THE WAWEL HILL - ROYAL CASTLE

It can be said Wawel is the soul of Kraków and Poland, the Royal Cathedral can be found trophies honouring Po­land's military achievements, Royal Tombs and the rest­ing places of famous Poles; there are several chapels containing fine paintings and works of art. The most beautiful of these chapels is the Renaissance Chapel of King Zygmunt in whose tower hangs the great Zygmunt Bell, weighing 11 tons, which is heard only on momentous occasions of national im­portance.

Wawel Hill, according to experts in the esoteric sci­ences, is the site of a particu­lar passage of energy, the Earth's eighth source of posi­tive energy. There must, indeed, be something to this theory as tens of thousands of years ago primitive man instinctively sought shelter in the caves of this limestone hill.

By the 9th century, Wawel was already densely inhabit­ed and the ruler of the Slavonic tribe of Wiślanie lived in the fortified town. A century and a half later Polish monarchs acknowl­edged Wawel Hill to be a place worthy of the seat of kings. The tomb of one of them - Władysław Łokietek - was the first of many Royal Tombs in Wawel. In 1364 King Kazimierz the Great elicited Pope Urban V's per­mission to found the Kraków Academy in the town below Wawel Hill and it later came to be called the Jagiellonian University in honour of the King who reformed it The University boasts graduates such as Co­pernicus and Karol Wojty­ła. 

In the same year as the oldest Univer­sity in this part of the conti­nent was founded, Eu­rope's migh­tiest rulers arrived in Kraków for the Council of Monarchs. Not long after, the Jagiellonian Dynasty was to rule one of the largest nations of contemporary Europe from Wawel Crown Castle. Artists and learned thinkers from all over Europe visited Kraków. Invited by King Zygmunt the Old (Sigis- mundus the Old), Erasmus of Rotterdam declared that Kraków was one of the most important centres of culture and the humanities. Although the Royal Castle on Wawel Hill contains splendid elements of various styles and epochs, it is nonetheless considered to be a remarkable example of Renaissance art. Fine tapes­tries woven in the best Flemish workshops hang on the walls of the castle's cham­bers, whilst the wooden cof­fered ceilings are decorated with the famous "Wawel Heads".