Underground Museum in Cracow- below Cloth Hall (Sukiennice)

The Underground Museum in Cracow (below the Cloth Hall or Sukiennice) was opened in 2010 after a long archaeological dig started in 2005.  The permanent exhibit down below is called "In the Footsteps of Cracow's European Identity". It covers the span of the city's history from the first settlers in the region until the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, a few months before the dig began. 

The museum is open daily. On Tuesdays the admission is free, however the hours are shorter on that day. Every first Tuesday of the month the museum is closed. Admission is rather steep for Polish standards - 19 zloty, but is a pretty good price in American dollars. It is highly recommended that you reserve your tickets in advance, as they are often sold out. You reserve a particular entrance time. Reservations can be made online or in the ticket office in the Cloth Hall (on the opposite side of the building from the museum entrance). Even on the free Tuesdays a reserved entrance time is required. 

The information on Medieval trade in Poland is quite comprehensive. The exhibits show various goods that were traded, such as copper, lead and salt. Copper was often in the form of a disc; salt in the form of a cylinder and lead in the form of a slice of bread. Copper would often come from Hungary and go to Poland, whereas salt and lead would come from Poland and go down to Hungary.Salt mining centers in Poland were in Bochnia and Wieliczka. Much of the profit from the salt mining would go to the King of Poland (ie. Kazimierz the Great used the money to endow Jagiellonian University in Cracow.)

Here are photos of copper, lead and salt.

Besides these displays of goods, there were touch screen computers to scroll through more detailed information on trade in Cracow. I learned that Cracow was set up as a Medieval trade center. There were trade routes in all directions from Cracow leading to other countries. Tolls were assessed on routes and bridges. The amount of toll depended on the type and size of transport vehicle. Traders traveling on foot also had to pay tolls. Fines were doled out for offenses such as traveling on closed routes and walking on the grass. Those exempt from tolls were merchants who were citizens of Cracow and pilgrims on their journeys. 

Some of the trade done by Cracow merchants was long distance. They brought back cloth and wine from Flanders, figs and almonds from Spain, copper and iron from Hungary, and other goods from various places. From the East merchants were able to procure silk, cotton, wax, aluminum and spices ( ( i.e.pepper and ginger).

Polish goods that were commonly traded abroad included linen, hats, textiles, herring, beer, lead, copper and salt. Cracow was the main center of trade in Poland. Wroclaw was the second center of trade on an east-west route. Cracow had a weigh house to supervise the accuracy of weighing copper. Copper often ended up being transported to the Baltic Sea for shipments abroad. I was not aware that Cracow was a member of the Hanseatic League. I am sure that membership provided many opportunities to trade abroad. 

There were settlements in the area around the Cloth Hall on Cracow's main square. The people who lived there worked as craftsmen in the areas of woodworking, pottery making and metal working. Trading took place.  The homes were made of wood and had wooden or dirt floors. A new homeowner would put a basket of food under the first beam of the house's foundation as an offering for good fortune. At some point, maybe during the Mongol invasion of 1241, the settlement was consumed by fire. It was not rebuilt. In 1257 the prince orders the leveling of the settlement and the building of a new market square over the old market. 

Here is a photo from the exhibit about the settlement and the fire. You can see the dirt floor and foundation.

Many times the market square was leveled and another one built on top of it. In the museum are many examples showing a cross-section of the ground and the different layers of civilization. Here is one such example. Sometimes there were layers of stone or wood built on top of each other.

There was even a drainage system (an open space under buildings) to allow water to flow through and not flood buildings. Here it is.

Cracow's layout changed during the years. Here is an early map of Cracow. I do not recall how old this map is, but Cracow's walled-in part is pretty small. The market square would be in the center of the large walled-in area. Note that settlements were starting outside the wall too.

As the site was being excavated, household items were found buried underground.

Here are some:

Combs and little figurines.

Locks.

Keys.

Large cemeteries were discovered in various locations in the market square area and around St. Adalbert's church in the square. Often common items were buried with people, ie. beads, tools and coins in the person's hand or mouth. Those odd people suspected of being vampires were buried with their bodies arranged in strange ways -either in the fetal position or decapitated. This way of burial happened so the "vampires" could not torment the living.  If it was determined that someone had not been properly buried, then they would be dug up and given a proper burial. 

Here is a display of someone buried. This person must have been "normal" as the body position is normal. Note the arms folded in. That is a traditional burial pose.

