This is a fascinating museum with some wonderful exhibits. The highlight is probably the collection of sarcophagi discovered in 1887 at Sidon in Lebanon. The "Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women" has wonderful decorative friezes and the remarkable Alexandria Sarcophagus is covered in intricate raised friezes on which some of the original colours can still be seen.
There is a collection of fine Roman statues and in the Museum of the Ancient Orient colourful glazed brick friezes from Babylon.

Osman Hamdi Bay Yokusu

Opening Hours: 9.00am-4.30pm closed Mondays

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

St Mary’s Church stands on one corner of the Market Square (Rynek Glowny), its distinctive silhouette forming a recognisable marker point.

The two towers of unequal height give the outside of the church an idiosyncratic air, this asymmetry prompting feelings of friendliness and comfort. The building looks welcoming.

The interior of the church is highly decorated in bright colours, reds, blues, greens and gold, with the choir stalls backed by low-relief carvings of intricate detail.

For many, the most astonishing part of the church will be the High Altar, made by Wit Stwosz between 1477 and 1489. The altar screen is like a large cabinet with huge doors which can be opened out. Both the outside and inside of the altar screen are wonderfully carved and decorated, showing scenes from the lives of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The figures are life-like, the detail fantastic and the whole effect vigorous.

The huge outer doors are opened at midday so it is worth visiting the church a little before that so you can witness both the outer and inner decoration as well as the ceremony when the doors are open.

Every hour the bugle call (hejnal) is sounded from the taller of the two towers. According to legend this is to commemorate a bugler who saved the city from the threat of a Tartar invasion in the mid-13th Century. A Tartar arrow shot the bugler before he could finish, however, he had already played enough for the citizens to be alerted.

Today the henjal is stopped at the note on which the bugler was shot. And like St. Mary’s Church it soon becomes an easily identifiable and rather affecting symbol of the city itself.

Mariacki Sq. 5
On one corner of the main Market Square

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

*CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT UNTIL 2009*
Above the colonnaded arcades of the ground floor of the Sukiennice is a branch of the National Museum housing 19th and early 20th Century paintings by Polish artists.

Historical and romantic subjects are housed alongside symbolist paintings. Huge canvases such as 'Nero's Torches' by Henryk Siemiradzki and 'Four-in-Hand' - a wonderful study of power and speed - by Jozef Chelmonski dominate and impress with their artistry and scope.

The gallery is not large so it doesn't take long to look around, however, the quality of the art displayed creates an interesting and evocative exhibition.

Well worth a visit, a small gallery that will linger long in the memory.

Sukiennice, Rynek Glowny 1/3

The entrance is on the outside of the Sukiennice, opposite EMPiK.
Opening Hours: Tue & Thurs 11am-6pm
Wed & Fri 9am-3.30pm
Sat & Sun 10.00am-3.30pm
Closed Monday and every 3rd sunday

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Knicknamed "Citta dell' Acqua", this great little archaeological site is in a quiet street just behind the Trevi Fountain. For two euros you can examine the excavations of several levels in an ancient Roman residential area plus enjoy a little exhibition that explains the excavations and their finds.

Vicolo del Puttarello, 25 (it's a small street, near Via dei Modelli and the Trevi Fountain

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends