Abbreviation for Krakow, Poland

Krakow

Krakow is one of Poland’s most beautiful cities, and Krakow is now speeding up the ranks among Eastern Europe’s most popular tourist destinations.

Krakow’s beautiful Old Town, with all its medieval and renaissance architecture and its Gothic churches, is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, and the city is often used as a backdrop when filming films where the action is set to the Middle Ages.

Krakow has been subject to invasions from both Mongols and Swedes over the centuries. The city was also invaded during both world wars, and the history of the Jews in Krakow is dramatic and tragic. The city’s Jewish quarter is called Kazimierz and was the place where Oscar Schindler made his now famous list, and where Steven Spielberg recorded many scenes for the movie of the same name. Today, this is one of several places where many visitors come to see and learn.

Krakow has a relatively mild climate and is also ideally suited as a romantic destination for couples almost year-round. Most of the sights are within walking distance of each other, so getting around on your own is no problem. It is an attraction in itself just strolling randomly in the cobbled alleyways and stopping by one of Krakow’s many cafes or bars that have their hangouts for centuries-old brick basements.

Get to know Krakow

Krakow is located in southern Poland, not far from the border with Slovakia and the Tatra Mountains. Krakow has approx. 765,000 inhabitants and was the capital of Poland for about 300 years. The city established itself as an important trading center between the Russians and Western Europeans.

Krakow is built around the Vistula River and is known as Poland’s cultural capital through its passion for art forms such as theater, dance, poetry and music. The city has past both as an independent republic and as part of Austria. Krakow first became part of Poland after World War I. During World War II, Krakow was again invaded, but fortunately the city’s buildings received little compassion compared to most other Polish cities. The city’s large Jewish population was worse off. Most ended their days 60 kilometers further west, in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

City Profile

• Abbreviation: KRK
• Country: Poland

Stare Miasto or Old Town
The very few visitors will find many reasons to leave the Old Town (Stare Miasto) during the visit, unless one is interested in old town blocks and apartment blocks. The Old Town area is around 800 x 1000 meters in size and was originally surrounded by a moat and city walls. Not much is left of the walls, and the moat has now been transformed into a horseshoe-shaped park area called Planty, which runs around almost the entire Old Town of Krakow.

The Wawel area
To the south, the Vistula River (or Wisla) forms a natural boundary, and at the top of the limestone cliff by the river lie the famous Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral with great views down to the city and the river. Here, the Polish kings had their castle and fortress, and much of it has now been turned into a museum. You can see the Polish crown jewels and the royal rooms overlooking the magnificent courtyard. You can also visit the treasury, the armory of arms and the priceless collection of antique tapestries, or tapestries, with Old Testament motifs.

In the Wawel Cathedral, the kings were baptized, crowned, married and in many cases buried, and their sarcophagi can still be seen in the crypt under the church. If you climb the narrow, steep stairs in the Sigismundt Tower to the top, while you duck under beams and sneak your way through narrow passages, you get a great view of Krakow and Vistula. Here also hangs the 2 meter high and 11 ton heavy bell, called Zygmunt, from 1520.

According to an old legend, there was an amber and grumpy dragon in a cave under the castle, and this cave can be visited during the summer months by walking down a steep staircase from the terrace at the southwest end of Wawel. From the terrace you have a panoramic view of the Vistula, and at the end of the 135-step staircase is a dark and damp cave with an exit on the river promenade, where a large, fire-spraying bronze dragon stands.

From the east side of Wavel, the pedestrian street Grodzka leads north. In Grodzka are many small shops, restaurants and churches, and in the parallel street Kanonicza you can visit the house where Pope John Paul II lived. It has now been turned into a museum. At the end of Grodzka lies the city’s indisputable heart, the 200 x 200 meter market square (Rynek Glówny), which has retained its structure since its construction. Now there is no longer so much market here, but the more tourists, dining places and street artists.

The marketplace is dominated by the 108-meter-long Sukiennice clothing hall, which houses souvenir stalls and an art gallery. Next to it is the Town Hall tower from the 14th century. The town hall itself is long gone, and the tower now houses part of the History Museum. The tower is only open to visitors from May to October. In the northeast corner of the marketplace stands the old St. Mary’s Church (Kosciol Mariacki) with its two church towers. The first church on this site was built in the 1220s, but today’s structure was not completed until the 16th century.

Further north lies the only remnant of the original city gates, the Florian Gate, and the imposing 1498 medieval Barbican fortress built on the other side of the moat to defend the Florian Gate.

Kazimierz – Jewish Quarter in Krakow
Of neighborhoods that may be of interest outside the Old Town, we mention the old Jewish quarter in Kazimierz, which was once a city of its own. This is a few minutes walk southeast of Wawel, and there are several old synagogues and a Jewish museum. A little further west you will find the magnificent church of Kosciól Bozego Ciala from 1340. In these authentic surroundings, Steven Spielberg recorded the film “Schindler’s List” in 1993, and several tour operators take you into Schindler’s footsteps.

Nowa Huta
Would you like to confirm your old prejudice that Poland is a gray eastern bloc marked by communism and heavy industry, you can take a trip to the nitrate suburb of Nowa Huta, the radical antithesis of the Old Town’s lively and colorful medieval buildings. Here, in the 1950s, a huge steel mill and large gray concrete blocks were built to house the workers, and nearly a quarter of Krakow’s population lives here.

Krakow Facts

KRAKOW – Poland’s third largest city and former capital.

List of Krakow Acronyms

The most commonly used abbreviations about Krakow is KRK which stands for Krakow. In the following table, you can see all acronyms related to Krakow, including abbreviations for airport, city, school, port, government, and etc.