Kraków & Wieliczka Salt Mines

Krakow is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland.

Situated on the Vistula River (Polish: Wisła) in the Lesser Poland Region. The city dates back to the 7th century.

Krakow has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and it is one of the Poland’s most important economic hubs.

It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1569; the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1596; the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918; and Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999.

It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to the Poland’s second most important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was already being reported as a busy trading centre of Slavonic Europe in 965.

The establishments of new universities and cultural venues throughout the 20th century helped Kraków to become a major national academic and artistic centre.

The city has a population of approximately 760,000, while about 8 million people live within a 100 km radius of its main square.

After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany when the World War II started, Kraków was turned into the capital of Germany’s General Government.

The Jewish population of the city was moved into a walled zone known as Kraków Ghetto, from which they were sent to the extermination camps such as Auschwitz and the concentration camp in Płaszów.

In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II – the first Slavic pope ever, and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

Also that year, UNESCO approved these sites for its new World Heritage List, including the entire Old Town in inscribing Cracow’s Historic Centre

After the tour in Krakow we will continue with a tour to Wieliczka salt mines

The “Wieliczka” Salt Mine is one of the most valuable monuments of material and spiritual culture in Poland.

Each year it is visited by more than one million tourists from all over the world.

It is also a world class monument, featuring among twelve objects on the UNESCO’s World Cultural and Natural Heritage List.

Today, the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine combines many centuries of tradition and modernity, the history of several hundred years and an underground metropolis with extensive infrastructure.

The mine is a product of work of tens of generations of miners, a monument to the history of Poland and to the Polish nation – a brand, present in Polish consciousness for centuries.