Things to do in gmina Łapanów

Visit Wieliczka Salt Mine and stand beneath the glittering chandeliers in the Chapel of St. Kinga. You might imagine you are in one of Europe’s great cathedrals. The fact that you are underground and almost all the reliefs, statues and chandeliers are made from salt makes the spectacle even more impressive. Explore the saline labyrinth further to discover an underground lake, numerous carvings and a museum tracking the 700-year history of the mine.

Oskar Schindler’s Factory is a moving museum in central Krakow that is dedicated to communicating the plight of Jewish families during the Holocaust. Listen to radio excerpts announcing Nazi propaganda and imagine how it must have felt to be one of the Jewish workers in Oskar Schindler’s Factory in wartime Krakow. Read extracts from letters and diaries. Photographs and reconstructed scenes of daily life help to paint a vivid picture of what life would have been like for many families in Poland.

The Planty gardens run in a ring around Krakow’s Old Town (Stare Miasto). The 30 gardens that make up the park are filled with statues, fountains, brightly colored flowerbeds and well-kept lawns. Use the peaceful surroundings as a base to explore some of the Old Town’s most famous sights. Stop on one of Planty’s many benches to admire the red brick facade of the university or peek over the walls at the gardens of the Dominican Monastery.

There are more than 10,000 tombstones in the New Jewish cemetery. It was established in 1800 and has served as the resting place for notable rabbis, artists and politicians since then. Wander among the headstones and see memorials dedicated to the families that lost their lives during the Holocaust.

The Galicia Jewish Museum features revealing photographs of Jewish cultural sights, Holocaust locations and modern interpretations of what it means to be Jewish in Krakow. Learn a traditional Jewish dance or enjoy a Klezmer concert at one of the attraction’s regular cultural events.

Nestled in the heart of the Jewish District, Krakow’s Corpus Christi Church is a magnificent celebration of the power of and respect for the Polish Catholic Church. Legend says that the church was built on the spot where a thief, who had robbed nearby All Saints’ Church, repented and dropped his spoils. The priests who had been chasing him witnessed the miracle of a mysterious light coming from the spot where the goods were left. In celebration of the miracle, they built a church on that very spot. Visit at night, when the Gothic architecture is beautifully illuminated, and you will understand the source of the story.