Big shopping is back, also this Sunday and the next.
/2020-12-10/ Seeing the falling number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 throughout Poland, the government has allowed shopping malls to reopen on November 28, 2020, though with limits for customers per shop floor area and facial masking mandatory. So expect people queuing at entrance of popular shops, notably on the two shopping Sundays prior to Christmas, that is on December 13th and December 20th.
Mark
Krakow guide
No New Year's alfresco concert this year.
/2020-11-23/ The traditional New Year's open-air concert in the central square of Krakow on the night of December 31st is cancelled this year 2020 as yet another precaution against the spreading of COVID-19 pandemic.
Muse
Krakow Nativity scenes parade cancelled in 2020.
/2020-11-16/ Krakow szopki parade has been cancelled in 2020 due to precautions against the spreading of COVID-19 pandemic. The traditional parade of colorful Nativity scenes usually takes place in the Rynek Glowny central square on the first Thursday of December.
Barbara
No Christmas market in 2020.
/2020-11-09/ After much procrastination the Christmas market in Krakow has been eventually cancelled in 2020 as the Polish government introduced new sweeping precautions against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mark
Free concerts of organ music.
/2020-11-01/ The 17th edition of the
Organ All Souls International
Festival takes place this year from November 1st through
November 9th, 2020. Nine days and seven recitals and concerts of organ
music, each of them at one of the historic churches of
Krakow. Free admission to all events.
Muse
Krakow All Souls Jazz
Festival in 2020.
/2020-10-21/
The 65th All Souls Krakow
jazz festival (Krakowskie Zaduszki Jazzowe) has been reduced to just five live concerts over three days, that is three concerts on Thursday, October 29th, and one concert on Friday, October 30th and on Saturday, October 31st. This
year's edition of Europe's oldest jazz festival
is devoid of traditional Jazz Holy Mass in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thoma
Krakow Composer Festival: free and very modern music.
/2020-10-05/ The 32nd
International Krakow Composer Festival goes on from October
17th through October 25th, 2020
with free admission for all festival events. Every day one concert features
contemporary classical music till October 22nd plus one more concert of electronic music in scheduled for Sunday, October 25th.
Muse
Saint Michael market of late September.
/2020-09-16/ Krakow's Saint Michael market starts in Maly
Rynek square, one block east from the Rynek Glowny
central square, this Friday, September 18th to continue through Sunday,
September 27th, 2020. Stalls will sell the
village arts and crafts
from
sculpture to cloths to pottery and glassware. Also traditional foods such as breads, cheeses, cured meats, and sweets to be available plus local craftsmen will demonstrate their skills.
Kasia
Krakow Filharmonia concert hall reopens.
/2020-09-09/ The centrally situated Filharmonia Krakowska concert hall at 1 Zwierzyniecka street, home to the Krakow Philharmonics, is ready for reopening after a prolonged refurbishment. The ticket office opens on September 15th, 2020 and the first concert is planned for Saturday, September 26th (Granat & Kreda
piano duo playing tangos by
Astor Piazzolla and Carlos Guastavino).
Barbara
Street theater festival these days.
/2020-09-03/ The 33rd ULICA
International Street Theatre Festival
in Krakow takes place from Friday, September 4th through Sunday, September 6th with free alfresco performances in the city's squares. The Rynek Glowny central square remains the main venue but some show are planned in Rynek Podgorski square and Aleja Roz square.
Thoma
New opera season in Krakow starts in mid-September.
/2020-01-01/ Opening of the Krakow Opera new season falls on Saturday, September 12th 2020 with an open-air concert of operatic music in the garden of the Archeology Museum at 3 Senacka street. On September 17th, 2020 the Krakow Opera company stages Vincenzo Bellini's 'Norma' in its opera house at 48 Lubicz street.
Muse
Folk Art Fair in Krakow, August 8 - 25.
/2020-08-14/ The 44th Cepelia Folk Art Fair in
Krakow goes on in Rynek Glowny central square
from Thursday, August 13th through
Sunday August 23th, 2020. Rows
of stalls sell varied traditional village crafts and arts including embroidery,
pottery, woodcarving, painting, iron, metalwork, etc. Plus a number of special
attractions and entertainments
are planned
such as gigs by
acts performing traditional village tunes and songs. Admission is free.
Kasia
The late August classical music.
/2020-08-03/ The program of this year's 45th Music
in Old Cracow Festival
consists of 17 live concerts in as many days, i.e. one event every night. In 2020
Krakow's time-honored festival
of classical music goes on as usual from August 15th through
August 31st. The historic churches of Krakow and the city's other architectural monuments serve as the venues for almost all concerts.
