Page 54 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Krakow

52  INTRODUCING KR AK OW

Krakow’s Famous Residents

Many leading personalities of Polish Helena Modrzejewska
academic, cultural and public life (1840–1909)
This famous actress began
were born in Krakow. Eminent scholars her career at the Old Theatre
were educated at or drawn to the (Teatr Stary) She is buried
Jagiellonian University, which was in Krakow.
sometimes called “a gem of all
knowledge”. Famous artists and
writers chose to live here, attracted
by the unique atmosphere of the city,
which was enlivened by old traditions.
The cult of such great figures as writer
and artist Stanisław Wyspiánski, K A RMEL I CKA
theatre director Tadeusz Kantor and
painter Jan Matejko is still alive.
K R U P N I C Z A
Stanisław Wyspiański
(1869–1907)
Best known for his play
The Wedding, Wyspiański
was a dramatist, painter
and designer. His great PLASEK AND
artistic visions are NOWY ŚWIAT
embedded in the Polish
perception of national
identity. He was born
at Krupnicza 26.
S M O L E Ń S K
Wisława
Szymborska
(1923–2012) Z W I E R Z Y N I E C K A
This prominent poet
was awarded the
1996 Nobel Prize
for Literature.
Szymborska’s links
with Krakow span WAWEL
more than 50 years. V i s t u l a HILL
She lived at
Krupnicza 22 in Stanisław Lem (1921–2006)
her youth.
One of the most widely read
science-fiction authors in
the world, Lem was also an
essayist and critic. He studied
medicine in Krakow.
Andrzej Wajda (1926–2016)
A leading film and theatre director,
Wajda was educated in Krakow. He was
the main instigator of the Japanese Centre
of Art and Technology, one of the city’s
best museums. Wajda won an Oscar for
Lifetime Achievement in 2000.

John Paul II (1920–2005)
Before his elevation to the papacy,
Karol Wojtyła was Suffragan
Bishop, then Archbishop of
Krakow from 1963 to 1978. He
lived in the Archbishop’s Palace on
Franciszkańska 3.