Old Town

Town Hall Tower

was once a part of the big 13th-Century Gothic-Renaissance Town Hall on the Main Market. The town hall was destroyed by the Austrians in the 19th century after they took control of Krakow. You have a nice view of the city from upstairs if it is open.

Florian Gate

is the only part of the medieval walls which has survived. It consists of four towers and the arsenal and gives you a good idea of what the five kilometers of walls around the Old City looked like in the Middle Ages.

St. Mary's Church

The first St. Mary's Church was built in 1220. The facade consists of two unequal towers. The tune hejnał is played from one of the towers every hour and on Polish Radio at noon. Inside the church, the east wall is taken up by the altar of Veit Stoss 1477-89. It is the largest piece of medieval art of this kind. There is also an altar with a stone crucifix by Veit Stoss. The wall paintings are by Matejko, Wyspianski, and Mehoffer.

Church of St. Anne

This church was built in the 14th century and rebuilt in 1407 in Gothic style. It served as the University Church. It was rebuilt in baroque style in 1689 by Tylman from Gameren modeled on S. Andrea della Valle in Rome. The corpus of the church was composed of a wide main nave with three pairs of side chapels. The holy professor of theology Jan Kanty is buried there. His baroque grave is one of the most beautiful in Central Europe.

St. Giles Church

This church was founded in the 11th century by Duke Wladyslaw Herman as a votive offering for the birth of their son. It was later rebuilt in the Gothic style at the end of the 13th century. The Holy Mass is offered in English on Sundays at 10:30AM.

St. Trinity Church

St. Trinity Church, a Dominican church, was built in 1222 in Romanesque style the refectory still is. It was rebuilt as a three-aisled basilica in the second half of 14th century and the 15th century. It is filled with a countless number of tombs and the set of burial chapels of the 16th and 17th centuries was second only to the Wawel Cathedral necropolis. The great fire of 1850 destroyed much of the church. There is an amazing late 14th century stone portal richly ornamented with carved floral motifs located here.

St. Marc Church

This was founded in the second half of the 13th century by Duke Boleslaw Wstydliwy. On the wall of the apse stands the sculpted group Golgotha. Inside the church is a rococo pulpit with a worth seeing cross.

The Remuh Synagogue

The Synagogue and adjoining Jewish Cemetery with the grave of Moses Isserles.

The Old Synagogue

Built sometime during the 15th century, the synagogue is the oldest stone synagogue in Poland. It was ransacked by the Nazis during WWII and was renovated between 1956 and 1959. Currently, it serves as a museum documenting Jewish life in Kraków.

Temple Synagoge

A Reform Judaic synagogue that is open to the public. Since it's an operational synagogue male visitors are expected to wear synagogues and women should dress somewhat conservatively and have their shoulders covered. During Nazi occupation, the synagogue was used as a horse stable, but was eventually rededicated to its religious mission. Inside, the synagogue is beautiful.

The Home Army Museum

Awaits permanent exhibition.

fine bourgeois houses

Kamienica Jana Dlugosza

Jan Dlugosz House.

Kamienica Hippolitow

Hippolitow House.

Kamienica Pralatow

Pralatow House.

Kamienica Bonerowska

Boner House.

Kamienica Czynciela

Czynciel House.

Kamienica Dziekanska

Rektors House.

Kamienica Hetmanska

Hetman House.

Kamienica Margrabska

Dukes House.

Kamienica Montelupich

Montelupi House.

Kamienica Pecherza

Pecherz House.

Kamienica Pod Jaszczurami

House under the Lizards.

Kamienica Szara

Grey House.

Kamienica Szolajskich

Szolajski House.

Kamienica Pod Jemiola

House under the Mistletoe.

university buildings

Collegium Maius

— This is the oldest of the university buildings, erected in 1364 as part of the University of Krakow. It was completed in 1400 and has preserved its Gothic scape. It has a beautiful court yard and chambers, of which the stuba communis is considered to be the most important. Niclaus Copernicus, Jan III Sobieski, and John Paul II studied here. Today, there is a university museum in the building with the instruments of Copernicus, the first globe with America, and many other medieval instruments. The first liquefaction of oxygen was there in the 19th century.

Collegium Juridicum

— This is a Gothic building in the oldest part of the Old City "Okol", opposite the Peter and Paul Church. It has a very nice Renaissance Yard with Arcades and Sculptors of Igor Mitoraj.

Collegium Medicum

— This is a Renaissance building in the academic part of the Old City opposite the St. Anna Church, which is the university church since 1409. It has a very nice Renaissance Yard with Arcades.

Collegium Novum

— One of Central Europe's most beautiful Neogothic buildings. It was built in the 19th century and has been the headquarters of the Jagiellonian University since then. The big neogothic stairways inside the building are worth seeing.

Pope John Paul II Akademia

— Big neogothic building under the Wawel Castle at the beginning of the Planty Park.

All over Old Town you can find campus parts of the second oldest university in this part of Europe: Jagiellonian University. You are free to enter and leave all buildings at your leisure mind the students milling around every day of the week.