34 Best Sights in Krakow, Poland

A statue of Adam Mickiewicz marks the eastern entrance to the Renaissance Cloth Hall, which is in the middle of the Main Market Square. The Gothic arches date from the 14th century, but after a fire in 1555 the upper part was rebuilt in Renaissance style. The inner arcades on the ground floor still hold traders' booths, now mainly selling local crafts and traditional souvenirs. From the Age of Enlightenment to Impressionism and the beginnings of Symbolism, this gallery on the first floor of the Sukiennice showcases all the most important movements and styles in Polish art between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. Those interested in history will find it amply illustrated: in the portraits of the Polish kings, or the monumental canvasses by Jan Matejko ("Prussian Homage") and Henryk Siemiradzki ("Nero's Torches"). There is no lack of atmospheric nature scenes, portraits, and allegories; note the controversial (at the time) "Ecstasy" by Władysław Podkowiński. Perhaps the single most interesting painter featured in the collection is Piotr Michałowski, author of the Romantic "Somosierra." Apparently Picasso himself had the highest praise for Michałowski's work.

The beautiful Brama Floriańska (Florian Gate) was built around 1300 and leads through Kraków's old city walls to this street, which was laid out according to the town plan of 1257. The Gothic houses of the 13th-century burghers still remain, although they were rebuilt and given Renaissance or neoclassical facades. The house at No. 24, decorated with an emblem of three bells, was once the workshop of a bell founder. The chains hanging on the walls of the house at No. 17 barred the streets to invaders when the city was under siege. The Dom pod Murzynami (Negroes' House), standing where ulica Floriańska enters the market square, is a 16th-century tenement decorated with two rather fancifully imagined African tribesmen—testimony to the fascination with Africa entertained by Europeans in the Age of Discovery. The house was also once known as Dom pod Etiopy (House under the Ethiopians).

This street, which leads from almost the center of town to the foot of Wawel Hill, is considered by some the most beautiful street in Europe. Most of the houses here date from the 14th and 15th centuries, although they were "modernized" in Renaissance or later styles. The street was named for the many canons of Wawel Cathedral who have lived here, including Pope John Paul II, who lived in the Chapter House at No. 19 and later in the late-16th-century Dean's House at No. 21.

At the southwest corner of Rynek Square, the Wieża Ratuszowa is all that remains of the 16th-century town hall, which was demolished in the early 19th century. The tower houses a branch of the Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa (Kraków History Museum) and affords a panoramic view of the old city.