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Discover Kraków Culture

We are enjoying summer in the city in full for the first time since 2019 – without restrictions, face masks, without exclusively online events or heavily limited audience numbers.

Flavours of the Summer

And although the pandemic isn’t quite over yet and we are still feeling a sense of doom – this time over the war raging beyond our eastern border – it’s impossible not to rejoice in having full access to culture on sunny days and warm evenings in a city full of events.

This sense of return or even a brand-new opening is also reflected in the activities of event organisers: the Kraków Live Festival celebrating pop is making a welcome return to the city, and new outdoor venues hosting concerts throughout the summer are popping up everywhere. When we add traditional events exploring all genres of music, such as the Wianki – Fête de la Musique, Jewish Culture Festival, EtnoKraków/Crossroads, and the star-studded Summer Jazz Festival Kraków and Jazz Night, there’s something for even the most demanding connoisseurs.

And of course there are plenty of events celebrating classical music: the Kraków Opera Summer Festival, Musica Divina, Festival of Polish Music, the ICE Classic cycle and Sacrum Profanum, exploring the intriguing motif of endangered species…

Wawel Royal Castle is presenting brand-new, spectacular arrangements of its flagship exhibitions: New Crown Treasury and State Rooms. The Opening Festival also features the temporary exhibition showcasing masterpieces from the Lanckoroński family collection with artworks loaned by some of the greatest galleries around the globe.

Wawel Royal Castle is presenting brand-new, spectacular arrangements of its flagship exhibitions

It also means that Wawel is becoming increasingly open and inclusive, shaping a new image in which national treasures coexist peacefully with Bronisław Chromy’s fairytale dragon world. The exhibition in Wawel grounds showcasing the sculptor’s works is a part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of his statue of the Wawel Dragon, one of the icons of present-day Kraków. The festivities include specific events such as the Dragon Parade in June, summertime cinema in July and Dragon Village in August, as well as a promotional campaign bringing the image of the dragon to postage stamps and even ice cream flavours.

The summer is a time of events held out in the open: the calendar features the Pierogi Festival and the Folk Art Fair.

It also comprises outdoor dance (Cracovia Danza) and theatre (ULICA) spectacles and film screenings, including the BNP Paribas Green Film Festival. After all, care for the environment is increasingly explored through cultural events: the Megabit Bomb marking the 101st anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Lem casts visions of solarpunk, rooted in the bold assumption that we can still save our planet.

The Miłosz Festival reminds us that poetic words and visions are as powerful as ever. Produced in collaboration with Kraków’s literary circles and held at the Potocki Palace – haven of poetry – as well as other spaces in the UNESCO City of Literature, the festival responds to changes and celebrates our city’s latest Ukrainian residents by recalling the message of its patron expressed in his essay Native Realm. Filled with culture, sensitivity and solidarity, Kraków shows that we can keep reading and amplifying this message anew.

Kraków Culture team

Summer '22

Selected events

Jewish Culture Festival

24.06

03.07

The Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków is the greatest showcase of contemporary culture shaped by Jews all over the world.…

Wianki – Fête de la Musique

25.06

The event coincides with the start of the summer holidays and recalls traditions of St John’s Night, taking the format…

Summer Jazz Festival Kraków

25.06

30.07, 30.08

First held in 1996, the festival originally focused on concerts at Piwnica Pod Baranami, later expanding with performances by stars…

Opening Festival

01.07

03.07

In early July, Wawel launches the New Crown Treasury, the latest arrangements of the Private Royal Apartments and the State…

Miłosz Festival

07.07

10.07

We will immerse ourselves in poetry from authors celebrating their form at Cracovian bookshops and in the very heart of…

ULICA Festival

08.07

10.07

Phenomenal performances, spectacles, happenings, improvisations, intimate and vast outdoor events return to Kraków’s most beautiful streets and squares. This year’s…

Cracovia Sacra Night

14.08

15.08

Cracovia Sacra Night presents Kraków’s spiritual heritage in the context of some of the most precious monuments of material culture.…

Sacrum Profanum

02.09

11.09

Drawing on its nearly twenty years of experience, the current formula of the festival aims to build bridges between independent…