The Legends of Krakow

October 23, 2014

It all begins with the city’s founding story.

According to Polish mythology, there was a dragon named Smok Wawelski who lived under the craggy limestone chambers of Wawel hill. As was his want, Smok Wawelski ate everything and anything in his path, from local maidens to the heroic knights who tried to save them. Desperate to vanquish the beast, the king promised his daughter’s hand in marriage to whoever could slay the dragon. Up stepped an enterprising cobbler’s apprentice named Krak who tricked Smok into eating a sheep stuffed with sulphur. Having devoured the sheep, the dragon lunged towards the Vistula, burning with thirst. Once he had drunk the water down to the riverbed, his distended belly exploded and the village was freed of his wrath. Heralded as their savior, Krak married the princess, became the king, and a castle was built in his honor over the dragon’s former lair.

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Photography by Jakub Śliwa.

Years later in the 15th century, Krak’s beautiful daughter Wanda, inherited her father’s kingdom and became Queen of Poland. She was a beautiful and brave leader, devoted to her beloved country. When a German prince sent her a letter demanding her hand in marriage, and threatening war with Poland if she refused, she prayed to the Gods that they would grant Poland freedom if she sacrificed her life. With her prayers granted, Wanda threw herself into the icy mountain water of the Vistula and made herself a martyr to Krakow, the city she loved.

Today, as you walk around the ancient cobbled streets, the city’s legends seem as alive as ever. If there is one sound that epitomizes the Old Town of Krakow, it is the legendary hejnal mariacki – the bugle fanfare – played from the tower of St Mary’s Basilica on the hour, every hour. One of the city’s most enduring traditions, the fanfare breaks off mid-melody in honor of the martyred trumpeter who, legend tells us, was shot in the neck as he tried to warn the city of an approaching Mongol invasion.

Across the city in the Old Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz the legend of King Henryk Probus’ army is played out twice a week. As the story goes, the king’s noble knights were transformed into a flock of pigeons by an evil sorceress in the 13th century, and have remained trapped that way ever since. Today, breeders and buyers of the revered birds flock to Plac Nowy square every Tuesday and Friday for a raucous pigeon and rabbit expo in their honor.

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