Welcome to my fairy tale about Krakow.

I’m Krakusek the Dragon, the great...great...great grandson

of the Wawel’s Dragon.I’ll show you my city,

but pay attention! Do the quiz and get some tasty

awards!

Authors: Filip Fryczek, Artur Lech, class 4A

Rys. M.M

Monuments

Photo: Kamila Kaczorowska class 4A

This is the place where the famous sheep eater lived. As you know, he was killed by a cracovian shoemaker, named Dratewka.

Now you can see only the figure of the fire-spitting monster standing near his

cave. The figure was made by Bronisław Chromy.

The Dragon’s Liar – a place where my great...great

grandfather lived.

The Wawel’s Hill

The Hill was originally surrounded by numerous inflows of the Vistula River.The first colonies were settled around the Wawel Castle.

The King, his family and his courtiers lived here more then 500 year ago.

The name of the Castle derives form an old polish word wąwel, meaning „a hill among the marshy ground”.

The Cathedral

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The Cathedral was built by King Wladyslaw the Short. The top of the tallest tower is decorated with four statues of the patron saints of the Kingdom of Poland (Waclaw, Adalbert, Stanislaw and Casimir). The basilica is exceptional not only for the unique works of art held there, but also because it bore witness to many historical events such as coronations, royal weddings and funerals. The Cathedral is also a house for tombs and sarcophagus of Polish kings, distinguished Poles and national heroes.

The lower tower is called Sigmund Tower, after the King Sigmund I. There is the Sigmund Bell in the tower made in 1520, the largest in Poland. It weights 11 tones and it’s heart - 300 kilos. We can hear its clear and strong sound only on special occasions. You need 12 people (11 men and 1 woman) to move the bell, and it is a great honor to be a bell-ringer.

The Royal Castle

From the Medieval times the castle was a royal residence, a place of kings’ births, royal weddings, knights’ competitions. It was a place of successes and victories of Poland. Wawel was and still is the heart of Poland.

The Castle was touched by many fires and plunders, so it was rebuilt a few times. This is why it has so many architectural styles. The worst time for the Castle was during the World War I and II. It was then restored returning to its Renaissance and baroque style. Now Wawel consists of 71 rooms and there are 8 museum expositions.On the ground floor there is the Crown Treasury and Armoury. There you can find the coronation sword of the Polish kings, the royal insignia, jewels, royal service, knights’ armour and contemporary weapon.There is nothing more precious than the masterpiece tapestries made of silk, gold and silver fibers. The collection contains 360 tapestries.

 

The Castle was built in 14th century by King Casimir the Great.

Market Square

Market Square is the heart of Cracow. It used to be atrade center of the city. Here we can find Cloth Hall,Town Hall Tower, the Statue of Adam Mickiewicz –polish most famous poet, and the most impressive

ofpolish churches – the Church of St. Mary.

Cloth Hall was originally a covered market, where you

could buy absolutely everything: art, food, animals,herbs. Today you can find here stalls with souvenirsfrom Cracow and other characteristic places in

Poland(e.g. traditional folk clothes from Zakopane – polishmountain resort, or amber – a precious stone fromthe Baltic Sea).

Photo:Jarosław Ćwierz

Photo:Nadia Tabaszewska

St. Mary’s Church is a gothic basilica with two unequal towers, the higher is 82 meters high, the lower measures 69 meters.

From the higher tower every hour a bugle call is played. The trumpet melody is played from each of the four windows of the tower – to four sides of the world.

There are four entrances to the Church. Inside the church there are many outstanding works of art, like altars, tombs of rich families and other sacral art. But the most precious is the high altar made by Veit Stoss, one of the greatest wood-carvers of the late Gothic Age. Did you know that he was working on the altar

for 12 years!?

St. Mary’s Church

Photo: Natalia Lebiest

Veit Stoss’ Altar Photo: Natalka Lebiest

Barbican

It’s a round bastion, the bestpreserved in Europe. It’s functionwas to protect the city walls fromthe enemies.The Barbican was originallysurrounded by a moat to make itharder to enter the city; and it waslinked by a corridor with St.Florian’sGate. It has 7 little towers and 130loop-holes.

Nowadays the Barbican is a part ofCracow’s Historic Museum.

Photo: Martyna Marcinkowska

Source: http://alekrakow.pl/Photos: Jarosław Ćwierz

The Wawel Castle

The Slowacki’s Theatre

The Cloth Hall

Barbican