Kasia
Festival of the Polish Classical Music this August.
/2020-07-29/ The
16th
Festival of Polish Music in Krakow is to last just four days from Thursday August 6th through Sunday August 9th, 2020. Its
program consists of three concerts and one recital filled with classical music by Polish
composers, performed by recognized artists, ensembles, and
orchestras in Krakow historic buildings.
Muse
Krakow tourist attractions are back.
/2020-07-24/ Practically all tourist attractions of Krakow have been reopened till now, including the site of the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz and the Wieliczka Salt Mine. As precautions against COVID-19 covering mouth and nose indoors and keeping distance of two metres outdoors remain mandatory everywhere.
Barbara
2020 Summer Jazz Festival goes live in Krakow.
/2020-07-10/
The 25th Summer
Jazz
Festival in Krakow consists of live concerts taking place from July 3rd through August 15th, 2020. As usual, the principal venue is Piwnica Pod
Baranami cellar club at 27 Rynek Glowny (Grand Square) where
jazz concerts are scheduled every night at 9 pm from
July 4th through July 30th. The New Orleans Sunday falls on August 9th with Krakow's jazzmen playing traditional jazz at pavement cafes of the Rynek Glowny central square from noon to 4 pm.
Muse
EU nationals welcome to Poland.
/2020-06-12/ From tomorrow Saturday, June
13th
the EU nationals can freely travel to Poland
again
though they
also, like Polish citizens,
are required to keep a two-metre social distance and cover faces indoors. International flights may resume on June 17th, 2020.
Mark
Few restrictions for Poles.
/2020-06-09/ Little has remained of lockdown for the residents of Poland presently. Nightspots stay closed. A social distance of two metres
everywhere
plus face covering indoors are still mandatory. Schoolchildren and students need to learn online till summer vacations. Gatherings larger than 150 people are banned. And that's practically it. On the other hand, foreign tourists cannot visit Poland and international flights, trains remain suspended.
Mark
Lockdown in Poland nearly over.
/2020-05-21/ With eateries open and beauty salons busy, not much of mandatory lockdown remains in place in the service sector in Krakow. Some tourist attractions and some museums stay closed but it's their choice. On the other hand, public entertainment is still off limits with all theaters, music venues, nightspots, cinemas, etc. closed. Also, no spectator sport is available. At the same time social distancing and face covering stay obligatory in
public spaces though not when you sit at a restaurant table, fortunately.
Mark
Krakow opens slightly more.
/2020-05-04/ After making parks available again and permitting recreational outings somewhat earlier, now the Polish authorities allowed museums, libraries and shopping centers as well as open-air sport facilities to open to the public as long as they provide for social distancing on the premises. Shopping malls have resumed business today but museums will do it in stages. For instance the National Museum in Krakow promises to open its first branch before
May 15th and the last one before June 15th. The management of the Wawel Royal Castle have already made accessible courtyards and gardens but exhibitions stay closed for the time being.
Mark
Lockdown in place in Poland from March 25, 2020.
/2020-03-24/
To stem the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the government of Poland has introduced today its version of lockdown throughout the country, in force from March 25th to April 11th. People are expected to stay at home when they don't work. They may go out to work, to help the elderly and family members, and to do essential shopping such as food, medicines, and hygiene products. Except for families, only two people may get together at a time.
Mark
2020 Krakow Easter festivals
of music cancelled.
/2020-03-21/ This year the Misteria Paschalia
Krakow Easter
festival of classical music planned for Holy Week was cancelled given the danger of
COVID-19 epidemic. The same applies to
the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter
Festival and its concerts both in Warsaw and Krakow.
Thoma
No Easter market this year in Krakow.
/2020-03-19/ This year the
Easter
market in Krakow, originally planned for April 3rd through 13th, 2020 in the Rynek Glowny central square, will not take place. It has been cancelled in
compliance with Poland's sweeping precautions against the spread
of coronavirus.
Kasia
All-sweeping precautions against coronavirus.
/2020-03-14/
In a bid to prevent an epidemic of COVID-19 (coronavirus),
Poland government has ordered a temporary closure of cultural venues and institutions, museums, restaurants, cinemas, coffee shops, pubs, clubs, schools, universities, shopping centers, sport and fitness facilities etc. It has also banned all gatherings of fifty people or more. Plus foreign travelers are not allowed to enter Poland
for the time being with international air, train, and bus connections suspended.
To date there has been just 84
confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease in the whole country and only one of them in Krakow.
Mark
Sweeping precautions against coronavirus.
