This morning I headed into the centre of Krakow.I had learnt that the city holds a special place in patriotic Polish history,being for a long while the capital from the 14th to 16th centuries, and thereafter the cathedral remained the mausoleum of Polish Kings.The Royal Palace had been in Wawel castle ,a huge structure on a small hill at the south end of the old city.This is a small town in itself,with the cathedral within the precinct,and although ravaged over the years it has been restored through the early 20th century.I visited Wawel castle first and went around the state rooms,which had much Italian Renaissance and Dutch Old master art on the walls ,and 16th century friezes by,among others ,Hans Durer,brother of the more famous Albrecht Durer.Some of these pictures linked nicely with the Italian Renaissance sights I have seen earlier.For example,there was a large picture of the entry procession of Queen Marie-Louise Gonzaga(of the Mantuan ruling family) into Gdansk.
 The Royal Palace end of the huge Wawel Castle |  Within the castle precinct-the cathedral |
Leonardo Da Vinci's "Woman with an Ermine" In a special little museum of its own was the Palace's treasure,the Woman with an Ermine,by Leonardo Da Vinci.Apparently this toured to London in 2011,but its history echoes that of the Polish state.It was evacuated to France in 1830 when the Tzarist Russians took over Poland in that period,and then returned but confiscated by the Germans in WW2,although it did still hang in the castle which was the residence of the German Governor,but later removed to Germany,from where it was recovered in 1945.
Krakow ,unlike the majority of Polish cities,escaped destruction in WW2 and its history is intact.It is a major tourist destination now,and there were tour groups everywhere, on horsedrawn carriage tours,golf buggy tours,Segway tours,and big groups walking.The old city has a very impressive huge central square,Rynek Glowny.In the middle of this is the massive Renaissance era Sukiennice (or Cloth hall).The Town Hall tower is a freestanding structure in the square,the original town hall having disappeared at some point. From the Tower of St Mary’s church a bugler plays a special five note Polish anthem(the Krakow anthem) every hour ,repeated in each of the four directions.This is played on Polish radio at noon.
 The town hall tower in Rynek Glowny |  The Cloth Hall in Rynek Glowny |
 Like a wedding gone viral, carriages await tourists in the square |  A vendor of "obwarzanek krakowski" a local type of bagel.They come with different coatings of seeds,e.g. . caraway, sesame, or fennel.The vendors are on virtually every street corner. |
A synagogue in the old Jewish quarter,Kasimierz Just south of Wawel castle, but the same side of the river Vistula,is the old Jewish quarter of Kasimierz.The population of course were virtually annihilated in WW2 although it has been preserved and there is a small returned Jewish community.Here the streets and squares are smaller and quieter.There are several synagogues,and a number of Jewish restaurants and hotels are running.Otherwise it is full of trendy eateries.
The Jewish population were initially transferred by the Germans to a ghetto the other side of the Vistula.Here Oskar Schindler’s Enamel and metalware factory ,which was depicted in the film "Schindler’s List" ,still exists: it is now a museum of the German occupation of Krakow.Eventually the Jews were moved to a nearby concentration camp at Plaszow 10km away (not Auschwitz) and murdered or worked to death. This was where The brutal commandant Amon Goeth, played by Ralph Fiennes in the film, was in charge.The visit to the museum was of course quite harrowing but dealt as much with the hardship of the Polish people as with that of the Jews:For example between the Germans and the Russians 90% of all university educated Poles were executed or imprisoned in WW2,with the supposed plan of making the country more pliable.
One interesting thing that I have noticed is that all the Polish websites I have looked at have just Polish and English language options. In Hungary,Slovakia and the Czech republic they all seem to include a German option, and a few have a Polish version. Locally,even the website of Krakow airport ,which is obviously an international hub, has no German version .I do wonder whether this is a legacy of the war:of course Hungary and Czechoslovakia had a much more ambivalent relationship with Germany in WW2,whereas Poland was firmly on the receiving end from both Germany and Russia.
Also in the museum was a smaller exhibition, describing the arrival of the Soviets and entitled “Liberation or Subjugation ?”.Its stated purpose was to rewrite the “myth” which had been indoctrinated in Poles since 1945,that the Russians had specially manoeuvred to avoid fighting and damage to Krakow, owing to its historic importance to Poles. The museum stated that this was a propaganda lie, and the city was saved purely by random chance as the fighting moved past it.
The Jewish population were initially transferred by the Germans to a ghetto the other side of the Vistula.Here Oskar Schindler’s Enamel and metalware factory ,which was depicted in the film "Schindler’s List" ,still exists: it is now a museum of the German occupation of Krakow.Eventually the Jews were moved to a nearby concentration camp at Plaszow 10km away (not Auschwitz) and murdered or worked to death. This was where The brutal commandant Amon Goeth, played by Ralph Fiennes in the film, was in charge.The visit to the museum was of course quite harrowing but dealt as much with the hardship of the Polish people as with that of the Jews:For example between the Germans and the Russians 90% of all university educated Poles were executed or imprisoned in WW2,with the supposed plan of making the country more pliable.
One interesting thing that I have noticed is that all the Polish websites I have looked at have just Polish and English language options. In Hungary,Slovakia and the Czech republic they all seem to include a German option, and a few have a Polish version. Locally,even the website of Krakow airport ,which is obviously an international hub, has no German version .I do wonder whether this is a legacy of the war:of course Hungary and Czechoslovakia had a much more ambivalent relationship with Germany in WW2,whereas Poland was firmly on the receiving end from both Germany and Russia.
Also in the museum was a smaller exhibition, describing the arrival of the Soviets and entitled “Liberation or Subjugation ?”.Its stated purpose was to rewrite the “myth” which had been indoctrinated in Poles since 1945,that the Russians had specially manoeuvred to avoid fighting and damage to Krakow, owing to its historic importance to Poles. The museum stated that this was a propaganda lie, and the city was saved purely by random chance as the fighting moved past it.
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