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Discover Kraków Culture

Find your own way around Kraków – city of heritage, artists and events. Find out how history and local monuments intertwine with the buzzing cultural and creative life, and discover the essence of events and phenomena shaping the city’s image, whatever the season. You’ll find something new everywhere and every day, right here, right now!

Cultural Spring!

At concert halls and in the great outdoors, online and in a hybrid format, in spite of the troubles of the pandemic, culture continues to thrive. Welcome to Kraków in springtime!

Spring in Kraków marks the beginning of new cycles of events, with Easter coinciding with two major festivals.

The younger, Misteria Paschalia, is a celebration of early music and attracts some of the finest artists working today. This year’s events take on an innovative format, following the latest safety guidelines and maintaining an atmosphere of a festival rooted in the magic of music and venues. The older is the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, founded in Kraków in 1997 on the initiative of Elżbieta Penderecka as part of the Kraków 2000 programme. Although the event moved to Warsaw a few years later, it hasn’t forgotten its roots and its loyal Cracovian fans, and every year it opens in Kraków with an exhibition of magnificent music scores at the Jagiellonian Library.

In spite of the continuing pandemic, the Cracow Fashion Awards – the most important event of its kind in southern Poland, this year postponed from March to May – grants its annual prizes to up-and-coming designers, while the Kraków Comic Book Festival is preparing a range of surprises by taking a look at the fascinating past of the genre and exploring its future potential. Is it literature or visual arts? Now there’s a question!

We face a similar dilemma in May with the Film Music Festival whose protagonists are films, composers of soundtracks and the music itself.

One thing’s for certain – no-one will be disappointed! Music and film are also important elements of the Krakow Film Festival and its prestigious prizes. In early June, we will discover the winners of the DocFilmMusic, Golden Hejnał, Golden Lajkonik and the Dragon of Dragons prizes awarded by the festival which is one of the few global events submitting recommendations for the Academy Awards for documentaries. And fear not – Kraków’s third springtime film festival, Mastercard Off Camera, is still going ahead; it’s simply been postponed. We will talk about it soon enough!

Images are the focus of Krakow Photomonth starting in May; it is one of the most important events dedicated to photography in Poland, featuring dozens of exhibitions at familiar and unexpected venues throughout the city.

Kraków’s museums have prepared myriad exhibitions, with the National Museum launching a brand-new permanent exhibition at the Arsenal of the Princes Czartoryski Museum.

The Museum of Krakow explores the intangible heritage of the city at House Under the Cross. MOCAK celebrates its tenth birthday with a series of events and exhibitions, while the International Cultural Centre revisits one of its favourite motifs, this time searching for Polish influences on the Bauhaus movement.

The Year of Stanisław Lem, officially launched in February, is celebrated through numerous events culminating with the centenary of the author’s birth in September. The Copernicus Festival intertwines science, literature and the arts, with this year’s events exploring themes of the imagination.

Kraków’s music and theatre venues host numerous events and are busy preparing a series of premieres. Kraków’s largest venues – TAURON Arena Kraków and ICE Kraków – present concerts by some of Poland’s greatest pop stars. The Wodecki Twist Festival celebrates the great debonair singer and multi-instrumentalist. Many concerts and spectacles are presented on the PLAY KRAKÓW platform – some events are free. It’s all go!

Kraków Culture

Spring '21

Selected events

All the King’s Arrases. Returns 2021–1961–1921

18.03

31.10

All the tapestries remaining of the original collection of King Sigismund Augustus are returning to Wawel Castle for the next…

Misteria Paschalia Festival

01.04

05.04

One of the most important early music festivals in Europe, Misteria Paschalia is held every year during Holy Week. Its…

Ancient Art Gallery

from 07.05

The aim of the new permanent exhibition at the Arsenal of the Princes Czartoryski Museum (branch of the National Museum…

Copernicus Festival

18.05

23.05

Copernicus Festival is Kraków’s celebration of science, exploring the links between the arts, humanities and sciences and our everyday lives.

Film Music Festival

27.05

30.05

It is one of the most important events promoting film music and its creators in the world. Every year Kraków…

Krakow Photomonth Festival

28.05

27.06

One of the most ambitious European festivals exploring photography; its diverse programme of exhibitions, meetings and accompanying events gives audiences…

Krakow Film Festival

30.05

06.06

One of the oldest European events devoted to documentaries, animations and short films. It is one of the few prestigious…

Wodecki Twist Festival

04.06

The festival is rooted in music and joy. The beloved, versatile artist who passed away in 2017 is celebrated by…

Festivals are celebrations of culture and a manifestation of the city’s potential. To understand Kraków is to understand their annual rhythm, to notice how they reach for Cracovian identity and heritage to build new meanings and become an indelible part of the contemporary city life.

- Robert Piaskowski -

Discover Kraków Culture

Cultural Spring!

Selected events

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