I recently spent a few days in Kraków. As I walked around the city, admiring the sights, I noticed many links to different parts of Europe.
Almost as soon as I arrived, I could see and hear connections to other European countries. It started with tourists on the airport train, then retail stores from multinational brands. So far, so capitalist. And then, with my eyes open, I began to notice more cultural connections.
I heard people speaking Dutch, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish - and, of course, English and Polish. I remembered that Kraków was European Capital of Culture in the year 2000, a special year when eight other cities held that title.
Here is the list of what I noticed in European Kraków.
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🇦🇹 Austria: a hotel chain called Vienna House. And a café called Cafe Hawelka, named after the coffee house in Vienna. The owner's father, Leopold Hawelka, was from Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. 🇨🇿
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🇧🇪 A painting by Polish artist Emil Schinangel depicting an organ grinder in Antwerp hangs in the National Museum in Kraków.
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| Antwerp organ-grinder, 1930, Emil Schinagel |
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| Hungarian Revolution plaque in Kraków |
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| Ule na Ukraine, Jan Stanisławski, National Museum in Kraków |
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| Galeria Krakowska |
