The best museums Krakow

This beautiful seventeenth-century palace owes its name to the fourteenth-century statue of St. Christopher that adorned its façade. It is the seat of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow, which includes documents and memorabilia related to the history of the city, a collection of paintings by Krakow artists, as well as old clocks and armor. Its main attraction is its collection of szopkis, the famous Christmas cribs which are the subject of a competition every December, the winner of which joins the ranks of those exhibited here.

The Old Synagogue, one of the oldest in the country, was built in its Gothic style at the end of the 15th century when the Jews settled in Kazimierz and was restored in 1959 when it was decided to turn it into a museum. Since then it has housed the Museum of Jewish History and Culture. A separate room is dedicated to the history of the extermination of the Jews, including a series of photographs of life in the Jewish quarter before and during World War II.

The only authorized pharmacy in the ghetto was run until the last deportations by Dr. Tadeusz Pankiewic who, refusing to leave the neighborhood, was the only non-Jew living and working in the ghetto. Thus, from 1941 to 1943, he helped the Jews of the ghetto. He delivered medicine and food, brought news from outside, provided false papers and hiding places. He died in 1993 and was honored by Israel with the title of Righteous.

The museum is located in the birthplace of this giant of the national spirit and honorary citizen of the city. It provides an opportunity to see the apartments/workshops where the great master of national romanticism lived and worked until 1893, when he died. The permanent exhibition includes unique works by Matejko, family memorabilia and antiques, especially oriental and western weapons collected by the painter during his lifetime and which he used for his art. It is a nice visit just a stone's throw from the Rynek.

Founded by King Casimir the Great in 1364 with the name Academia Croviensis (Academy of Krakow), the Jagiellonian University was the second largest university in Central Europe, after Prague. Falling into decline with the death of the king, it was renovated around 1390 and gained the status of a university it did not have before (it did not have a chair of theology, at the time the noblest knowledge and privilege granted by the pope, but then kept its name of Kraków Academy until 1818) by King Władisław Jagełło, who bought and formed the Collegium Maius, "the great college." The university has buildings all over the city center, so you'll often see students milling from one street to another, between classes.

All around the Collegium Maius stand the buildings of the Jagiellonian University. Opposite the Collegium Maius is the Collegium Kołłataja and, further south, the Collegium Minus. In front of the University Church of St. Anne is the Collegium Nowodworski (ul. św. Anny 12). Here studied King Jan III Sobieski, painters Jan Matejko and Stanisław Wyspiański and writer Joseph Conrad. Continuing down Gołębia Street, at n. 24, the Collegium Novum houses the neo-Gothic seat of the university (you can't get in, or you have to dodge the guards and play student). Opposite it stands the Collegium Witkowskiego and a statue of Copernicus.

The Gothic building of the Collegium Maius now houses the Jagiellonian University Museum with two collections, one historical and the other scientific. The historical section leads to a large hall of honor decorated with portraits of its most prestigious students such as Nicolaus Copernicus, King Jan III Sobieski, anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski, and Karol Wojtyła. One then visits the Treasury Rooms and the Great Hall, the seat of great university ceremonies. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the oldest globe in the world, dated 1510, on which America is marked "newly discovered country." The scientific collection includes a series of instruments that would have been used by Nicolaus Copernicus.

The courtyard of the Collegium Maius is worth a visit. Every day at 11:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00, one can watch the brief musical ride of the figures animated by the clock mechanism above the Golden Gate and representing the personalities who played an important role in the history of the university.

The first church in Kazimierz was erected by King Casimir in 1340, but its construction was not completed until the middle of the 15th century. Its beautiful baroque interior contrasts with the austerity of its architecture. Inside you can admire the stained glass windows in the choir and the impressive baroque pulpit in the shape of a boat supported by mermaids and dolphins. In the Chapel of St. Anne lies Bartolomeo Berecci, the architect of Wawel, who was murdered in 1537.

The main building of the National Museum houses a gallery of decorative art, an excellent Polish art gallery of the th century, a true reason for travel, as well as a relatively medium collection of weapons and uniforms. The Cracow National Museum is composed of a number of annexes. The most remarkable pieces of the collection are two paintings of Rembrandt and Vinci in the Czartoryski museum. Its other annexes are the museum of Jan Matejko, that of Stanisław Wyspiański, the very beautiful house of the artist of the Young Poland movement (Belle Epoque) Józef Malinowski (Ul. Krupnicza 26 Tel +48 12 421 11 43), the Polish painting gallery of the Cloth Hall and the Manggha Museum.

During the Second World War, this building housed the Krakow Gestapo offices. The first and second floors were used as interrogation rooms, and the basements as cells. The permanent exhibition traces the lives of Polish resistance fighters and Jews in Krakow during the Occupation. The basement cells feature some 600 inscriptions left by prisoners between 1943 and 1945. A museum that pays tribute to the suffering and endurance of the Polish people.

Opened since September 2010, this museum created under the Rynek is the rebuilding of the square and the town in the Middle Ages. The work began in 2005 and excavations provided an opportunity to enlarge the exceptional collection of pieces and objects from this exposed era… walls and pavés of the time were also conserved. The market atmosphere and merchants from all countries are complemented by an original soundtrack. Educational spaces and conference rooms feature films on the living conditions of the 13 th century. 

This former 17th century warehouse was once used to store wheat. Now it houses another type of resource: European paintings and sculptures from the collection of the National Museum in Krakow, including paintings by Paolo Veneziano and Lorenzo Lotto or sculptures by Bertel Thorvaldsen, Antonio Canova and Gustav Vigeland. The majority of the collection comes from the Middle Ages and sometimes great names join the temporary exhibition.

This magnificent museum extends beneath a large part of the square. It is the result of archaeological research carried out under the Rynek from 2005 to 2007. Using state-of-the-art technology and know-how, it traces the history of the town from its very beginnings. The remains of the city, including an ^11th-century cemetery, are presented in the form of models and reconstructions of medieval buildings, 3D representations, documentary films, etc., enabling visitors to discover Krakow in the Middle Ages. A visit that's even better with a guide.

This church was built in the ^17th century on the site of an earlier church destroyed during the Swedish invasion of 1655. The crypt contains the mummified remains of monks and donors. From 166 onwards, the monks' bodies were kept here without coffins. A rather eerie curiosity that can only be visited once a year, on November 2. The church itself is quite pretty, but doesn't measure up to the competition.

Located near the Collegium Maius, this charming 18th-century Gothic church has served since 1698 as the university chapel, where all official ceremonies were celebrated. In the right transept one can admire the sarcophagus containing the relics of the saint Jan Kanty carried by four allegorical figures symbolizing the four main faculties of the university: medicine, law, philosophy and theology. On the opposite side of the transept there is a monument dedicated to Nicolaus Copernicus, a former student of the university.

Located on the second floor of the Cloth Hall, this museum, a branch of the National Museum, boasts a fine collection of ^19th-century Polish paintings, including works by Jan Matejko, the national Romantic painter, and Piotr Michałowski, the great painter of horses and riders. There are also paintings by Malczewski, Gierymski, Witkacy and Chełmoński, representing the realist and impressionist currents. A café is located on the panoramic terrace.

In the castle's basement kitchens, you'll find an astonishing exhibition that aims to reconstruct what Wawel Hill looked like a thousand years ago. Models and computer representations illustrate parts of buildings that no longer exist, hence the unusual name of this museum. Also on display are the reconstructed foundations of the Rotunda of the Virgin Mary, the oldest stone church built on the hill in the early ^11th century.