Kraków

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Kraków (pronounced: ['krakuf]; in full Royal Capital City of Krakow, Polish: [Królewskie Stołeczne Miasto Kraków] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) is one of the oldest and largest cities in Poland. In 2014, 759,800 people lived in Kraków. It is on the Vistula river. Krakow is the capital of Lesser Poland Voivodeship (województwo małopolskie); before that it was the capital of Kraków Voivodship (since 14th century).

During the mid-early 19th century, Krakow became an independent city-state, under the name of "The Free, Independent and Strictly Neutral City of Krakow". However, it was annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1846.

Pope John Paul II was raised in Krakow and was its archbishop from 1964 until he was elected as Pope in 1978. When it was later announced that the city will host World Youth Day in 2016, it will be a tribute to the late Pope who became a saint in 2014.

From 2002 to 2014, the mayor of the city was Jacek Majchrowski. His successor was Aleksander Miszalski.

During World War II, there was once a ghetto in the city which held mostly the Jews of Kraków. The ghetto was liquidated for the final time in March 1943, with most of its inhabitants sent to the Treblinka extermination camp.

Sister cities

Kraków is twinned, or maintains close relations with:

Bordeaux, France Bratislava, Slovakia Budapest, Hungary Cambridge, Mass., USA Curitiba, Brazil Cusco, Peru Edinburgh, Scotland, UK Fes, Morocco Florence, Italy Frankfurt, Germany Göteborg, Sweden

Grozny, Russia Innsbruck, Austria Kyiv, Ukraine Lahore, Pakistan La Serena, Chile Leipzig, Germany Leuven, Belgium Lviv, Ukraine Milan, Italy Nuremberg, Germany Orléans, France

Pécs, Hungary Rochester, NY, USA Quito, Ecuador St Petersburg, Russia San Francisco, CA, USA Seville, Spain Solothurn, Switzerland Tbilisi, Georgia Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria Vilnius, Lithuania Zagreb, Croatia

Kraków Media

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  The Romanesque St. Leonard's Crypt dates back to the 11th century, when Casimir I the Restorer made Kraków his royal residence and the capital of the Kingdom of Poland.

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  Woodcut of Kraków from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493

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  Tadeusz Kościuszko taking the oath of loyalty to the Polish nation in Kraków's market square (Rynek), 1794

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  Act of granting the constitution to the Free City of Cracow. After the Partitions of Poland, Kraków became a city-state and remained the only piece of sovereign Polish territory between 1815 and 1846.

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  Flower vendors in Rynek—the first autochrome in Poland, dated 1912

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  Kraków's territorial growth from the late 18th to the 20th century

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  Tyniec Abbey with the Bielany Camaldolese Hermit Monastery in the distance

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  Convent of Norbertine Sisters in Kraków-Zwierzyniec and the Vistula River during the summer season

Related pages

• Trams in Kraków

Other websites

• Official website of the city