990)
Grozny
Grozny

Grozny is the capital types of inhabited localities in Russia of the Chechnya in Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2002 Russian Census , the city had a population of 210,720 people ....
, Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 (since 1997)
Innsbruck
Innsbruck

Innsbruck is the Capital of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn River Valley at the junction with the Wipptal , which provides access to the Brenner Pass, some 30 km south of Innsbruck....
 in Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
 (since 1998)
Kyoto
Kyoto

Sorry, no overview for this topic
, Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
 
Kiev
Kiev

Kiev, also known as Kyiv , is the Capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River....
, Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
 (since 1993)
La Serena, Chile
Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
 (since 1995)
Lahore
Lahore

is the capital of the Pakistani Subdivisions of Pakistan of Punjab and is the List of most populated metropolitan areas in Pakistan city in Pakistan after Karachi....
, Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
 (since 2007)
Leipzig
Leipzig

Leipzig is, with a population of over 511,252, the largest city in the States of Germany of Saxony, Germany....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 (since 1995)
Leuven
Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flanders, Belgium. It is located about 30 kilometers east of Brussels, with as other neighbouring cities Mechelen, Aarschot, Tienen, and Wavre....
, Belgium
Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
 (since 1991)
Lviv
Lviv

Lviv is a major city in western Ukraine.It is regarded as one of the main Ukrainian culture. In 2001, it had 725,000 inhabitants, of whom 88 per cent were Ukrainians, 9 per cent Russians and 1 per cent Poles....
, Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
 (since 1995)
Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 (since 2003)
Niš
Niš

Ni? is a city in Ni?ava District, Serbia situated at 43.3? N 21.9? E, on the Ni?ava River. With more than 250,000 inhabitants it is the largest city of South Serbia and third-largest city in the country, after Belgrade and Novi Sad....
, Serbia
Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
Nuremberg
Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a city in the Germany State of Bavaria, in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz River river and the Rhine?Main?Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 (since 1991)
Orléans
Orléans

Orl?ans is a city in north-central France, about 130 km southwest of Paris. It is the capital of the Loiret Departments of France and of the Centre R?gion in France....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 (since 1992)
Pécs
Pécs

P?cs , , is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya ....
, Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
 (since 1998)
Rochester, NY
Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, New York State, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. The Rochester metropolitan area is the second largest economy in New York State, behind the New York City metropolitan area....
, USA
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 (since 1973)
Quito
Quito

San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito, is the Capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha , an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains....
, Ecuador
Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west....
 
St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
, Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 (since 2006)
Seville
Seville

||-||}Seville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville ....
, Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 (since 2002)
Solothurn
Solothurn

The city of Solothurn is the Capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipalities of Switzerland of the Solothurn of the same name....
, Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
 (since 1990)
Vilnius
Vilnius

Vilnius is the largest city and the Capital of Lithuania, with a population of 555,613 as of 2008. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality....
, Lithuania
Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....

Zagreb
Zagreb

Zagreb is the Capital and the largest city of Croatia. Zagreb is the Culture of Croatia, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Cinema of Croatia, Economy of Croatia and Government of Croatia center of the Croatia....
, Croatia
Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a Central European country at the crossroads of Pannonian Plain, Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea....
 (since 1975)
     


Further reading

  • Jane Hardy, Al Rainnie, Restructuring Krakow: Desperately Seeking Capitalism. Published 1996 by Mansell Publishing, 285 pages. Business, economics, finance. ISBN 0720122317. A critical analysis of Krakow's regional economy in the context of national economy and the globalization including foreign investment, privatization, economic development and organized labor. The book is based in original research involving interviews and case studies of heavy industry, food processing, and small and medium-sized businesses.
  • Edward Hartwig, Kraków, with Jerzy Broszkiewicz (contributor). Published 1980, by Sport i Turystyka, 239 pages. ISBN 8321723217.
  • Boleslaw T. Laszewski, Kraków: karta z dziejów dwudziestolecia. Published 1985, by Bicentennial Pub. Corp. (original from the University of Michigan
    University of Michigan

    The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan is a public university research university located in the state of Michigan. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan, which also includes two regional campuses in University of Michigan-Flint and University of Michigan-Dearborn....
    ), 132 pages. ISBN 0912757086
  • Joanna Markin, Bogumila 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 Cook, 192 pages. Transport, geography, sightseeing, history, and culture. Includes weblinks CD. ISBN 1841571873.
  • Dorota Wasik, Emma Roper-Evans, Krakow. Published 2002 by Somerset. Cultural guidebook series, 160 pages. ISBN 9630059304.
  • Richard Watkins, Best of Kraków, Published 2006, by Lonely Planet
    Lonely Planet

    Lonely Planet Publications is one of the largest travel guidebook publishers in the world. It was the first popular series of travel books aimed at backpacking and other low-cost travellers....
    , 64 pages, complemented by fold-out maps. ISBN 1741048222.