The excavations of the ground around and underneath the current Cloth Hall were started in 2005. It was a bigger project than they anticipated. Here are photos from the dig.

This photo was taken in 2006. Notice the foundations of stalls outside the Cloth Hall. I will write about them later. They were called the "rich" stalls.

Here is another photo from 2005. Note the layers of rock below the surface. Those show the previous ground levels of settlements there.

Here is another angle of the square from 2005. The little church is St. Adalbert's (still there) where they discovered a large cemetery outside the church.

The "rich" stalls whose foundations you see next to the Cloth Hall were the places luxury goods were sold. The stalls were the idea of Queen Jadwiga in the mid 14th century. Merchants's widows sold goods there. They were 2 story stalls (an above ground level and an underground level), separated from the Cloth Hall by a narrow street. They were parallel to the Cloth Hall on one side of the Cloth Hall. (See the photo above and the first photo I posted of the excavations.) The stalls were pulled down in 1868. Not sure why.

Here is a photo of a display of these "rich" stalls in the museum.

This underground museum below the market square is one of several in Poland. I believe this one in Cracow is the largest. In Rzeszow there is also another museum under the market square. It is much smaller than the one in Cracow. Both show you traces of ancient civilizations centered around a market that have become buried over time. These museums are worth a visit. There is a lot of history underground.

Apteka Pod Orłem (Pharmacy under the Eagle) - Cracow, Poland

This pharmacy was established by Józef Pankiewicz on Zgody Square (now płac Bohaterów Getta) in 1909. Before the start of WW II his son Tadeusz took it over. In 1941 the pharmacy became enclosed in the ghetto. It continued to operate as a pharmacy for the residents of the ghetto. It was also a place where ghetto residents could meet and exchange information, could have illegal correspondence and money delivered, and served as a hiding place for people, Torah scrolls and family treasures. Since 2003 the pharmacy has been a part of the Historical Museums of the City of Cracow.

Here is a picture of the museum.

It is located on the corner of płac Bohaterów Getta in Podgorze.  The wall of the ghetto apparently was right outside the pharmacy. Mr. Tadeusz Pankiewicz had a hard time convincing the Nazis to let him keep his business open inside the ghetto. After all there were other pharmacies in the city of Cracow. He knew that if he was forced to close the pharmacy there that the Nazis would move him to a location in Kazimierz that had been forcibly evacuated by someone else. After the war he would get kicked out of the place in Kazimierz and return to his building in Podgorze that would be in ruins.  The residents of the ghetto needed their medicines.  A quote from Tadeusz Pankiewicz's memoir reads "I was the only Pole to live and work among them (the Jews) there (...in the ghetto), from its inception to its liquidation."  Having the pharmacy, run by a Pole inside the ghetto, was unusual.

As you walk through this museum you visit different rooms of the pharmacy, ie. the dispensing room (where medicines were requested), the prescription room (where medicines were made), the duty room (Pankiewicz's office) and the materials room (pharmacy storage room). Each room has exhibits and often multi-media displays (computer screens with details about individuals who came regularly to the pharmacy and interviews of ghetto survivors on videos). In many of the rooms there were cabinets with drawers that you could open and where you could read more about life in the ghetto. Stepping into the front room of the museum felt like stepping into the reception area of the pharmacy with the counter and medicines in glass cases behind the counter.

I learned about important places within the ghetto for children ie. orphanages, day care centers, a trade boarding school for older orphans. There would be some basic education provided at the orphanages and at the boarding school, but that was about it in terms of schooling. Young kids who still had parents were often left alone to wander the streets while their parents were working. Often addresses were given in the museum for the orphanages and day care centers. I wrote them down. I found several of those buildings.

Here is a sign on one of the former orphanages. It says that Amalja Wasserbergerowa offered her home to orphans in 1936.  It remained an orphanage during the war.

Some more details I learned at the museum included information about food ration coupons. Each coupon cost 2 zloty. Often the head of your household would buy all the coupons for the whole house.

Concerts were played in ghetto bars. The repertoire had to be pre-approved by the Germans. A famous family of musicians called "the Rosner Family" played at the Polonia Cafe in the ghetto and at the pharmacy. Later they were sent to the labor camp in Plaszow and forced to perform there. They were later rescued from the camp by Schindler. 

Also mentioned in the museum was Mordechaj Gebirtig, a poet who lived in the ghetto. I saw some books about him at the book store in the High Synagogue in Kazimierz. 

