Royal Feast
We’re taken on a journey back in time to the golden age of the Polish Republic with this year’s St John’s Fair. Between 16 and 18 June, the Czerwieński Boulevard by Wawel Hill will be filled with traders, cooks, travelling musicians and lords and ladies from near and far. On the first day, we are invited to a royal ball thrown by Henry de Valois for his fiancée Anna Jagiellon. Perhaps the king will reveal why the pair never married – was the age difference frowned upon back in the 16th century? The grand event features demonstrations by halberdiers, dancers and comedians and a display of court fashions. Saturday is dedicated to kings Sigismund the Old and Sigismund August – the rulers who brought prosperity and a growth of science, culture and the arts in Poland.
On Sunday, King Stefan Batory arrives on horseback accompanied by soldiers to admire performances by attending artists and a game of human chess. It’s not for us to say whether he was a good match for Anna Jagiellon, with whom he was said to have spent three wedding nights…
The nation which made the greatest mark on 16th-century Poland, in particular Kraków, was Italy, thanks to Sigismund the Old’s love of all things Italian – his wife Bona Sforza, Italian art and even vegetables. Between 9 and 18 June, many Cracovian restaurants – from Albertina to Wierzynek – present dishes inspired by the queen. The dishes form a part of a special menu – more on the St. John’s Fair’s Facebook page. Italian cabbage rolls, ossobuco, capon soup, chestnuts with saffron – a veritable royal feast! (Artur Jackowski, "Karnet" magazine)
