Wawel Cathedral

Polish kings were crowned and buried in this cathedral – from Władysław the Elbow-high, crowned in 1320, to Stanisław Leszczyński. It holds the remains of 17 monarchs (including Queen Jadwiga and Anna Jagiellon), as well as national poets and heroes, and above them hangs the Sigismund Bell, rung only on the most important occasions. The Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus is a Gothic church ringed by chapels added over seven centuries.

Three cathedrals on one site

Work on the first cathedral began around the year 1000, when the Kraków diocese was founded. The second, Romanesque one was consecrated in 1142 and burned down in 1305 – yet on 20 January 1320, inside its damaged walls and beside the relics of St Stanislaus, Władysław the Elbow-high was crowned, starting the tradition of coronations in Kraków. Soon afterwards Bishop Nanker began the present Gothic cathedral, consecrated on 28 March 1364 in the presence of King Casimir the Great. Parts of the Romanesque church survive, including St Leonard's Crypt. Over the following centuries kings, bishops and magnates kept adding mausoleum chapels, so Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque now sit side by side.

What to see

• The Sigismund Chapel – the Renaissance mausoleum of King Sigismund the Old, designed by Bartolomeo Berrecci, with a gilded dome you can see from the courtyard. It became the model for later mausoleums across Poland.
• The Shrine of St Stanislaus in the middle of the nave – the martyred bishop's relics were brought here from Skałka in 1089, and the whole Gothic plan of the cathedral was built around this spot.
• St Leonard's Crypt – a surviving part of the Romanesque cathedral beneath the present church.
• The royal tombs and the Crypt of the National Poets – among those buried here are Prince Józef Poniatowski (1817), Tadeusz Kościuszko (1818), Adam Mickiewicz (his remains were brought from France in 1890), Juliusz Słowacki (1927), Józef Piłsudski (1935), General Władysław Sikorski (1993) and President Lech Kaczyński with his wife (2010).
• The entrance doors, covered with 14th-century metal sheeting repeating the letter "K", the initial of Casimir the Great. By the steps hang bones of Ice Age animals.

The Sigismund Bell

The bell was cast in 1520 by the Nuremberg bell-founder Hans Behem, commissioned by King Sigismund I the Old. In June 1521 it was hauled on wooden beams along Sławkowska Street, across the Main Square and up Grodzka Street to Wawel Hill, and on 13 July Kraków heard it for the first time. Together with its clapper, yoke and fittings it weighs 12,600 kg; until 1999 it was the largest bell in Poland. The clapper has cracked several times – the one that broke on Christmas Eve 2000 is on display at the entrance to the Sigismund Tower. A team of bell-ringers sets it in motion.

Interesting facts

• Under rules drawn up in 1525, the bell was to ring 120 times a year on fixed feast days and for important state events.
• The Sigismund Tower also holds older bells, including the Half-Sigismund of 1463.
• The cathedral has three towers: the Sigismund Tower, the taller Clock Tower with its Baroque spire, and the Vicars' Tower, also called the Tower of the Silver Bells.

Tripto tip

According to the cathedral's website (as of October 2026), the cathedral, Sigismund Bell and royal tombs are open Monday to Saturday 9:00–16:30 and on Sundays 12:30–16:30; the Cathedral Museum is open Monday to Saturday, 9:00–17:00. Buying tickets online (bilety-wawel.pl) lets you skip the queues. Allow 1.5–2 hours for the cathedral, bell tower and crypts. Steep, narrow wooden stairs lead up to the bell. This is a working church: during services and ceremonies parts of it may be closed, so check the calendar before you go and combine your visit with Wawel Royal Castle.