Reflections on Krakow
Poland: August 14 - August 16, 2006
We arrive in Krakow late and don't spend much time in the city that first day. The next morning, we visit Wawel Castle Compound which has several buildings, the royal apartments, and a cathedral. We spend a good part of the day there. One thing that sticks out in my mind was the ceiling we saw in the throne room of the royal apartments. It was like a checkerboard with squares bordered by wood paneling, and in every square there were all these different carved faces sticking out with all these different expressions. There were people of all ages and all walks of life, peasants to nobility, some afraid, some angry, some with no expression. But there was one face in particular of a peasant woman with a scared expression on her face and a cloth covering her mouth. We were told how this face became the symbol of one of the revolts, of how the people were silenced and oppressed. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. In the cathedral, we saw monuments and sarcophagi of important figures in Polish history, such as the famous and revered king Jan Sobieski.
Later that day, we go to the Old Town Square and hear the daily trumpet blast, commemorating the soldier who sounded the signal of an attack in that very spot and was shot in the neck while playing. The contemporary player even stops playing in mid-note, as the original player would have. The Old Town is quite cool, and everything is original as Krakow is one of the few cities that was not destroyed during WWII. Its geographic position made it too hard to reach by foot or by plane, and thus it was spared.
Next, we saw remnants of the original fortress wall of Krakow and the ditch where the moat used to be.
We buy a lot of souveneirs as Krakow is very cheap and there is a wonderful central market selling every possible Polish souveneir one can imagine.
On our last day in Krakow, we visit the National Gallery, whose only interesting facet, in my opinion, was the sheer size of the paintings. Some of them were as tall and as wide as entire walls. I'm very bad at judging measurements, but I would guess some of them were 15-20 feet high and maybe 20-30 feet across. We had seen paintings that big in other places, but not quite so many so close together, and as the gallery is not very large, the size of the paintings was that much more impressive.
We also visited the oldest building of the Jageillonian (I hope I spelled that right) University, where we toured the former apartments of famous professors, but the most interesting thing we saw was the very elaborate glockenspiel in the building's courtyard.
The last seminar event that day was a lecture by Professor Andre Brycke, who was so intelligent and well-spoken that I could not really tell you anything that he talked about.
The highlight of my day, however, was seeing cotton candy made for the first time in the Old Town Square. And not just any cotton candy, WHITE cotton candy. Not some artificial fluorescent color like neon blue or neon pink, but white. Fascinating.
We arrive in Krakow late and don't spend much time in the city that first day. The next morning, we visit Wawel Castle Compound which has several buildings, the royal apartments, and a cathedral. We spend a good part of the day there. One thing that sticks out in my mind was the ceiling we saw in the throne room of the royal apartments. It was like a checkerboard with squares bordered by wood paneling, and in every square there were all these different carved faces sticking out with all these different expressions. There were people of all ages and all walks of life, peasants to nobility, some afraid, some angry, some with no expression. But there was one face in particular of a peasant woman with a scared expression on her face and a cloth covering her mouth. We were told how this face became the symbol of one of the revolts, of how the people were silenced and oppressed. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. In the cathedral, we saw monuments and sarcophagi of important figures in Polish history, such as the famous and revered king Jan Sobieski.
Later that day, we go to the Old Town Square and hear the daily trumpet blast, commemorating the soldier who sounded the signal of an attack in that very spot and was shot in the neck while playing. The contemporary player even stops playing in mid-note, as the original player would have. The Old Town is quite cool, and everything is original as Krakow is one of the few cities that was not destroyed during WWII. Its geographic position made it too hard to reach by foot or by plane, and thus it was spared.
Next, we saw remnants of the original fortress wall of Krakow and the ditch where the moat used to be.
We buy a lot of souveneirs as Krakow is very cheap and there is a wonderful central market selling every possible Polish souveneir one can imagine.
On our last day in Krakow, we visit the National Gallery, whose only interesting facet, in my opinion, was the sheer size of the paintings. Some of them were as tall and as wide as entire walls. I'm very bad at judging measurements, but I would guess some of them were 15-20 feet high and maybe 20-30 feet across. We had seen paintings that big in other places, but not quite so many so close together, and as the gallery is not very large, the size of the paintings was that much more impressive.
We also visited the oldest building of the Jageillonian (I hope I spelled that right) University, where we toured the former apartments of famous professors, but the most interesting thing we saw was the very elaborate glockenspiel in the building's courtyard.
The last seminar event that day was a lecture by Professor Andre Brycke, who was so intelligent and well-spoken that I could not really tell you anything that he talked about.
The highlight of my day, however, was seeing cotton candy made for the first time in the Old Town Square. And not just any cotton candy, WHITE cotton candy. Not some artificial fluorescent color like neon blue or neon pink, but white. Fascinating.
posted by Megan Humphreys @ 12/03/2006 06:38:00 AM
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