Poland’s Old Towns
When tourists travel to a major city in Poland, the place most will typically congregate is in the city’s historic Stare Miasto (Old Town). These “Old Towns” were once the centers of life, where residents lived, business was conducted, and the arts flourished. And while cities would eventually modernize and expand beyond the borders of these areas, these Old Towns remain as testaments to Poland’s rich culture and history.
Indeed, several of them have even been designated as world heritage sites by UNESCO:
Kraków
Kraków’s historic center was actually one of the first sites in Poland to be inscribed on the World Heritage list. Formerly the capital of Poland, Kraków’s Old Town is comprised of a number of key sites:
Once surrounded by city walls, little remains of these fortifications aside from the Barbakan krakowski (the Kraków Barbican). The fortified outpost was built in 1498 during heightened tension with the Ottoman Empire and was used to defend the city during various sieges. Together with Brama Floriańska (St. Florian’s Gate), a fortified Gothic tower built in the 14th century, it served as the main entryway to the city.
Rynek Główny, or the Main Square, is the heart of this historic district and is actually the largest medieval town square in Europe. The historic Sukiennice (Cloth Hall), built during the Renaissance, stands in the middle of the square. While it now houses a number of shops, stalls, and a museum, it was once a key trading hall. Close by stands the Wieża ratuszowa, the Town Hall Tower. Built in the 14th century, the Gothic tower is all that remains of the historic town hall once located in this area. The Rynek is surrounded by beautiful kamienice, or tenement houses, as well as Kościół Mariacki (St. Mary’s Basilica). Buildings of the Uniwesytet Jagielloński (Jagiellonian University), one of the oldest universities in the world, can be found nearby, including the 14th century Collegium Maius.
Kraków’s Rynek Główny, with views of St. Mary’s Basilica, the Adam Mickiewicz monument, and surrounding tenement houses. Photo by Diana Sacilowski.
Another key area of Kraków’s historic district is Wawel Hill, site of the Zamek Królewski, the Royal Castle, and the Katedra Wawelska, the Wawel Cathedral, both part of the elaborate royal complex. Established by King Kazimierz III Wielki (Casimir III the Great; r. 1333-1370), the castle served as home to Polish royalty until the capital was moved to Warsaw. The current Cathedral was built in the 14th century, although earlier versions, destroyed over time, date back to the 11th century. The Cathedral is where the coronation of Polish kings took place and where the remains of many of these kings and other important figures (including Adam Mickiewicz and Tadeusz (Thaddeus) Kościuszko’s heart) are entombed.
Kazimierz, a district dating back to the 14th century, is also a key part of Kraków’s historic center. Once a vibrant site of Jewish life, it is now the heart of the so-called Jewish “revival” taking place in Poland since the collapse of Communism. The historic Synagoga Remu (Remah Synagogue), built in the 16th century, can be found here.
Warsaw
Established in the 13th century, much of Warsaw’s Old Town was destroyed during World War II by the Nazis. The area was, however, meticulously reconstructed so that it very much looks like it once did.
Here too, the Barbakan warszawski (Warsaw Barbican), first built in 1540, stands as a testament to the historic fortifications that once surrounded the Old Town. And much like in Kraków, the Rynek Starego Miasto (Old Town Market Square), stands at the heart of the historic district. Created in the 13th-14th centuries, it is surrounded by ornate kamienice (today housing various museums). At the center of the square stands a statue of the Warsaw mermaid, a symbol of the city since the 17th century.
The famous Warsaw mermaid, located in the middle of the Old Town Square. Photo by Diana Sacilowski.
Nearby, the plac Zamkowy (Castle Square) can be found. Here stands Kolumna Zygmunta (Sigismund’s Column), built in 1644 in commemoration of King Zygmunt III Waza (Sigismund III Vasa; r. 1587-1632), who moved Poland’s capital to Warsaw in 1596. The Zamek Królewski (Royal Castle) is located across from the column. It served as the home to various Polish monarchs, was the site where the Constitution of 3 May 1971 was drafted, and was the seat of leading heads of state after Poland regained independence during the Interwar period (1918-1939).
The Archikatedra św. Jana (St. John’s Archcathedral) can also be found in Warsaw’s Old Town.
