Saturday, October 16, 2010

Wawel

Fortification: Wawel, the Royal Palace
Location: Krakow, Poland
Built: 16th century.

Wawel Hill has long since been an important area of settlement. There were Slavic people here as early as the 7th century. The hill held an important fortification of the Vislane tribe in the 9th century, and members of the Piast Dynasty resided here.

My visit was fairly short, but I enjoyed the grandness of the place.


First, the streets of Krakow-

Selling bread:



Just outside the city walls:




Inside a small shop:


Note the Hussar 'wings'. The Hussar were a heavy cavalry and the Polish Hussar were well renowned in battle. More info here

 Arriving at the palace:




Looking out over the city:


 Here be dragons:



Inside the castle walls:


The Zygmunt bell:



And lastly, a castle that is several days (by horse drawn carriage) from Krakow (and a few hours by car):




You can read about the history of Wawel and the area here.

4 comments:

  1. That dragon was straight-up phenomenal. It struck fear and awe in my tiny, peasant heart.

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  2. That dragon terrorized many. Here is a little on the legend:

    http://www.kresy.co.uk/waweldragon.html

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  3. Hi Fenika,

    This is Lyra Jean. What an awesome blog. Do people still live in this castle or is it more of a tourist attraction or both?

    I'll be reading more posts later. I love attending medieval faires and in history when learning about the medieval times it's mostly Western Europe so this will an interesting read for me. I love learning new things.

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  4. I think Wawel serves strictly as a museum now, but it was home to the Head of State in recent times.

    Czech's royal palace, Hradčany, has a few residences still. I didn't tour that castle while in Prague, but I did walk through one courtyard. I'll have a few pictures to post once I get to that part of my trip.

    Glad you are enjoying the blog and thanks for visiting!

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