Photo: Garden of The Józef Mehoffer House, photo courtesy of the National Museum in Krakow
The capital of Małopolska is much more than just ancient monuments and jewels of architecture – it is also filled with beautiful green spaces!
“On drizzly days I go for a stroll in Planty Park […] when the sun is out, to Błonia Meadows […] or the Wolski Forest. […] Last autumn I walked all over Planty and counted all the shadows I encountered. But, for me, there are other shadows in Kraków: those of leafy late May. […] If you haven’t been to Kraków in May, you don’t know what May is. The leaves and blossoms of horse chestnuts, intertwined with the architecture, are exhilarating,” wrote Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz in his Travels to Poland. The city’s unique location gives it myriad natural treasures: urban and landscape parks, woodlands and gardens, meadows and commons. They are home to many rare and protected plants and animals. Now’s the perfect time to be tourists in our own city, so let’s take a walk through the greenery of Old Town and Podgórze to soothe our hearts and minds and remind us that nature is always close to Kraków’s heart.
Garden trail
We start out trip at the Jagiellonian University’s Botanical Garden in the very heart of Kraków, easily accessible by bike or public transport. Founded in 1783, the garden’s enchanting paths meander among ponds and flowerbeds, while the trees resound with birdsong. The conservatories are home to plants from the Alps, the Carpathian Mountains and the Caucasus, as well as numerous palm trees, and carnivorous, tropical and biblical plants. Once we’ve admired the collection of over 1000 species of shrubs and trees, let’s head down Kopernika Street towards the Old Town and the Planty Garden Ring – Kraków’s largest urban park.
The green ring surrounding the heart of Kraków was created in the early 19th century, replacing demolished city walls and the filled-in moat. The only remaining fortifications are the Barbican, St Florian’s Gate, three turrets and a small section of the wall. During the second half of the 19th century, Planty slowly filled with little squares, fountains, ponds, statues, arbours and kiosks selling sweets and soda. Strolling through the four kilometre-long park is the perfect way to relax among greenery in the heart of the city, and the monuments within and around it provide a picturesque history lesson.
Once we’ve had our fill of Planty, we follow Krupnicza Street to the Józef Mehoffer House. The artist’s house is now a branch of the National Museum in Krakow, with an adjacent charming garden designed by Mehoffer himself. It is filled with the same plants that grew there in his day, including lilacs, jasmines, fruit trees and violets and lily-of-the-valley blossoming in May, and the borders and flowerbeds are packed with peonies, pansies, lilies and myriad roses blooming well into the autumn. The shade comes from a magnificent English oak.
A few minutes’ walk away, at Piłsudskiego Street, we find another beautiful garden preserving its original 19th-century character. At the back of the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum, ancient trees surround fragments of stone sculptures from Kraków’s Gothic churches and tenement houses. The nearby garden of the Museum of Archaeology at Senacka Street is a melting pot of Cracovian culture and academia, and a beautiful setting for concerts and outdoor events.
We finish our walk at the garden of Wawel Royal Castle. The reconstruction of the space was based on ancient remains, and it is split into upper and lower terraces and vineyards. The upper terrace reflects the original atmosphere of the garden with brick paths, stone ornaments and a flower meadow with trellises, herbs and flowerbeds. The lower terrace is home to an orchard with a round arbour and geometric hedges. The vineyards are a reminder of the traditions of growing vines on Wawel Hill. Their arrangement is based on 16th-century descriptions and illustrations, and they are surrounded by lavender, roses and honeysuckle.
Green Podgórze
We leave the Old Town and cross over to the other bank of the Vistula. Our route takes us through Podgórze – formerly an independent town and a district of Kraków since 1915. Although it was an industrial settlement, it is filled with greenery. We start at Bednarski Park, created at the foot of the limestone Krzemionki knoll, on the site of a quarry dating back to the Middle Ages. Opened in 1896, the park is a carefully laid out arrangement of trees, shrubs and plants growing along shady walls. It’s worth adding that in 1918, at the nearby Lasota Square, Lieutenant Antoni Stawarz devised a plot which led to a bloodless recovery of Kraków from Austrian forces. The events marked the beginning of Poland’s independence after more than a century of partitions!
Let’s take Stawarza Street towards the Lasota Mound, passing the dazzling rainbow steps at Tatrzańska Street along the way. It is a true oasis of peace and greenery, once reaching all the way to the Krakus Mound and today divided by the Powstańców Śląskich Avenue. The little Church of St Benedict was erected on the mound in the 12th century; its foundations conceal an even older rotunda and palatium. Nearby, the fort “St Benedict” belonging to the Austrian Fortress of Kraków was erected between 1836 and 1856. And let’s not forget that during the Second World War, the boundary of the Kraków Ghetto ran along the northern slope of the mound. The site is one of the backdrops in Schindler’s List (1993), with Oskar Schindler and his wife Ingrid watching the liquidation of the ghetto.
We cross the footbridge over the busy Powstańców Śląskich Avenue to reach the Krakus Mound. It is the most ancient construction in the city, and it is shrouded in mystery: who built it, why and how? Nothing is certain; it is popularly believed to be the tomb of the legendary founder of Kraków, but who really knows? During pre-Christian times, it was likely the site of Slavic rites and celebrations, with locals holding wakes and commemorations of the dead there. Today it’s a favourite destination for locals and tourists alike, providing spectacular views over the city.
The vast former Nazi Plaszow labour camp stretches near the Kraków Mound. It was created in late 1942, and later became a concentration camp. Depending on sources, it imprisoned between 50,000 and 150,000 people. Some of the survivors had previously worked at Oskar Schindler’s factory (around 1100). The buildings have long since been demolished and replaced with meadows, trees and winding avenues. Let us remember the victims of wartime atrocities, commemorated by several obelisks and the Monument to the Victims of Fascism standing at Kamieńskiego Street, depicting torn hearts. (io, js)
More trips around Kraków can be found on www.krakow.travel.
