Cracow [antikvár]

Discover CracowYou are now in the most unusual place in the world, where history, legend and reality are entwined, creating a unique whole It is said that 'if you haven't seen Cracow, you haven't really been to Poland', and it seems a true statement. This former capital of Polish kings, proud of its title of 'royal capital city', for many centuries was the treasure house of the nation's history, its treasures among some of the finest, both nationally and internationally. Like Vienna, Prague, Nuremberg and Budapest, it is one of the pearls of Central Europe. This is visible in its multitude of outstanding heritage buildings, historic architecture and works of art, representing all the periods of European civilization from the simple Romanesque to monumental Gothic, from the fantastic Renaissance to modernism, perhaps not as impressive as in Vienna or Brussels, but interesting as it matches the size of the city. Eight thousand historic buildings and objects accumulated in this relatively small area, form the most compact natural collectionWawel Cathedral, a lasting symbol of the nation s historyof historical architecture and art in the world. UNESCO experts have recognized Cracow as part of the world cultural heritage and in 1978 it was placed on the UNESCO list as one of the two first cities to achieve this high honour. In 1986 it was awarded the Golden Apple award, an 'Oscar in tourism', by the World Forum of Tourism Journalists. Cracow is often called 'the Polish Rome', 'the Florence of the North', 'the little Vienna', 'the little Paris' or even 'the Polish Jerusalem'. These are noble names, but what attracts visitors and remains for long in their memory is the city's special genius loci and its atmosphere. Now it has become bigger and even has some metropolitan ambitions, but nevertheless it is still somewhat homely and provincial, as if time had stopped still. Because of this, a stranger my feel at home here and to become a sort of temporary Cracovian.Cracow is very pictursequely set on the Vistula River, which winds between the white Jurassic rocks of the Malopolska Upland and the hills of the Carpathian Plateau,