/2020-03-11/ The Polish government has decided today to close all cultural venues, museums, theaters, cinemas, etc., initially till March 25th, 2020 as well as schools to
prevent
an outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus). Also many tourist sites stay off limits to visitors for the time being, including Auschwitz. Seeing that in the entire Poland only 25 cases of the disease have been confirmed to date (just one of them in Krakow), come considered the measures to be an overkill, some think them adequate, some think that, under the circumstances, it's better to overreact than underperform.
Mark
The first case of coronavirus confirmed in Krakow.
/2020-03-09/ The first and thus far the only case of COVID-19 disease has been confirmed in Krakow today, March 9th, 2020. The patient, who freshly arrived from Italy, was duly quarantined. In anticipation of possible further cases a wide range of precautions are taken including the cancellation of events with mass audiences.
Mark
No trace of coronavirus in Krakow yet.
/2020-03-07/ Thus far Krakow and the entire Malopolska region of Poland seems free of coronavirus which scares humankind right now. Not a single case of COVID-19 disease has been confirmed in the city to date. Sure, it may be only a matter of time so the authorities, institutions, the medical profession, etc. are already high on alert.
Mark
Easter market this year in Krakow.
/2020-03-06/ In 2020 the
Easter
market in Krakow starts in the city's central square on Friday, April 3rd and it will continue through Monday, April 13th. Expect
a wide range of traditional
Easter decorations plus varied foods and village handicrafts to be on sale.
Kasia
Sweet Tooth Thursday.
/2020-02-17/ This year the Fat
Thursday feast, Tlusty Czwartek in Polish, Poland's traditional day of
sugary overeating, falls on February 20th, i.e. this week. So this Thursday
don't forget to buy paczki, the local incarnation of
donuts, a must-eat in Krakow on that day.
It marks the start of Ostatki, that is the last week
of carnival in Krakow.
Thomas
World Press Photo on show in Krakow now.
/2020-02-12/ Exhibition „World Press Photo 2019” takes
place in Nowohuckie Centrum Kultury culture centre at 232
al. Jana Pawla II from February 7th through March 1st,
2020. It's open every day 11 am to 7 pm. The show features blow-ups selected from 78,000-plus
pictures entered for the 62nd edition of the venerable
photojournalism contest last year. Some images on display
are nasty and organizers discourage minors from visiting the
exhibition. A regular admission fee is 10 zlotys (PLN).
Kasia
Shanties festival in Krakow this February.
/2020-02-07/ This year the 39th edition of
Shanties Krakow festival of sailor songs takes place from
Thursday, February 20th through Sunday, February 23rd 2020. The main festival venue is Kijow.Centrum playhouse at 34 Slowackiego avenue. An open-air free concert in Rynek Glowny central square starts at 2 pm on Saturday, February 22nd.
Muse
Festival of the 20th-century classical music this March.
/2020-02-04/ Classical music festival
Szymanowski/Poland/World
takes place in Krakow March 24 thru March 28, 2020. Its program consists of five concerts, one per night,
filled with music by Karol Szymanowski and his contemporaries such as
Maurice Ravel,
Cesar Franck, Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc, and Camille Saint-Saens. The festival is organized by the Krakow Philharmonics.
Barbara
Late January flying pains.
/2020-01-25/ Planning arrival at or departure from the Krakow Airport on January 25 or 26 or 27 or 28? The authorities warn that it may be difficult to get to the airport or leave it these days for
reasons of
security. As the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp falls on January 27th, 2020 the arrival of many high-ranking officials are expected and most will fly to Krakow and stay in the city overnight while travelling to Oswiecim by road on the day of commemoration. If you are an ordinary passenger, it's advisable to take it into account and give yourself extra time when planning your journey.
Mark
Opera Rara 2020 festival in January & February.
/2020-01-11/ This year's edition of Krakow festival Opera Rara
starts on January 23rd to end on February 14th,
2020. Its program consists of 19 operatic (more or less) shows of 6 works, namely
G. Rossini’s Sigismondo, Udo Zimmermann’s Weisse Rose,
Katarzyna Glowacka's opera-performance Unknown, I Live With You, Richard Strauss’s Enoch Arden, Il ballo delle Ingrate with music by Claudio Monteverdi and Teonika Rozynek, and Antonin Dvorak’s Vanda. The organizers have managed to line
up
a number of top European soloists and ensembles.
Muse
Little Sunday shopping in 2020.
/2020-01-03/ This year all shops in Krakow and the rest of Poland will open on few Sundays, namely January 26, April 5, April 26, June 28, August 30, December 13, and December 20. Some pharmacies and some groceries as well as
bakeries, flower shops, and all gas stations can stay open every
Sunday.
Mark
