Visitors Center

Cathedral, Sigismund Bell, Royal Tombs

Cathedral

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Castle andArcaded Courtyard information

phone +48 12 422.51.55 ext. 219 informacja@wawel.org.pl

reservationphone +48 12 422.16.97fax +48 12 422.64.64 bot@wawel.org.pl

to the Castle

Tickets to the exhibitions and seasonal attractions are for individual touring, EXCEPT the Royal Private Apartments and Wawel Architec- ture and Gardens, which can only be toured in guide-led groups (guide service is included in ticket price). Guide service in several languages is available for all of our exhibitions, but reservations must be made in advance through the Reservations Office; additional charges apply. Advance reservations are required for groups.Last visitor entry is one hour before exhibition closing time. For conservation reasons, there are daily limits on the number of visitors; during the summer season tickets may run out before the end of the day. Audio Guides are available.

Free admission (individual visitors only, no groups) to selected exhibi- tions: Mondays (April 1–October 31) or Sundays (November 1–March 31). Please note: free admission ticket must be collected from the ticket office.You may not bring luggage or large bags etc. into the exhibitions (handbags are fine). For your convenience we provide two luggage rooms:

Bernardyńska Gate – check large items such as suitcases, bags, backpacks etc.

Arcaded Courtyard (only for visitors entering the castle) – hand luggage, small backpacks, umbrellas, strollers etc.

Wawel Royal Castle 31-001 Kraków, Wawel 5 phone +48 12 422.51.55 zamek@wawel.org.pl www.wawel.krakow.pl

BRANCHES

MuseumThe Wawel Royal Castle and the Wawel Hill constitute the most historically and culturally important site in Poland. For centuries the residence of kings and the symbol of Polish statehood, the castle is now one of the country’s premier art museums. Established in 1930, the museum encompasses ten curatorial departments responsible for collections of paintings, including an important collection of Italian Renaissance paintings; works on paper; sculpture; textiles, among them the Sigismund II Augustus tapestry collection; goldsmith’s work; arms and armor; ceramics, with significant holdings of Meissen porcelain; and period furniture. The museum’s holdings in Asian and Middle-Eastern art include the largest collection of Ottoman tents in Europe. For conservation reasons the tents are not on permanent display. The collections of the Wawel Royal Castle are presented in several permanent exhibitions that evoke the historic appearance of the royal residence in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Instead of paying a flat admission fee, visitors can pick and choose the exhibitions they would like to see. From spring to mid-autumn, visitors can also descend into the Dragon’s Den, climb to the top of the Sandomierska Tower, and take a guided outdoor tour to learn about Wawel’s architecture and gardens. The museum mounts special temporary exhibitions and displays. The Wawel Royal Castle also hosts a lively program of events including symphonic and chamber music concerts and performances of opera and courtly dance.

Pieskowa Skała CastleThe castle is situated in the heart of the Ojców National Park, about 30 km northeast of Cracow. The fortress and a nearby rock formation called the Club of Hercules dominate the picturesque

landscape of the Prądnik River Valley. Pieskowa Skała is exceptional not only for the beauty of its natural setting, but also for its outstanding archi- tecture and fascinating history. The stronghold was built during the reign of Casimir the Great (r. 1333–1370) to safeguard the route between Cracow and Silesia. At the end of the 14th century, the castle passed into the hands of the Szafraniec family in the late 16th century Stanisław Szafraniec renovated and expanded it to create an impressive Renaissance residence with an arcaded courtyard and pillared loggia. The work was completed in about 1578. In the 17th century, the castle’s new owner, Michał Zebrzydowski, added a bastion to the fortifications, closing off the large exterior court. Today the castle is a museum, which houses a collection of European art.

32-045 Sułoszowa, phone/fax +48 12 389.60.04maczops@poczta.onet.pl www.pieskowaskala.eu

Manor House at StryszówLocated at the foot of Mount Chełm in the Beskid Ma- kowski mountain range near Wadowice and Kalwaria Zebrzyowska, the manor house at Stryszów is one

of the most interesting and unique examples of manorial architecture to survive in this region. Built at the end of the 16th century and remodeled in the mid-18th century, the manor is an example of a modest country residence of the Polish gentry. Since 1969, the manor has been a museum featuring 19th-century period interiors.

