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Section: Travel

Sample the Best of Krakow
By Sophie Knab

Portion of Main Square with Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) to the right and 18th century merchant houses to the left. Photo by Edward Knab.

More than a thousand years old, the city of Krakow, Poland, has been likened to a multi-layered cake. Each layer quite rich but together — a veritable feast. What’s your favorite? History? Epicurean delights? For my husband and I, the necessary ingredients for any travel experience are music, art and architecture.

Designated by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as one of the dozen most remarkable old architectural complexes in the world, Krakow began its history as the capital of Poland until supplanted by Warsaw in the late 1700s. During Krakow’s reign as the country’s capital, the kings of Poland built a massive castle on the Wisla River (Wawel Hill), surrounded the city with a massive fortification wall to protect itself against foreign invaders, and began building an empire based on agriculture and trade.

Vavel Castle, Krakow. Photo by Edward Knab.

Located in the heart of Europe, Poland was at the crossroads of travel between the east and west. Through the city’s old main gate, carefully reconstructed and preserved to this day and called Brama Florianska, flowed the best of Europe and Asia: Turkish rugs and coffee, precious herbs and spices, gemstones from the Baltic, and merchants with cloth of gold and silk. All made their way to what is still the largest and most magnificent town square in Europe and the massive Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) where merchants traded their wares. Today, you can continue the tradition and shop for handmade cloth goods, folk art and amber jewelry. The Polish monarchs spared no expense to hire the best architects of the time to build the city. Painters and artists spent their lives adorning the dozens of churches that were testimony to Poland’s acceptance of Christianity in 966 A.D. Wit Stwosz carved the magnificent 15th century altar in the Church of the Virgin Mary (Kosciol Mariacki) — one of the largest and most beautiful Gothic Altars in Europe. The establishment of Jagellonian University in 1364 brought scholars from all parts of the known world to exchange thoughts and ideas. At the Czartoryski Museum there are paintings by Brueghel, Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with the Ermine and Rembrandt’s Landscape with the Good Samaritan.

Our single best experience in Krakow, however, was an evening of Bach held at the very tiny St. Giles Church at the foot of Grodzka Street. Art, architecture and music were offered as we sat in ancient wooden pews while a string quintet played (among others) Bach’s “Jesus, Joy of Man’s Desiring” from Cantata 147.

Street scene from the Old Town, Krakow. Photo by Edward Knab.

Maybe it was the fact that Bach wrote hundreds of pieces of church music. Maybe it was because the string instruments evoked a deep sense of meditation. Whatever it was, the music swelled into the space of this 14th century Gothic church and held us completely in thrall.

After that, everything else we experienced in Krakow was icing on the cake. Late suppers in vaulted cellars. Cobbled streets that begged exploration. Mid-afternoon tea at a street cafe. A ride on a street car. And a long list of things to do and see when we visit this fabulous city again.


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