Everything about Krak W totally explained
Already weakened during the 18th century, by mid-1790 the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had been twice
partitioned by its neighbors:
Russia, the
Habsburg empire, and
Prussia. In 1794,
Tadeusz Kościuszko initiated an unsuccessful
insurrection in
the town's Main Square that resulted in the
third partition of Poland. Kraków became part of the Austrian province of
Galicia. In 1809,
Napoleon Bonaparte captured former Polish territories from Austria and made the town part of the
Duchy of Warsaw, an independent, though subordinate, Polish state ruled by the
King of Saxony,
Frederick Augustus I. Following Napoleon's defeat in Russia, the
Congress of Vienna in 1815 mostly restored earlier structures, although it also created the partially independent
Free City of Kraków. As in 1794, the city again became the center of an insurrection, the
Kraków Uprising of 1846, which failed to spread outside the city and was put down. Again, it resulted in an annexation by
Austria, on
16 November 1846. The former Free City region became the
Grand Duchy of Cracow ().
In 1866, Austria granted a degree of autonomy to
Galicia after the
Austro-Prussian War. As this form of Austrian rule was more benevolent than that exercised either by the
Russian Empire in
Congress Poland or by
Prussia, Kraków became a Polish national symbol and a center of culture and art, sometimes known in Polish as
Polskie Ateny ("Polish Athens"), to which Poles would flock to revere the symbols and monuments of Poland's past. Several important celebrations took place in Galicia during the period from 1866 to 1914, including the 500th anniversary of the
Battle of Grunwald in 1910. Many leading Polish artists of that period resided in Kraków, among them the seminal painter
Jan Matejko, and the founder of modern Polish drama,
Stanisław Wyspiański.
Fin de siècle Kraków evolved into a modern metropolis;
running water and electric
streetcars were introduced in 1901, and between 1910 and 1915, Kraków and surrounding suburban communities were gradually combined into a single administrative unit called Greater Kraków (
Wielki Kraków).
At the outbreak of
World War I on
August 3 1914,
Józef Piłsudski formed a small
cadre military unit, the
First Cadre Company—the predecessor of the
Polish Legions—which set out from Kraków to fight for the liberation of Poland. The city was briefly besieged by Russian troops in November 1914, but they were pushed back afterwards. The Austrian rule in Kraków ended on
31 October 1918, when the
Polish Liquidation Committee assumed power.
1918 to the present
With the emergence of the
Second Polish Republic, Kraków restored its role as a major academic and cultural centre with the establishment of new universities such as the
AGH University of Science and Technology and the
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, including a number of new and essential vocational schools. It became an important cultural centre for
Polish Jews and had a
Zionist youth movement that was relatively strong among the city's Jewish population. However, after
invading Poland in September 1939, the
Nazi German forces turned the town into the capital of the
General Government, a colonial authority headed by
Hans Frank and seated in
Wawel Castle. In an operation called "
Sonderaktion Krakau", more than 180 university professors and academics were arrested and sent to
Sachsenhausen and
Dachau concentration camps, though the survivors were later released on the request of prominent Italians. The Jewish population was first
confined to a ghetto and later murdered or
sent to concentration camps, including
Płaszów and
Auschwitz in Oświęcim.
Kraków remained relatively undamaged at the end of
World War II. Allegedly Germans planned to destroy it with massive amounts of explosives, but according to the most popular of several versions of the story,
Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev, after being informed by the Polish patriots of the German plan, tried to preserve Kraków from destruction by ordering a lightning attack on the city. The credibility of these accounts has been recently questioned by Polish historian
Andrzej Chwalba, who in his recent works finds no evidence for any German plan of massive destruction and portrays Konev's strategy as ordinary, only accidentally resulting in reduced damage to Kraków, a fact that was later exaggerated into the myth of "Konev, savior of Kraków" by
Soviet propaganda.
After the war, under the
Stalinist regime the intellectual and academic community of Kraków was put under total political control. The universities were soon deprived of their printing rights as well as their autonomy. The
communist government of the
People's Republic of Poland ordered construction of the country's largest
steel mill in the newly-created suburb of
Nowa Huta. The creation of the giant Lenin Steelworks (now
Sendzimir Steelworks owned by
Mittal) sealed Kraków's transformation from a university city to an industrial centre. The new
working class, drawn by the industrialization of the city, contributed to its rapid population growth. Also, in an effort that spanned two decades,
Karol Wojtyła, cardinal archbishop of Kraków, successfully lobbied for permission to build the first churches in the new industrial suburbs. Another part of the city is located within the ecological 'corridor' of the Vistula River valley. This corridor is also assessed as being of international significance as part of the Pan-European ecological network. The city centre is situated on the left (northern) bank of the river.
