Krakow

Krakow, one of the largest cities in Poland, is situated in the southern part of the country on the banks of the Vistula River. It is the capital of the Lesser Poland province. According to the legend, the name of the city comes from the name of Prince Krak, but the word is actually connected to a bird, a sleeping crow, caw-caw.
The city has been divided into 18 districts since 1991 and offers a rich combination of geographical features and landscapes with, for example, the Beskid hills to the West, the Jurassic Rock Upland and nature reserves of great ecological value.

Krakow is an ancient city with a long and rich history. It was at one time the capital of Poland. It has impressive architectural monuments such as the Wawel Castle, Czartoryski museum and Church of the Virgin Mary. But it also boasts many cultural institutes and organisations.

Wawel Castle is the most important monument in the city, as the resting place of the Kings and noblemen of Poland, and more recently of President Lech Kaczyński and his wife (who tragically died in Smolensk in Russia on 10th March 2010).

Many legends are linked to Krakow, one of the most famous being that of the dragon that lived in Wawel Castle. Everyone, including Prince Krak, was scared of the creature because the animal kidnapped and kept young girls prisoners. The city lived in terror. The Prince also had a young daughter and to protect her life he promised her hand to the brave man who would kill the dragon. A great many young men perished in its clutches. One day came a shoemaker called Skuba. He was very cunning and came up with a good plan to kill the beast.
He put a large quantity of sulphur inside a sheep’s skin and gave it to the dragon. When the beast ate the sheep, it felt a terrible fire inside and rushed to the river where it drank lots of water. Its stomach stretched and stretched and stretched … and finally exploded. The shoemaker married the princess.

Nowadays Krakow is a well-known city in Europe, and is Poland’s main tourist attraction.  Many artistic and cultural festivals are held in Krakow. The city will celebrate its fiftieth film festival in 2010, a festival dedicated to documentaries and other short film genres, with a special tribute to Lithuanian born filmmaker Jonas Mekas.
Many famous events are celebrated each year in Krakow, so many indeed that it is difficult to attend them all.  “Krakow Theatre Night” takes place in June,  with performances both indoors and outdoors on the city squares and in the parks. It is worth visiting the capital of Lesser Poland at different times of the year.

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