Further history of Wawel
Zygmunt III came, of the Sheaf coat of arms, definitely ended the splendor of Wawel. This king, having inherited one of the richest and most powerful from his mother, and certainly the largest country in Europe at that time, apparently he couldn't cope with the responsibility that rested on his shoulders. At first, he even tried to hand over the crown to the Habsburgs, for some parochial little book, but it only caused a scandal. Along with the 'floating' of the capital to Warsaw, the court moved out of Krakow, royal offices, diplomats and thousands of people associated with the royal residence, although the city formally retained the status of the capital – the one from coronations and funerals.
The times of slow have come, but the systematic fall of Wawel. The Swedes won it twice, robbing everything, what could, and setting the castle on fire. Successive kings remembered Wawel only during their coronation, when they had to take care of some decent place to sleep. However, under Jan Sobieski, the castle was no longer even fit for this, so the king stayed in the palace in Łobzów during the coronation.
During the partitions, the castle was successively occupied by the troops of foreign powers. The Prussians were the first, who, breaking down the vault door, they took away and melted the golden coronation insignia. The Austrians converted the castle into barracks. In some rooms they arranged stables, and in the Gothic churches of St.. Michael and St.. George, which they undressed soon after, they were holding hay.
W 1905 r., with the consent of Emperor Franz Joseph, the castle became the property of the Polish society. Outstanding architects supervised the restoration and archaeological works – Zygmunt Hendel and Adolf Szyszko-Bohtiszr In the interwar period, the State Art Collections at Wawel were established, a museum was created, and a flat was prepared for the president of the Republic of Poland, of which Wawel was the formal seat. Józef Piłsudski rests in the cathedral's crypt, under the Silver Bells Tower.
Around the Riga Peace (1921 r.) The Russians had to return one hundred and thirty-six of the three hundred and sixty tapestries, but soon they had to be evacuated again, this time against the German troops. Krakow became the capital of the General Government, a Wawel – official seat of Governor Hans Frank, who took over from Szyszko-Bohusz not only the workplace, but also an apartment – a neo-gothic castle on a rock in Przegorzały. However, his good taste ended there, because he had several representative rooms at Wawel repainted, choosing a pattern with big red flowers. The motives are completely unknown, for which he put an honorary guard in front of Józef Piłsudski's grave.
Since the liberation, something is restored and renovated at Wawel almost every year, the rooms are slowly filling up with museum exhibits and works of art. Continued excavations reveal new finds, which shed new light on the role of Wawel in the beginning of the Polish state.
