Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Krakow

After a short break people watching along the Vistula River in Krakow, I decided to carry on with my exploration. I didn’t have a fixed itinerary. I knew that Krakow itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site and I was just going around the old town. So far, the old town didn’t seem to be that impressive. There were a lot of rather more recent buildings as I was walking through the town. I was thinking that maybe I still haven’t hit the really old parts of town. There were signs of this old history of the town and probably none more prominent than the churches.

The first church I encountered in Krakow is the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi. I actually wasn’t that impressed with the church. It was rather “ordinary” but I didn’t know that it was very old. There was a church here which was consecrated way back in 1269. It was continuously expanded over the years until a fire destroyed it in 1850. The fire destroyed numerous precious artifacts included church records. Maybe using candles all the time isn’t such a good idea. I wanted to enter the church but I wasn’t able to find an open door. I didn’t know that it possessed a certified copy of the Shroud of Turin, which is said to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ.

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