Krakow is more than just an ordinary city. For a thousand years, it has been carrying the majesty of the former state capital on stone shoulders, the pride of the seat of princes and kings, I praise the most important cultural center, arts and sciences. For centuries, he stoically reconciled tradition with modernity, commonness with the avant-garde and the sacred with the profane. Visitors to Krakow are most attracted by its old and rich tradition, great sights, world-class level of various cultural events. Thanks to the fascinating Krakow "climates", at the threshold of the 21st century, in Central Europe you can taste the darkness of the Middle Ages, Renaissance optimism, the terror of the Counter-Reformation or the madness of modernism.
Krakow can be a sad city, even depressive, conducive to decadent moods of existential anxiety. But you might as well have fun in it, throwing yourself into a vortex of madness and oblivion. There are occasions for this often, because in no other city there are so great and so many pubs and so many people willing to talk, sometimes completely strangers. In Krakow bars – Under Mistletoe or X-ray - you have a unique opportunity to talk to Fin about salmon fishing or discuss with a poet about unwritten poems. Only in Krakow you can drink beer with an actor of the Stary Theater or exchange politeness with Dymna or Wajda / Only in Krakow's Planty, poor old ladies enjoy their rest with such dignity, as if they owned the entire tenement house.
The Krakow street is colorful as a peacock's feather and understanding for it, what the next ages bring her. Against the background of the wall, remembering mayor Albert, a stuck poster advertises the newest wonder of electronics or women's underwear.
Krakowska street is bouncing between the sacred and the profane, because next to the churches with the faithful, waiting for another miracle, the drunkards stumble, to finally fly at the nearby gate. Krakow's alleys can already be Europe and shine with the panes of large exhibition panes, behind which there is a lot of everything, from Pierre Cardina to Toyota. Romanian children are still sitting on Krakow's street, Russian musicians are playing, photographed by Japanese tourists and scrolls to the millionth, multicolored crowd.
Krakow has always been respected, but the city could also be drunk, funny, flashy and self-ironic. Just like a human, who lives life to the full. He was looked at through the prism of Wawel or the church on Skałka, and the yards were hidden in their shadows, alleys and Jewish Kazimierz. Great Poles are part of the history of this city, foreign artists, prominent scientists and activists: But freaks also played a big role, scandals, scandalists and thousands of gray people: Krakow has always been unique, but today it still gains in attractiveness. He freed himself from the greyness of socialist realism and put on the elegant uniform of a European city. He is purebred, stately, rich in magnificent monuments and has an increasingly stronger position among the world's culture-forming centers. For this he can be joyful, romantic and touching.
Krakow is an extraordinary city and it is difficult to meet a man, who would not succumb to its charm. I know such, who love and worship Krakow, such, who hate or fear him. I know such, who left everything for Krakow and preferred to end up miserably than to leave it.
Almost before our eyes, a great work of renewing the old Krakow is being carried out. Townhouses, courtyards, the tombs regain their former glory. Millions of zlotys, thousands of people, hundreds of hours of work, dozens of companies – these are the costs of restoring the beauty of the old city. The renovation of the façade of the Wawel royal castle and the renovation of the interior of the first floor chambers was undertaken by the Conservation Company of Piotr Białko.
The description of the works on the facade is a cross between a detective novel and the invention of a vaccine against tuberculosis: keeping track of old plans, learning about old masonry techniques, Laboratory tests, selection of materials, synchronization of activities, arrangement verification, waiting for the effect.
An object is renovated every day. It is the conservators who restore Krakow to the eyes of absorbing beauty and harmony “a person would travel”.