31-146 Stryszów, phone +48 33 879.74.89dwor@stryszow.pl www.dwor-stryszow.pl

WAWEL ROYALCASTLE

The Wawel Hill is to Cracow what the Acropolis was to ancient Athens or the Capitoline Hill to Rome. The rocky outcropping towering over the banks of the Vistula River has been the seat of secular and ecclesiastical power since the early Middle Ages, but archeological excavations have uncovered evidence of human habi- tation on the site dating as far back as the Paleolithic era. Mieszko I (r. ca. 960–992), the first historical ruler of the Polish state, chose the hill as the site of one of his residences. His baptism in 966 brought Poland into the orbit of Western culture. In 1000, the bishopric of Cracow was established and the first cathedral on Wawel Hill was built.Wawel experienced its golden age from the 14th through the 16th centuries under the last Piast kings and the Jagiellon dynasty. The Jagiellonian kings Alexan- der I (r. 1501–1506), Sigismund I the Old (r. 1506–1548), and Sigismund II Augustus (r. 1548–1572) transformed the medieval castle into one of the finest Italianate Renaissance palaces in Central Europe. Sigismund I and his son presided over a great flowering of the arts and humanities. Wawel’s significance began to wane when Sigismund III Vasa (r. 1587–1632) moved his court to Warsaw in 1609–1611, although it remained a royal residence and the cathedral continued to be the site of the coronations and burials of Poland’s kings. The ensuing years brought a slow but steady decline. The castle was sacked and looted during the Polish-Swedish wars that swept through the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the mid-17th century. The final blow came in the 18th century with the partitions of Poland; in 1796 the castle was converted to barracks for the Austrian army.A monumental restoration project was undertaken in the early years of the 20th century, intensifying after 1918, when Poland regained independence. In the 1930s, the castle became a museum.

State RoomsThe “State Rooms“ were the formal, public rooms of the palace, in which monarchs received and entertained their subjects and visiting dignitaries. The largest and most magnificent are the Envoys’ Hall with its remarkable coffered ceiling with woodcarvings of human heads and the Senators’ Hall, in which the king and senate met and grand balls were held. Displayed throughout are exquisite, gold-woven tapestries from the collection of King Sigismund II Augustus. Produced in Brussels in 1550–1560, it was the largest group of tapestries ever executed as a single commission. Today, it is one of the most significant collections of its kind in the world. Other works on view include royal portraits, Italian and Dutch Old Master paintings, and Italian Renaissance furniture. Many rooms have colorful late-Baroque tile stoves which replace the original Renaissance stoves that were destroyed when Cracow was under Austrian domination in the 19th century. (Surviving tiles and models can be viewed in the Lost Wawel exhibition.) Gilt-leather wall hangings adorn the Baroque-period interiors.

Royal Private Apartments (guided tour in English or Polish)

Once reserved for the royal family, their courtiers, and guests, these rooms hold Renaissance furnishings, Ital- ian paintings from the Lanckoroński Collection, and gold- woven Flemish tapestries from the holdings of King Sigismund II Augustus. Several rooms retain their ori- ginal 16th-century painted wooden ceilings and friezes. The Hen’s Foot Tower (Kurza Stopka) is a vestige of the old medieval castle, which was rebuilt in the style of the Italian Renaissance in 1504–1548. The Wawel’s collection of Meissen porcelain and art works from the so-called Saxon period (1697–1763; Wettin kings Augustus II and Augustus III) are on view on this floor. Between the two world wars, the Castle was an official presidential residence; the private suite holds the original stylish 1930s furniture and fixtures, including a sunken bathtub. Rooms appointed in the Neoclassical style of the late 18th century display portraits of prominent individuals from the reign of Poland’s last king, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, close the exhibition.

