Kraków: The Jewel of Małopolska

Educators and professionals in architecture often tell their students and protégés how important it is to travel.  I wholeheartedly agree.  It’s not enough to read about works of architecture and the cities in which they’re found, or to see them in pictures — you have to go there and experience them, at least if you care about this field.  I haven’t been to too many places off the North American continent, but I like seeing as much as I can of the US, and I’ve been to Poland twice.  In 2003 I made a trip which consisted of a 6-day walking pilgrimage from Kraków to Częstochowa’s Jasna Góra, with a second week on what I’ve come to call the “JP II Reality Tour,” visiting places of significance or related to the late Holy Father — Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Wadowice, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, the Tatry and Zakopane, and a number of churches and locations in and around Kraków.  It was a blessing-and-a-half, to say the least, and I’d love to do it again.

Earlier this month, I went to Poland for a second time with my nuclear unit for a family wedding.  Two thirds of the trip were spent in Kraków.  I took the opportunity to revisit a number of places that stuck with me from 2003.  Over the next few weeks, I plan to present just a few of this city’s churches and what we can learn from them.  In architectural education in the United States, we tend to focus primarily on Western Europe, with slight nods given to Moorish Spain, Persia, and Mughal India, to name a few.  In many ways this makes sense because there’s only so much of the history of design and building that one can learn, at least in school.  On the other hand — at least as far as sacred architecture is concerned — the Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque flourished beyond their regions of inception, and flourish they did in Central Europe.  Kraków, itself, has examples of each, all close enough to pack into a single day’s walk (at least in theory).  Moreover, it is not uncommon to see the passage of time in a single building in Kraków, wherein latter styles are incorporated into an existing former order, making the total building just as rich as if it were stylistically self-contained, as in the case of Nôtre-Dame de Paris or San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.

So, stay tuned!  I’m looking forward to getting images and commentary posted.  I plan to make a “series” out of these forthcoming posts (“Churches of Kraków,” or “Sacred Architecture in Kraków,” something like that), and I hope that they will constitute an occasion for us to both broaden our horizons and engage the subtleties and nuances of sacred architecture with greater care and attention than is commonly given.

North Tower, Waweł Cathedral

Gate to Waweł Hill

Main Gate, Waweł Cathedral

Arcade, Waweł Castle

South Façade, Waweł Cathedral

Pontifical Academy of Theology

Ukrainian Bookstore on Ulica Kanonicza

Towards St. Florian's Gate, Ul. Floriańska

Towards the Bazylika Mariacka on Floriańska

Kościół Świętego Krzyża (Church of the Holy Cross)

a stroll through the Planty

Ul. Dominikańska

Ul. Grodzka

Kościół Świętych Apostołów Piotra i Pawła (Church of Ss. Peter and Paul)

Kościół Sw. Andrzeja (Church of Saint Andrew)

Plac Dominikańska