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Discover Kraków Culture

From the Divine Comedy theatre festival to the musical feast served up by Opera Rara, from grand exhibitions in new museum spaces to intimate presentations of local artists – Kraków’s cultural life has no intention of hibernating!

Winter Tales

The festive period abounds with culture as well as spirituality, with nativity scenes all around us, the merry Christmas market and the dazzling Three Kings Parade.

The Cracovian tradition of nativity scene-making was Poland’s first entry on UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage List, and it boasts a popular competition for the most beautiful constructions exhibited at the Museum of Krakow; it also features the special project All Around Nativity Scenes, taking us on a trail of selected scenes illuminating shop and restaurant fronts all over the city.

The exhibition Toy Clinic, presented – where else? – at a former hospital takes us on another charming journey to childhood fascinations.

Kraków’s artistic traditions are recalled by the Divine Comedy festival – the most important review of Polish plays of the last season which shows that theatre responds to social change, explores issues of the contemporary world and soothes our greatest ills like no other form of art. Performances held in person on Kraków’s stages and online on PLAY KRAKÓW are hugely popular with the audience and form a fitting end to a year of festivals. And the next season opens with the Opera Rara Festival; coinciding with Carnival, the event juxtaposes Baroque masterpieces with contemporary compositions and productions.

An important element of the winter cultural programme are exhibitions, including new presentations at Kraków’s historic buildings.

Photography? Head to the former armoury in Rakowicka Street taken over by the Museum of Photography and beautifully adapted to its new function. Architecture and design? Take a peek at the Szołayski House, branch of the National Museum in Krakow. Groundbreaking Polish designer, playwright, artist, the most Cracovian of Cracovian artists and visionaries? The same National Museum is opening a branch dedicated to Stanisław Wyspiański at the former granary, as well as presenting an exhibition dedicated to his older colleague Jacek Malczewski at its Main Building.

And let’s not forget more contemporary local artists, creative and refusing to be pigeonholed.

The Nowa Huta Cultural Centre presents an exhibition of paintings by Anna Güntner (1933–2013) prepared with the Artemis Gallery, while the Raven Gallery in Kazimierz hosts a review of works by Zbylut Grzywacz (1939–2004) – an artist who painted his (female) subjects with humility and admiration, with a desire to understand them and with a more sensual desire.

European – and therefore Polish – art would have evolved very differently were it not for the styles and techniques of early Dutch masters, as shown at the exhibition Not Only Bruegel and Rubens in the beautiful interiors of Wawel Royal Castle. The equally beautiful Krzysztofory Palace, the freshly renovated site of the Museum of Krakow, takes us on a journey through our city with the enticing title Cracow from the Beginning, Without End.

Let’s go!

Kraków Culture Editorial Team

Winter '21

Selected events

Not Only Bruegel and Rubens: Painting of the Low Countries at Wawel

30.11

27.02

Wawel Royal Castle presents an exhibition of 31 paintings from its own collection and loaned by the National Museum in…

All Around Nativity Scenes

02.12

31.01

Cracovian nativity scenes once again set into the city space: the project prepared jointly by the Museum of Krakow and…

Stanisław Wyspiański Museum

from 3.12

The latest permanent exhibition of the National Museum in Krakow, held in the former city granary at Sikorskiego Square, presents…

14th Divine Comedy Festival

03.12

12.12

The international theatre festival presents the finest productions by Polish scenes from the last season. The audience gets a chance…

Nativity Scene Contest Exhibition

06.12

27.02

After a few years away, the post-competition nativity scene exhibition returns to the freshly renovated Krzysztofory Palace. The exhibition presents…

Cracow from the Beginning, Without End

from 19.12

The Museum of Krakow invites us to the Krzysztofory Palace where history, magic and legend intertwine with contemporary daily life…

German Film Week

21.01

27.01

Poland’s largest review of the latest films from beyond our western border, covering myriad genres and topics explored by German…

Opera Rara Festival

12.02

28.02

The event resounds with rarely performed operas, frequently revived after years in obscurity. Capella Cracoviensis, organiser of the festival and…

Kraków’s long, rich history makes the entire city into a museum, but it is also constantly changing and evolving in response to the latest needs and challenges. The very concept of cultural heritage – which shapes Kraków’s identity – is fluid, since it means using the past to reach contemporary goals.

- Katarzyna Jagodzińska -

Discover Kraków Culture

Winter Tales

Selected events

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