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Krakow

Today, the covered market has two rows of stalls which mainly sell jewellery, souvenirs and handicraft. The first floor of the Cloth Hall currently holds the Gallery of the 19th Century Polish Art. It is a branch of the National Museum in Kraków. The famous Noworolski Café is located on the ground floor of the building. The exterior of the Cloth Hall features original, yet still functional, gas lighting. In 2010, the Underground of the Main Market Square was opened to visitors, which is a branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków. Visitors wander underground in the vicinity of the Cloth Hall using glass platforms and footbridges suspended over old roads and medieval walls of the building.

The underground museum features permanent and temporary exhibitions. Visiting the underground allows you to travel back in time and experience the atmosphere of a medieval market square. Various multimedia effects take you back to the Kraków's Market Square seven hundred years ago. Visitors to the exhibit are accompanied by the sound of the city's hustle and bustle or the sound of the city burning.

Collegium Maius is an imposing stone and brick building. Its façade at Jagiellońska street has Gothic gables and windows. A Gothic portal takes you to the inner courtyard in the middle of which stands a well. The courtyard is bordered with arcades which feature a diamond vault. You can reach the arcades on the first floor by means of two different flights of stairs – the first are known as the Professors’ Stairs. From the south, on the first floor, a decorative, late-Gothic entrance to the Library is visible – known as Porta Aurea.

The Planty Park has replaced the city’s medieval fortifications: defensive walls, a moat which preceded them and earth embankments. It was a swampy and neglected area where the residents of Kraków left their waste and directed their waste water. In 1820, a decision was made to establish a city garden. The Barbican was placed within the boundaries of the Planty Park. The next stage of the project involved planting of trees (mainly horse-chestnut, but also maple, lime, common ash, poplar and individual examples of exotic trees) and bushes, creating lawns and flower beds, as well as designating avenues and playing areas for children. The Planty Park has become a popular venue for strolling, meeting friends and holding various events, including those of national importance.

Kazimierz allows you to feel its magical charm and discover the unknown corners of the city. Among exclusive hotels and restaurants, you can still find artisan workshops, and small shops of shoemakers or engravers. Kazimierz pulsates with artistic life. Visitors always enjoy a stroll to Plac Nowy, along Miodowa and Józefa street, in order to take a peek at Szeroka street, where the Jewish Culture Festival has been held since the beginning of the 1990s, as part of which numerous concerts, lectures, exhibitions and workshops are held. What should you see when visiting Kazimierz?  Synagogues: Old Synagogue (15th century), Remuh (1553), High (1563?), Popper’s (1620), Kupa (1643), Izaac's (1644), and Tempel (1862). Churches: Corpus Christi Basilica, St. Catherine's Church, Holy Trinity Church with the hospital of the Brothers Hospitallers, and Pauline Father's Church on Skałka. Cemeteries: Remuh Cemetery (old Jewish cemetery), and the New Jewish cemetery.

Until the 19th century, Plac Nowy housed the so-called Libuszhof, a complex of streets and buildings. On the northern side of the square, along Kazimierz's defensive walls, there are houses which once formed a part of a Jewish hospital at Kupa synagogue. In the middle of the square stands a brick rotunda. It is a commercial facility built in 1900, which comprises two sections: an inside hall and a ring of stalls built on a plan of a dodecagon. These buildings are separated with a corridor without a roof that serves as an entry to local shops. Two symmetrical entrances lead to the building, one from the west and one from the east. After the war, the rotunda was again used as a market hall, although for many years most of the shops were used as storage rooms for traders selling their wares in the market. Today, it houses grocery and butcher shops as well as food outlets (including those serving zapiekanki – halved baguettes grilled with mushrooms and cheese). The roof of the rotunda is sometimes used to hold music concerts. On working days, Plac Nowy functions as a market where both vegetables and valuables artefacts can be purchased. Next to the square, there are many cosy cafés and restaurants. Plac Nowy is also where many interesting festivals and events take place. These include, for instance, events organised as part of the Jewish Culture Festival (concert on the roof of the rotunda), and the International Soup Festival.