Zamość
Located in southeastern Poland, Zamość’s Old Town, founded in 1580, was sponsored by nobleman Jan Zamoyski who envisioned it as a meticulously designed, Renaissance-styled “ideal city.” The Rynek Wieki (Great Market Square) is the heart of the old town, above which the historic Ratusz (Town Hall), with its iconic clock tower, stands. Surrounding the square are colorful tenement houses. The Katedra Zmartwychwstania Pańskiego i św. Tomasza Apostoła (Zamość Cathedral), built in the 16th century, can also be found in the area, as can the Synagoga Dawna (Old Synagogue), built in 1618. The Old Town is surrounded by remnants of the Twierdza Zamość (Zamość Fortress), a series of fortified walls, gates, and other buildings that protected the city through six major sieges (the first occurring during the Chmielnicki (Khmelnytsky) Uprising in 1648, the last during the November Uprising of 1830).
Zamość’s Rynek Wielki, with a view of the Ratusz and surrounding kamienice. Photo by Diana Sacilowski.
Toruń
The Zespół staromiejski Torunia, the Medieval Town of Toruń, is the last of the Old Towns in Poland to be designated a World Heritage Site. Dating to the 13th century, Toruń was founded by Teutonic Knights, Germanic Catholic crusaders, and served as an important trading center. Today, much of its Gothic architecture has been preserved. The Old Town, like others in Poland, is centered around the Rynek staromiejski (Old Town Market Square) and its Ratusz (Town Hall), which is surrounded by various brick tenement houses. This includes the Dom Kopernika, home of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. The Gothic Bazylika katedralna św. Jana Chrzciciela i św. Jana Ewangelisty (Toruń Cathedral), founded in the 13th century, stands in the Old Town as well. The ruins of the Zamek krzyżacki (Toruń Castle) and its fortifications can be found nearby. Dating from the 13th-14th century, it was largely demolished in the 15th century and only partially rebuilt in 1966.
As noted, many major cities in Poland feature historic centers like those described above. The Old Towns of Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław, and Lublin are others that tourists often visit.
World War II and Holocaust
World War II and the Holocaust would completely change Poland, its demographics, its very borders, forever altered. Given this, it stands to reason that many historic sites related to the war would dot the Polish landscape. It’s impossible to detail all of them, but here are some of the most iconic sites:
The Auschwitz-Birkenau, a World Heritage Site located about an hour’s drive from Kraków, is probably the most iconic place related to World War II and the Holocaust in Poland. Operating between 1940 and 1945, Nazi Germany used this vast prison complex—both a concentration and extermination camp—to imprison, torture, and kill Jews, Poles, Romani people, and others. The deadliest Nazi camp, over a million people (primarily Jewish people) were killed here. Today a State Museum functions on this site.
Majdanek was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp near Lublin. In operation between 1941 and 1944, it was originally a forced labor camp, but was transformed into a death camp as the Nazi plan to exterminate all Polish Jews got under way in 1942. An estimated 78,000 people were murdered here, the majority Jews. It too operates as a State Museum and memorial today.
The Monument to Struggle and Martyrdom marking the entrance gate to Majdanek. Photo by Diana Sacilowski.
Treblinka was an extermination camp to the northeast of Warsaw. Operating between 1942 and 1943, it was the second deadliest camp, with 700,000-900,000 Polish Jews and 2,000 Romani people executed at the site. Unlike Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek, the camp was dismantled in 1943. Today, a large memorial complex stands in the area.
Other extermination camps set up by Nazis in Occupied Poland include Bełżec, Chełmo, and Sobibór. Other concentration camps are also located within Poland, including Płaszów, which is in Kraków, and Stutthof, located east of Gdańsk.
The sites where ghettos were set up in cities to segregate and imprison Jewish people before transporting them to camps are also often memorialized in some way. In Warsaw, for example, the Pomnik Bohaterów Getta (Ghetto Heroes Monument) stands on the site where the Warsaw Ghetto was located. It commemorates the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. The Bunkier Anielewicza (Anielewicz Bunker) can be found nearby—this was the headquarters of a Jewish resistance group, named after Mordechaj Anielewicz, a leader of the Uprising. The Umshlagplatz monument, marking the site from which thousands of Jewish people were deported from the ghetto to Treblinka, can be found in the area too. Other Polish cities commemorate such areas in similar ways.