Kraków has a
temperate climate. Average temperatures in summer range from to and in winter from to . The average annual temperature fluctuates between and . Kraków usually sees between 23 and 58 days per year with below-freezing temperatures. Predominantly western winds, conducive to rainfall, are typical of summer months, whereas eastern winds, decreasing the amount of precipitation, blow mostly in winter.
Districts
The oldest neighborhoods of Kraków were incorporated into the city before the late 18th century. They include the Old Town (
Stare Miasto), once contained within the
city defensive walls and now encircled by the
Planty park; the
Wawel District, which is the site of the Royal Castle and the cathedral; Stradom and
Kazimierz, the latter originally divided into Christian and Jewish quarters; as well as the ancient town of
Kleparz. Major districts added in the 19th and 20th centuries include
Podgórze, which until 1915 was a separate town on the southern bank of the Vistula, and
Nowa Huta, east of the city centre, built after
World War II.
Since
March 27,
1991, Kraków has been divided into 18 administrative districts, each with a degree of autonomy within its own municipal government (
Rada Dzielnicy). The current divisions were introduced by the Kraków City Hall on
April 19,
1995. Districts were assigned Roman numerals as well as the current name:
Stare Miasto (I),
Grzegórzki (II),
Prądnik Czerwony (III),
Prądnik Biały (IV),
Krowodrza (V),
Bronowice (VI),
Zwierzyniec (VII),
Dębniki (VIII),
Łagiewniki-Borek Fałęcki (IX),
Swoszowice (X),
Podgórze Duchackie (XI),
Bieżanów-Prokocim (XII),
Podgórze (XIII),
Czyżyny (XIV),
Mistrzejowice (XV),
Bieńczyce (XVI),
Wzgórza Krzesławickie (XVII), and
Nowa Huta (XVIII).
Among the most notable historic districts of the city are:
Wawel Hill, home to
Wawel Castle and
Wawel Cathedral, where many Polish kings are buried; the medieval Old Town, with its
Main Market Square (200
metres, or 656
feet, square); dozens of old churches and museums; the 14th-century buildings of the
Jagiellonian University; and
Kazimierz, the historical centre of Kraków's Jewish social and religious life.
The Old Town district of Kraków is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art. Its rich variety of historic architecture includes
Renaissance,
Baroque and
Gothic buildings. Kraków's palaces, churches and mansions display great variety of color, architectural details,
stained glass,
paintings,
sculptures, and furnishings.
In the Market Square stands the Gothic
St. Mary's Basilica (
Kościół Mariacki). It was built in the 14th century and features the famous wooden altar carved by
Veit Stoss. A trumpet call,
hejnał mariacki, is sounded from the church's main tower every hour. The melody played ends unexpectedly in midstream. According to legend, the tune was played during a 13th-century
Tatar invasion by a guard warning citizens against the attack. He was shot by a Tatar warrior while playing, the melody breaking off at the moment he died. This story, however, has its origin in a book by an Irish writer, published in the USA in the late 1920s .
Transport
Public transport is based around a fairly dense network of tramway and bus lines operated by a municipal company, supplemented by a number of private minibus operators. Local trains connect some of the suburbs.
The bulk of the city’s historic area has been turned into a pedestrian zone with rickshaws and horse buggies; however, the tramlines run within a three-block radius.
Rail connections are available to most Polish cities. Trains to
Warsaw depart every hour. International destinations include Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Hamburg, Lvov, Kiev, and Odessa (June–September). The
main railway station is located just outside the
Old Town District and is well-served by public transport.
Kraków airport, (
John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice, ) is west of the city. Direct trains cover the route between
Kraków Główny train station and the airport in 15 minutes. The annual capacity of the airport is estimated at 1.3 million passengers; however, in 2007 more than 3,042 million people used the airport, giving Kraków Airport 15 percent of all air passenger traffic in Poland. The passenger terminal is undergoing extension and is being adapted to meet the requirements of the
Schengen Treaty.
Economy
Kraków is one of Poland's most important economic centres. Its population has quadrupled since the end of
World War II. Following the collapse of communism, history and tradition intermingled with the general trend toward a market economy. The private sector is growing.