The Lost WawelThis unique exhibition mixes an archaeological-archi-tectural reserve, whose focal point is the remains of the late 10th/early 11th century Rotunda of Sts. Felix and Adauctus (aka Rotunda of the Blessed Virgin Mary), with displays of architectural elements from different periods, objects uncovered in archaeological excava- tions, and scale models of buildings. The Wawel’s collection of tiles from the Renaissance stoves that once heated the castle chambers is also on view. A multimedia presentation introduces the history of the Wawel Hill in the Middle Ages. A selection of the finest stonework from the lapidarium, a collection of stone sculptures and architectural details recovered over the past hundred years in the course of restoration work and archaeological excavations, bears witness to the historic transformations that took place on Wawel Hill. 19th-century plaster casts of the carved stone decoration from the Wawel Cathedral’s Sigismund Chapels provide a unique opportunity to see these splendid ornamental details close up.

Dragon’s DenThe Dragon’s Den is a cave that formed some 12 million years ago in the western slope of the hill. It is also home to Cracow’s best-known legendary denizen – the Wawel Dragon. The route follows 81 meters of the cave’s total 270 meters of corridors. Exit onto the Vistula Boulevards next to a statue of the dragon (Bronisław Chromy, 1972) that actually “breathes” fire.

Sandomierska TowerOne of the Wawel Castle’s three artillery towers, it was built in about 1460, during the reign of Casimir IV Jagiellon. The tower was adapted to accommodate firearms and artillery, but also housed guards’ lodgings. In peacetime, it functioned as a prison for people of high social standing. Indeed, confinement in the higher stories – that is “in the tower”– was regarded as honorable punishment and was reserved for the nobility. A climb to the top of the tower’s 137 steps is rewarded with sweeping views of Cracow and the surrounding countryside.

Wawel Architecture and Gardens guided outdoor walking tour in English or Polish

The tour meets in the Lost Wawel exhibition and, fol- lowing a brief introduction, continues to the Arcaded Courtyard and the royal gardens, which have been reconstructed to recall the gardens of King Sigismund I from about 1540. (The Wawel gardens are the only reconstructed Renaissance gardens in Poland.) From the lower terrace, the tour continues up narrow stone steps next to the base of the Hen’s Foot Tower, around the perimeter of the castle (with a stop to take in the splendid view of the old town) to the north elevation to reenter the Arcaded Courtyard via the so-called Tartar passage and continue to the Bathory Court- yard, tucked between the castle and the cath-edral. The final stop is the Sandomierska Tower (optional).

Crown Treasury and ArmouryOn view in the Gothic and Renaissance rooms that once housed the Polish coronation insignia and the jewels of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, are priceless objects from the original Crown Treasury, such as the coronation sword “Szczerbiec,” heirlooms of Polish monarchs that have survived wars and pillages, and splendid gold and silver objects created by Western European and Polish goldsmiths. Inventories kept from 1475, show that the Crown Treasury was constantly swelled by diplomatic gifts and royal bequests. It was not open to the public, but jewels were taken out on special occasions, such as coronations. The first public display of the royal insignia took place in 1792. Three years later, the Prussians broke into the Treasury and stole the valuables it contained; the crown jewels were destroyed in 1809. The Armoury presents a large collection of weapons, armour, parade saddles, and horse trappings dating from the Middle Ages to the 18th century.

Oriental ArtAlthough not directly related to the historical furnishings of the castle, this exhibition reflects the significance of Middle Eastern and Islamic art to the culture and collecting traditions of the Polish-Lithuanian Com- monwealth. The geopolitical situation of the enormous Polish-Lithuanian state, which bordered numerous territories that had been conquered by Islam, over the centuries presented untold opportunities for peaceful contact and trade, as well as military clashes. Armed conflicts escalated in the 17th century, culminating in King John III Sobieski’s decisive victory over the forces of the Ottoman Empire at Vienna on September 12, 1683. On view are splendid carpets, banners and wall hangings, Persian and Turkish arms; many objects are associated with John III Sobieski and the Battle of Vienna. Japanese and Chinese ceramics are also exhibited.

SEASONAL ATTRACTIONS April-OctoberPERMANENT EXHIBITIONS