Kids in the ghetto were sometimes drugged with Luminal (a sleeping drug), supplied by the pharmacy, so their parents could transport them to another location more easily. This was useful if you were trying to hide from the authorities.

One of the frequent visitors to the pharmacy was Marceli Grunner, a commercial handler of goods. He was also a Gestapo informer. He visited the pharmacy until it was found out about his affiliation with the Germans. Later he was shot by an underground group.

In his memoir Tadeusz Pankiewicz wrote about several German officers who came often to the pharmacy and hung out. He made sure to give them plenty of vodka to consume so they would not look for trouble.

On Dluga Street in Cracow a hospital was set up for Jews returning from German camps after the war. 

A doctor Julian Aleksandrowicz founded the hospital. His nickname was Dr. Twardy. I believe there is well-known Polish film about Dr. Twardy and his efforts.

The square outside the pharmacy used to be called Plac Zgody. Later it was renamed płac Bohaterów Getta (Heroes of the Ghetto square). Many deportations to camps and executions took place in this square during the war. Empty chairs in the square now serve as a reminder of those gone missing from the ghetto.

Tadeusz Pankiewicz's memoir is called "The Krakow Ghetto Pharmacy" (English translation by Garry Malloy), published by Wydawnictwo Literackie in 2013. This was translated from the 2nd edition of the book (written in Polish). I bought the English version in the bookstore at the High Synagogue in Kazimierz, Józefa street #38 in Cracow. Of course there is the version in Polish that can be purchased in the bookstore.

Museum - History of Podgorze

The museum about the history of Podgorze on Limanowskiego street is quite interesting. Its 2 rooms contain a lot of information on old Podgorze. The catch is you should be able to read Polish at an advanced level. I had some trouble understanding the texts as there was much specialized vocabulary. Very little was translated into English. 

The lady who worked there was very helpful in telling me about the many sites to go check out in Podgorze. In later days I was able to return and explore some of those places.

Here is a picture of the building where the museum is located. The museum is in the back part of the building.

Podgorze was founded in 1784 by the Austrian csar Joseph II. There were earlier settlements in this area around 10,000 years ago. In the Middle Ages this part of Poland was known for its stones, sand, coal and limestone. Later iron and tin were found here. From the 1830s Podgorze was developing fast as a city. It was an independent city and did not want to be added on to the city of Cracow.

The first electricity plant in Podgorze was built in 1899. It served the whole city and was on Nadwislanskiej street #4. This plant preceded the one built in Cracow (in Kazimierz).

The city government headquarters was located at #1 Rynek Podgorski. This later became the headquarters for the Jewish Council (Judenrat) during WWII.

In the 1920s other industry developed in Podgorze. Mills, bakeries, sugar and marmalade factories, and even chocolate factories appeared. It was a booming city.

An old cemetery (the old Podgorski cemetery) opened in 1775. Famous citizens of Pogorze were buried there, including Edward Dembowski (a leader of an uprising in 1846 for Poland's independence). I wrote about this place in a previous blog entry on Podgorze.

There are 3 main churches in Podgorze - sw. Benedykt, sw. Jozefa and Redemptorystow. (The 1st 2 I wrote about in previous blog entries. The 3rd one I did not visit.) Sw. Benedykt is only open for mass once a year on the Tues. after Easter when the Rekawka fair takes place. In the museum there is a photo of the church from 1941-43. Behind it is the ghetto wall.

In 1941 the Germans decided to build a ghetto in Podgorze. It was in the area between Krzemionka street, Rynek Podgorski, Plac Zgody (now Plac Bohaterow Getta) and Traugutta street. Liquidation of the ghetto was in 1943. From the ghetto prisoners were sent to Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Plaszow or Liban camps. The Liban camp was a forced labor place for Poles (a quarry). After the war it remained a quarry. In 1993 Steven Spielberg filmed part of Schindler's List here. Remainders of the sets are still on location (ie. barracks). I wrote about Liban in a previous blog entry. 

There was a special exhibit on the area of Plaszow, where the labor camp was located. The mayor of Cracow Juliusz Leo wanted Plaszow to join Cracow and become part of Cracow. This was in the early 20th century. Cracow was interested in the industry and train transportation of goods in Plaszow. Plaszow refused multiple offers to join Cracow. One landowner in Plaszow Karol Czecz at first refused Cracow's offer to incorporate his land into Cracow. Eventually in 1910 he agreed to join his land to Cracow. Little by little Cracow was encroaching on Plaszow. Today it is considered a suburb of Cracow. 