Offshoring of
information technology (IT) work in recent years has become important to the economy of Kraków and to that of Poland in general. There are about 20 large multinational companies in Kraków, including
Google,
IBM,
General Electric,
Capgemini,
Motorola, and
Sabre Holdings, along with other British and German-based firms.
The unemployment rate in Kraków was 4.8 percent in May 2007, well below the national average of 13 percent. Since the joining of the
European Union in 2004, there has been a sense of a defined future and a solid economic base for the city and the region. International investment, tourism and the property market have grown toward the Western European average. Residential prices in Kraków have doubled in three years, reaching those of Warsaw and attracting developers and banks with their exponential growth.
The
city budget, which is presented by the
Mayor of Kraków on the 15th of November each year, had a projected revenue of 2,150 billion
złoty in 2006. The primary sources of revenue were as follows: 14% from the municipal
taxation on
real estate properties and the use of
amenities, 30% in transfers from the national
budget, and 34% in state subsidies. Projected expenditures, totaling 2,349 billion złoty, included 21% in city development costs and 79% in city maintenance costs. Of the maintenance costs, as much as 39% were spent on education and childcare. City of Kraków development costs included 41% toward road building, transport, and communication (combined), and 25% for the city's infrastructure and environment.
Government
The
Kraków City Council has 43 elected members, one of whom is the
mayor, or
President of Kraków, elected every four years. The election of the City Council and of the local
head of government, which takes place at the same time, is based on
legislation introduced on
20 June 2002. The current President of Kraków, re-elected for his second term in 2006, is Prof.
Jacek Majchrowski.
The responsibilities of Kraków’s president include drafting and implementing resolutions, enacting city bylaws, managing the city budget, employing city administrators, and preparing against floods and natural disasters.
In the year 2000, the city government introduced a new long-term program called "Safer City" in cooperation with the Police, Traffic, Social Services, Fire, Public Safety, and the Youth Departments. Subsequently, the number of criminal offences went down by 3 percent between 2000 and 2001, and the rate of detection increased by 1.4 percent to a total of 30.2 percent in the same period. The city is receiving help in carrying out the program from all educational institutions and the local media, including TV, radio and the press. (
See also: List of mayors of Kraków, and the Members of Polish national Parliament (Sejm) elected from Kraków constituency.)
Demographics
| Demographic indicators |
Years |
Kraków |
| Population
in thousands |
1970
1978
1988
1995
2002 |
588,0
693,6
746,6
732,9
758,5 |
| Population density
persons/km² |
1970
1978
1988
1995
2002 |
2,556
2,156
2,285
2,243
2,320 |
| Number of women
per 100 men |
1970
1978
1988
1995
2002 |
110
110
110
112
113 |
| Population growth
per 1000 |
1998
1999
2000
2001 |
−1.3
−1.7
−1.5
−1.5 |
According to the 2006 data, The ravages of history have greatly reduced the percentage of ethnic minorities living in Kraków. The official and unofficial numbers differ, as in the case of
Romani people. According to the 2002 census, among those who have declared their national identity (irrespective of language and religion) in Kraków Voivodeship, 1,572 are
Slovaks, followed by
Ukrainians (472),
Jews (50) and
Armenians (22).
Romani people, officially numbered at 1,678, are estimated at over 5,000. According to statistics collected by the Ministry of Education, even though only 1% of adults (
as per above) claim their official status, as many as 3% of students participate in programmes designed for ethnic minorities.
Education
Kraków is a major center of education. Eleven university or academy-level institutions offer courses in the city, with 170,000 students and 10,000 faculty, plus about a dozen colleges.
Jagiellonian University, the oldest and best known university in Poland and ranked by the
Times Higher Education Supplement as the best university in the country, was founded in 1364 as the
Cracow Academy and renamed in 1817 to commemorate the
Jagiellonian dynasty of Polish-Lithuanian kings. Its principal academic asset is the
Jagiellonian Library, with more than 4 million volumes, including a large collection of medieval manuscripts like
Copernicus'
De Revolutionibus and the
Balthasar Behem Codex. With 42,325 students (2005) and 3,605 academic staff, the Jagiellonian University is also one of the leading research centres in Poland. Famous historical figures connected with the University include
Saint John Cantius,
Jan Długosz,
Nicolaus Copernicus,
Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski,
Jan Kochanowski,
King John III Sobieski,
Pope John Paul II and Nobel laureates
Ivo Andric and
Wisława Szymborska.
