Wawel Royal Castle & Sigismund Chapel: The Throne of Poland

Why is it significant?

Climb the brick ramp to Wawel Hill and step into the breathtaking Italian Renaissance arcaded courtyard of Wawel Royal Castle.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Climb the brick ramp to Wawel Hill and step into the breathtaking Italian Renaissance arcaded courtyard of Wawel Royal Castle. Look up at the three tiers of soaring stone loggias: when King Sigismund the First and his Italian-born queen Bona Sforza rebuilt the palace after a fifteen ninety-five fire, they brought Florentine architects Bartolomeo Berrecci and Francesco Fiorentino to transform a grim medieval fortress into the golden court of Renaissance Poland.

Walk across to Wawel Cathedral, the coronation and burial place of thirty-seven Polish monarchs. Gaze at the shimmering gilded dome of the Sigismund Chapel: German art historian August Essenwein hailed this octagonal masterpiece as the most beautiful example of Renaissance architecture north of the Alps. Inside rest the red marble tombs of Sigismund the Old and Sigismund Augustus.

Climb the wooden stairs into the Sigismund Bell Tower to see the eleven-ton royal bell, cast in fifteen twenty. It requires twelve strong bell-ringers to swing, and its deep resonance tolls only during Poland's greatest moments of joy or grief.

Head down toward the western riverside cliffs to find the entrance to the legendary Dragon's Den.