Lastly the Plac Niepodleglosci in Podgorze was an important place of resistance and fighting for Poland's independence. Today you cannot see any obvious evidence or reminder of this on the square, except for a sign and map there. 

A new-old bridge and across to Podgorze, Jozefinska street.

During my reading at the Municipal Museum in Cracow I found out that at the location of an old bridge over the Wisla they built a new one. Some existing evidence of the old bridge got incorporated into the new structure. This I had to see. Off to the river near Pilsudski bridge I went.  

There are a whole series of bridges across the Wisla. This newest one is for pedestrians and cyclists only. There are 2 separate walkways that are side by side, separated by pipes. Here I am standing on one side and photographing the other side. Beyond this bridge is the Pilsudski bridge for cars and pedestrians.

The name of this bridge is "Kladka Bernatka". Kladka means lock in English (as in the ones to lock up your bikes). I am not sure about the reference to Bernatka. It may refer to an order of monks since in Polish the letter "o" is next to Bernatka (o=ojcow or monks). Why locks hung on the sides of the bridge? Not sure how it started, but it is now a tradition to hang a lock there symbolizing your faithful union in marriage. Here is a close-up.

 

Here is a photo that gives you an idea about the number of locks already hung there. Don't worry. There is still room for your lock on there!

Here are 2 other photos of the bridge - one at sunset and one from underneath.

Contemporary art! Clearly the 2 walkways are visible.

The "old" part of this Kladka bridge is the brick pillar that supports it on land. This brick was part of a pre-existing bridge. It was the oldest bridge with a brick pillar in Cracow across the Wisla. It was built between 1844 and 1850. It was slowly dismantled starting at an unspecificed date and ending in 1936. It was called the Podgorski bridge because it led to the Podgorze district. Here is a sign confirming this.

Here is a photo of the old bridge foundation.

I do not know when the Kladka bridge was built. It is new to me since being in Cracow 6 years ago.

Walk across the bridge from the Kazimierz side and you end up in Podgorze. Here is the view over to

Podgorze.

Walk a little ways to the left and you will see a rock with a sign on it confirming that you are in Podgorze.

Go a little further and you will find Jozefinska street.  Here you will find several important buildings from WWII. 

Here is an employment office used by the Germans to send Jews away to forced labor camps. It also served as a hospital for the chronically ill and recovering patients. The sign helps explain this.

It was this building-now a music school.

This next building was an old Jewish hospital during the war. When the Germans liquidated the ghetto, they killed all the patients.

This pink building was that hospital.

Here was a sign about a Jewish Social Self - Help Organization's building during the war. They collected money to help those in the ghetto. 

The sign also mentions a day care center a few doors down for children ages 6-14. They were all murdered by the Germans during the ghetto liquidation.

Here is the self-help organization building.

Lastly I believe this neglected building (#17 Jozefinska street) was the headquarters for the Jewish ghetto police (or "OD" - Ordnungs Dienst). These were Jews who worked for the Germans to maintain order in the ghetto.  There was no sign on the building, but I had written down that it was #17 Jozefinska. A Polish friend explained to me that the things the Poles want to forget are not labeled (as to not keep these places or people in mind). Perhaps that is why there is no sign. I just wonder whether the guy I saw looking out the window of his apartment there knows the history of that building. 

More from Kazimierz

As I wandered around the Kazimierz district in Cracow I noticed a few things that I had not seen before. Here is a shot of the Remuh Cemetery from the side (through a fence). It is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Cracow.

A "key hole" shot.

Another thing I noticed was an old building with Hebrew inscriptions on the front. When I got closer, I could see this sign.

It was a place for studies of the Talmud for adult members of the Jewish community. The group that organized these studies was formed in 1810. I am not sure when the building was first erected. The sign mentions a fire in 1773 that destroyed the building. It was renovated in the first half of the 19th century. Later renovations were in 1912. This building is located at #42 ul. Jozefa.

On Wawrzynca street in Kazimierz I first noticed this building that looked newly renovated as compared to older surrounding buildings. It was formerly an electric power plant.

In 1908 this place became an independent electric power facility for Cracow. In 1976 it ceased production of electricity there. Currently there are administrative offices for a business in this building.