AGH University of Science and Technology, established in 1919, is the second-largest technical university in Poland, with more than 15 faculties and student enrollment exceeding 30,000. It was ranked by the Polish edition of
Newsweek as the best technical university in the country for the year 2004. During its 80-year history, more than 73,000 students graduated from AGH with master's or bachelor's degrees. Some 3,600 persons were granted the degree of Doctor of Science, and about 900 obtained the qualification of
Habilitated Doctor.
Other institutions of higher learning include
Cracow University of Economics, established in 1925;
Academy of Music in Kraków, first conceived as a
conservatory in 1888;
Pedagogical University, in operation since 1946;
Agricultural University of Cracow, offering courses since 1890 (initially as a part of
Jagiellonian University);
Academy of Fine Arts, the oldest Fine Arts Academy in Poland, founded by the Polish painter
Jan Matejko;
Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts;
The Pontifical Academy of Theology; and
Cracow University of Technology, which has more than 37,000 graduates.
Culture
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Kraków is considered by many to be the
cultural capital of
Poland. It was named the
European Capital of Culture for the year 2000 by the
European Union. Kraków has 28 museums and public art galleries. Among them are the main branch of Poland's
National Museum and the
Czartoryski Museum, the latter featuring works by
Leonardo and
Rembrandt. The city has several famous theaters, including: National Stary Theatre, a.k.a. The Old Theatre,
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, Bagatela Theatre, The Ludowy Theatre, and Groteska Theatre of Puppetry, as well as Kraków Opera and Kraków Operetta.
Kraków hosts many annual and biannual artistic events, some of international significance, such as the Misteria Paschalia (baroque music), Sacrum-Profanum (contemporary music), Cracow Screen Festival (popular music), Festival of Polish Music (classical music), Dedications (theatre), Festival of Short Feature Films, Biennial of Graphic Arts, and the
Jewish Culture Festival. It became the residence of two Polish
Nobel laureates in literature:
Wisława Szymborska and
Czesław Miłosz; a third Nobel laureate, the Yugoslav writer
Ivo Andric also lived and studied in Krakow. Other former residents include famous Polish film directors
Andrzej Wajda and
Roman Polanski.
Points of interest outside the city include the
Wieliczka salt mine, the
Tatra Mountains to the south, the historic city of
Częstochowa, the former Nazi concentration camp at
Auschwitz, and
Ojcowski National Park, which includes
Pieskowa Skała Castle.
Parks
Planty is the best-known park in Kraków. It was established between 1822 and 1830 in place of the old city walls, forming a green belt around the
Old Town. It consists of a chain of smaller gardens designed in various styles and adorned with monuments. The park has an area of 21 hectares (52 acres) and a length of 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), forming a scenic walkway popular with Cracovians.
The first public park equipped with exercise fixtures was founded by Dr
Henryk Jordan on the banks of the
Rudawa river in 1889. The
Jordan Park, equipped with running and exercise tracks, playgrounds, swimming pool,
amphitheatre, pavilions, and a pond for
boat rowing and water bicycles, is on the grounds of Kraków’s Błonia. The less prominent
Park Krakowski was founded in 1885 by
Stanisław Rehman but has since been greatly reduced in size because of rapid real estate development. It was a popular destination point with many Cracovians at the end of the 19th century.
Sports
Football (soccer) is one of the most popular games locally, as it's in Poland as a whole. The teams with considerable following are
Cracovia Kraków and
Wisła Kraków. Other football clubs include
Hutnik Kraków, Wawel Kraków,
Garbarnia Kraków and Juvenia Kraków (soccer and rugby team). Kraków has a number of additional, equally valued sports teams including six-time Polish
ice hockey champions Cracovia Kraków and the women's basketball team Wisła Kraków.
The
Cracovia Marathon, with over a thousand participants from two dozen countries annually, has been held in the city since 2002.
Symbols and twin cities
The city's official symbols are the coat of arms, the flag (
see top of this page), the seal, and the banner (
right). In addition to these, a number of semi-official and unofficial symbols, such as the "Cracovia" logo used in Kraków's promotional materials, or an image of the Wawel dragon wearing a Kraków cap, are also used.
Kraków is
twinned, or maintains close relations with, more than 30 cities around the world:
Bordeaux,
Bratislava,
Curitiba,
Cuzco,
Edinburgh,
Fes,
Florence,
Frankfurt,
Gothenburg,
Grozny,
Innsbruck,
Kiev,
Lahore,
La Serena,
Leipzig,
Leuven,
Lviv,
Milan,
Niš,
Nuremberg,
Orléans,
Pécs,
Rochester (NY),
Seville,
Solothurn,
Vilnius and
Zagreb.
Further Information
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