Commemorations of other events that took place during World War II are also featured throughout Polish cities. In Warsaw, for example, the Pomnik Powstania Warszawskiego (Warsaw Uprising Monument) memorializes the devastating Uprising of 1944, while the Pomnik Poległym i Pomordowanym na Wschodzie (Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East) stands in remembrance of the victims of the Soviet Invasion, including those deported to and imprisoned in labor camps in Siberia after the Soviet invasion in 1939, as well as those executed by Soviet authorities (such as the victims of the Katyń massacre of 1940).
Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East. Photo by Diana Sacilowski.
In Gdańsk, Westerplatte is of particular significance, the site of the start of World War II where Nazi Germany first invaded Poland. The Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża (Monument to the Defenders of the Coast) commemorates this battle and a museum, a branch of the Museum of the Second World War, has started to operate in the area, although it has yet to be completed.
Other Sites of Interest
Królewskie Kopalnie Soli w Wieliczce i Bochni (Wieliczka Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines) Another UNESCO World Heritage Site (Wieliczka was listed in 1978, while Bochnia was added as an extension in 2013), these are more than mines that produce salt. Indeed, established in the 13th century, these royal mines actually stopped commercially producing salt in the 1990s. They were run by Żupy krakowskie, a company created in 1290 by the Polish Crown, which became one of the largest salt businesses in the world and a crucial part of the country’s economy. Now, these mines operate as labyrinthine underground museums, displaying salt-mining technologies, a lake, as well as intricate statues, sculptures, and even chapels carved out of salt. Just make sure not to lick the walls when you visit!
The Wieliczka Salt Mine. Photo by: Cezary p, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Pałac Kultury i Nauki (Palace of Culture and Science) Visitors to Warsaw will no doubt notice the Palace of Culture and Science, the second tallest building in Poland, dominating the skyline in the downtown area. Completed in 1955, the building was a “gift” from the Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union to Poland and, therefore, evokes somewhat complicated feelings in many residents, seen as a symbol of turbulent post-war years and unwanted Soviet influence over Poland during that time. Today, it is home to various public and cultural institutions, and there is an observation deck on the 30th floor that offers wonderful views of the city.
Stocznia Gdańska (Gdańsk Shipyard) Founded in 1946, the shipyard (once known as Lenin Shipyard) became a symbol of the fight against Communism when Solidarność (Solidarity), an independent trade union transformed into an anti-Communist resistance movement, was founded there in 1980. Led by Lech Wałęsa (1943), a shipyard electrician who would become Poland’s first democratically elected president after the fall of Communism, the trade union became a pivotal contributor to the collapse of Communism in the Eastern Bloc.
Zamek krzyżacki w Malborku (Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork) Yet another World Heritage Site, Malbork Castle dates back to the 13th century. Built by the Teutonic Order, the medieval fortress, a large Brick Gothic structure, was eventually sold to King Kazimierz (Casimir) IV (r. 1440-1492) and became a royal residence until the first partition of Poland in 1772. Although badly damaged during World War II, the castle was fully restored.
Zamek Książ (Książ Castle) Situated in Silesia, a historical region in the southwest of Poland bordering the Czech Republic and Germany, Książ was built in the 13th century by the Silesian duke Bolesław I Surowy (Bolko I the Strict). Eventually the property would pass on to Bohemian royals and then to an aristocratic Prussian family, transformed over the years from a defensive fortress into an ornate residence. It is the third largest castle in Poland, behind Malbork and Wawel.
A view of Książ Castle. Photo by: Jar.ciurus, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL, via Wikimedia Commons.
Gniezno Before there was Warsaw, before there was Kraków, there was Gniezno, Poland’s first capital in the 10th and 11th centuries. It was here, in the Archikatedrą gnieźnieńską (Gniezno Cathedral), that some of Poland earliest kings were coronated, including Bolesław I Chrobry (Bolesław the Brave; r. 922-1025) and Mieszko II Lambert (r. 1025-1031). It is also home to the country’s oldest Roman Catholic archdiocese. And while the capital of Poland would be moved to Kraków, Gniezno remained a major cultural and religious center until the partitions.