Wawel Cathedral

Wawel Hill is probably one of the most important places in Poland, let alone Krakow. Much of Poland’s early history starts from here. There was evidence of human activity here in Wawel Hill during the Neolithic Period. The hill then became a magnet for people from all over and communities then arose from this. The king then decided to build a castle here on top of Wawel Hill, appropriately named Wawel Castle.

Back then, the Catholic Church and the monarchy had a very close relationship, as in the case with other monarchies. People in power also want to be sure that they will be well off in the afterlife which is why kings tend to shower the church with riches. It is not surprising then that Wawel Castle has a cathedral of its own. It is actually quite a unique structure since it looks so different from the rest of the castle. However, it is quite obvious that it was still very much part of the castle.

It is almost a like a mishmash of different architectural styles – Romanesque, Baroque and others. The history of the cathedral probably sheds some light on why this is so. This cathedral is actually the third one to stand here. Their cathedrals at the time seem to have a nasty habit of burning down, the first one was probably made of wood and churches usually have candles and candles burn wood. The second one also burned down, while the current one was completed in 1364, which is quite old considering that this was already the third structure on the site.

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