The stories Kraków tells about itself
Every old city has its legends, but Kraków has something more: four mounds nobody can fully explain, and a fifth raised in memory of a pope. Below are the most important tales, short enough to read on the way.
Legends
The Wawel Dragon
A sheep, sulphur and a cobbler who was cleverer than the knights.
Read moreLegendThe two towers of St Mary's
Why one is taller than the other.
Read moreLegendMaster Twardowski
A nobleman who signed a pact with the devil and ended up on the Moon.
Read moreLegendThe pigeons of the Market Square
Knights turned into birds, waiting for a prince who never came back.
Read moreLegendThe fiddler and the golden shoe
A legend from the Salvator church in Zwierzyniec.
Read moreLegendOracewicz's button
How a Kraków braid-maker shot a Russian colonel with a button.
Read moreLegendThe treasure beneath Krzysztofory
What the servant saw when he went down into the palace cellars.
Read moreMounds
Krakus Mound
16 metres, Podgórze. Older than Poland.
Read moreMoundWanda Mound
14 metres, Nowa Huta. Krak's daughter, who preferred the Vistula to a German.
Read moreMoundKościuszko Mound
34 metres, Zwierzyniec. Raised by the hands of a whole nation.
Read moreMoundPiłsudski Mound
35 metres, Sowiniec. The largest of Kraków's mounds, called the Independence Mound.
Read moreMoundJohn Paul II Mound
7 metres, Borek Fałęcki. The youngest and the smallest.
Read moreEnjoying the stories?
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