A little further down sw. Wawrzynca street (#15) is a complex of buildings that were part of an old tram depot dating from 1882. It is now a museum called the Museum of Municipal Engineering (inzynierii miejskiej). The museum covers the history of transportation in Cracow, the electrification and sewerage of Cracow, the history of telecommunication, the history of the Polish car and motorcycle industry, the history of printing in Cracow from the 15th to the 20th century and trams on sw. Wawrzynca street.

Unfortunately the museum was closed when I went by. I seem to remember seeing some of the exhibits here many years ago. Here is a photo of the museum. Note the tram tracks.

Across the street at #12 is an old tram depot, now renovated and not looking that old. In it is a restaurant/bar. Here it is.

The Cracow Industrial Heritage Route is shown on a map outside the museum. It includes places like the electric power plant, old bridges and retaining walls for the Wisla river. 

Also included in this outdoor photo exhibit by the museum were old pictures of Cracow's bridges and river embankments. Here is a photo of an old bridge for trains. 

There was once a wooden bridge at this site. In 1863 this bridge was built out of bricks and stone pillars. It was built by the Karl Ludwig Railway Company on the train line from Cracow to Lvov. 

Notice how the Wisla river is underneath the bridge. Between 1878 and 1880 the river was filled in with sand so the bridge was over dry land. It still is like that today. This bridge is located near Dietla and Grzegorzecki streets. 

The pictures that intrigued me the most were those of the walls built along the Wisla river. They were built to protect Cracow and Podgorze from floods. The walls were built between 1907 and 1913 by engineer Roman Ingarden. A canal was planned along the Dunaj, Odra, Wisla and Dniestr rivers so big boats could come through with their loads of wares. When WWI broke out, the canal idea was abandoned. The retaining walls were built from the Rudawa river near the Norbertanek cloister to the train station Cracow-Grzegorki (no longer exists, but close to current Galeria Kazimierz shopping mall).

The walls were built on both sides of the river. 

The construction of the walls was thus that there was a low wall built by the river bank and a high wall built further away from the river bank. In between the walls were train tracks and a ramp for goods to be transported to higher ground. The ships unloaded their goods over the lower wall onto trains or trucks. Here is a picture of the higher wall being built around 1910.

Notice the train tracks.

Here is a photo of the high wall and railway tracks. The lower wall is way off to the left by the river bank. It is not possible to see it here.

I decided to go walking along the Wisla near the Pilsudski bridge to see if I could still see those old retaining walls. Well they are there still, along with the ramps. The train tracks have been replaced with pavement for walkers and cyclists. You cannot see the lower wall on this photo. It is way down by the bank of the river.

Here is a sign on the high wall confirming I had found the right place.

To me this is the really interesting part about Cracow - finding these nuggets of information that encourage me to explore and learn about the history of this amazing city. The fact that I can actually go and see what I was reading about is wonderful. 

2 footballs in Poland

In Poland we can expect a love for this kind of football.

What we don't expect is this -

The Big Ten Network!

I am completely baffled by this love of American football over here. Plus showing NCAA football on Polish TV is a new one for me! The commentary is mostly in Polish, except for words like extra point, touch down, offsides etc. that are in English. Well, go Youngstown State (OH), since I can't really root for Michigan State. (It's a Michigan-Michigan State rivalry that gets in the way of this writer's bias.)

Actually I have seen a little American football played in Poland on the TV. There are a few semi-professional teams in Poland (like Warsaw and Wroclaw, I think). 

I think the Poles really prefer their European football, as do I. Yesterday I went to another match played by Wisla Krakow and Piast Gliwice. The atmosphere was fine. Fewer people were at this match than at the last match I went to in August. The reasons were probably because it was cold, it was late and it was during the school year. Anyhow, Wisla won 3-0. The first 2 goals were scored by the Wisla star Pawel Brozek. The first goal was off a corner kick that got near the goal line. After the 3rd kick near the goal line, the ball finally got in the net. The 2nd goal was a one in one with the goalie and Brozek. The 3rd goal was made by Donald (? French last name). None of the fans around me could remember his last name. Someone joked that his last name was "Tusk", like the Polish premier Donald Tusk. This was also a one on one with the goalie with a left footed goal.

Here is a picture of the mascot, a dragon. They must have several animals representing the team because I have seen the name "sharks" as well. 

The flag colors must be the team colors, since the Polish flag only has red and white.

Here is a photo of the stadium from where I am staying in Cracow. It is the far building with "spikes".

It is not a far walk to home.

I will have to wait until next summer for another Wisla game. At least my Wisla fan card will still be valid!