WAWEL CATHEDRAL

Standing atop Wawel Hill, within the castle walls, the cathedral is undoubtedly Poland's most important church and one of its most symbolic buildings. From the ^16th century onwards, monarchs and their families were buried in the crypt, and in the ^19th century, it also became a national pantheon. While its original 1364 form has been maintained, its appearance is far from uniform, each king having added his own touch to the edifice. To the left of the entrance are the bones of the so-called Wawel dragon, suspended from large iron chains (actually the bones of various prehistoric creatures).

The mausoleum of St. Stanislaus(mauzoleum Św. Stanisława), patron saint of Poland, is the cathedral's centerpiece. His relics are contained in a sculpted, silver-plated sarcophagus built in Gdańsk between 1669 and 1671. Since its transfer to the Wawel in 1254, kings have paid homage to it at their coronations. Sheltered beneath a baroque pink and black marble baldachin, the sarcophagus is worshipped: Polish visitors can still be seen genuflecting briefly before the saint. Under the monarchy, the saint represented the divine right of the Polish nation, and kings symbolically laid their war trophies before him. To his right is the sarcophagus of Ladislaus Jagellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, who defeated the Teutonic Knights and founded his great royal dynasty.

The Italian-style Sigismund Chapel(kaplica Zygmuntowska) is crowned by a domed coffered ceiling decorated with rosettes and covered with gilded scales. Inside are the queens Anna Jagellon and Hedwige, King Sigismund ^I the Old and his son Sigismund Augustus. The altar is composed of a polyptych of twelve silver panels.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross(kaplica Świętokrzyska) houses the sarcophagus of Casimir Jagellon, created in 1492. This chapel is unique in Europe in that it retains its original Byzantine-inspired frescoes, created in 1470 by artists from the Russian school in Pskov.

On thealtar of the Lord Jesus Crucified(Ołtarz z Czarnym Chrystusem), Queen Hedwig is said to have had a mystical vision. Placed on a silver plate, her crucifix is made up of a "black" Christ, in dark wood, integrated into a baroque altar in black marble.

The royal crypts(Groby Królewskie) allow visitors to visit the resting place of monarchs and national heroes since the ^17th century, such as Tadeusz Kosćiuszko, leader of the insurrection against the Russians in 1793, or Marshal Józef Piłsudski. The crypt of St. Leonard, a remnant of the ^12th-century Romanesque church, features the most burials. The tour of the crypts ends with the vaults of Lech Kaczynski, the late president, and his wife, both of whom died in the Smolensk air disaster on April 10, 2010. Linked to the royal crypts, the Crypts of the Great National Poets (Krypta Wieszczów Narodowych) preserve the sarcophagi of the two great Romantic poets Adam Mickiewicz and Julius Słowacki, whose remains were transferred from France, where they had lived in exile. In addition, since 2001, a bronze urn has contained the earth from the mass grave where the Polish writer, poet and painter Cyprian Kamil Norwid was buried in France, near Paris. Finally, since February 28, 2010, don't miss the white marble medallion created to mark the ^200th anniversary of Frédéric Chopin's birth. It is a copy of the medallion on the composer's tomb in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. All the exiled poets in this small pantheon of artists died in France, far from their beloved homeland.

To visit the Sigismund bell , access is gained via the left wing of the cathedral. Erected in the ^14th century, Sigismund's tower(Wieża Zygmuntowska) is accessible via a staircase from the sacristy and offers a spectacular view of the city. It leads to the cathedral's five bells, among which is the Sigismund bell (1521). This bell is famous for several reasons: firstly, with its 2.60-meter diameter and 12-ton weight, it is the largest in Poland, and the second largest in the world! No less than 8 men are needed to operate its 350 kg hammer (and they're tough!); secondly, this bell is traditionally rung to announce major events such as the birth or death of kings (or to announce national mourning under the modern Republic). Occasionally, when it is rung during festive events and national holidays, it can be heard echoing 30 km away. According to popular superstition, touching the bell makes your dreams come true. If you touch it with the right hand, you'll get love; if you touch it with the left, you'll be lucky with money; if you touch it with both hands, you'll get nothing! So think carefully before you act...

The cathedral museum exhibits various treasures from the cathedral's history. Among the items on display are St. Maurice's spear, a ^14th-century crown said to have belonged to Casimir the Great, the coat worn by Stanislas Auguste Poniatowski, the last king of Poland, etc.