National Pantheon in Kraków

The National Pantheon in Kraków occupies the brick crypts of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul at 52a Grodzka Street, halfway between the Main Square and Wawel Hill. Since 2012 it has been the resting place of outstanding figures of Polish culture and science, from Sławomir Mrożek to Krzysztof Penderecki, and a symbolic sarcophagus commemorates the cryptologists who broke the Enigma code.

History: successor to Skałka

The idea emerged in May 2009, when the Pauline Fathers gave up plans to enlarge the Crypt of the Distinguished at Skałka, and its author was Professor Franciszek Ziejka. A letter of intent to build a pantheon at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul was signed on 26 January 2010, and the National Pantheon Foundation was set up by 11 public universities in Kraków, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Archdiocese of Kraków. The first part opened on 27 September 2012, exactly 400 years after the death of Father Piotr Skarga, who is buried in one of the crypts. The date deliberately echoes Skałka, which opened on the 400th anniversary of Jan Długosz's death. Burials are decided by a chapter that includes the minister of culture, the presidents of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, the rector of the Jagiellonian University, the Archbishop of Kraków and the mayor of Kraków.

Who rests here

• Father Piotr Skarga (d. 1612), the royal preacher, and Bishop Andrzej Trzebicki (d. 1679), buried in the crypts before the pantheon was created;
• Sławomir Mrożek, whose urn was laid here on 17 September 2013 as the first burial in the new pantheon;
• physicist Zygmunt Wróblewski and chemist Karol Olszewski, Jagiellonian University professors who were the first to liquefy oxygen and nitrogen, moved here in 2018;
• poet Adam Zagajewski (2021) and composer Krzysztof Penderecki (2022), and in 2025 also Elżbieta Penderecka.

On 6 September 2019 urns containing soil from places linked to the deaths or burials of Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski, the mathematicians who deciphered Enigma, were placed in a separate sarcophagus. It is a symbolic grave, as the scientists themselves are buried elsewhere.

The church above the crypts

Founded by King Sigismund III Vasa for the Jesuits, the church was begun in 1597. It is the first Baroque building in Kraków, and its final form was given in 1610–1619 by Giovanni Trevano, who designed the façade, dome and interior. The fence with statues of the Twelve Apostles was made in 1722 by Dawid Heel. Beneath the dome hangs Poland's longest Foucault pendulum, at 46.5 m.

Tripto tips

• The church is open to worshippers and visitors, but the Pantheon crypts usually stay closed on ordinary days. They are opened on selected occasions, such as national holidays, or by prior arrangement.
• The crypts are owned by All Saints' Parish in Kraków, which does not sell admission tickets, so check current visiting options with the parish.
• Allow 20–30 minutes for the church itself with the apostle fence and the pendulum, ideally as part of a walk along the Royal Route from the Main Square to Wawel.