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HL_125_CracovieeB_maquette base_HL_2009 16.10.09 13:52 Page66 t r a v e l THE DOME AND BELL TOWERS OF THE MARIE MADELINE AND ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH FROM THE TOP OF WAWEL HILL. DÔMES ET CLOCHERS DES ÉGLISES MARIE-MADELEINE ET SAINT-ANDRÉ VUS DE LA COLLINE DU WAWEL. MYTHS AND MYSTERIES riday nights are generally festive Fin Krakow. The Kazimierz KRAKOW IS THE PREMIER TOURIST DESTINATION IN POLAND, AS quarter, with its labyrinth of alley- AMATEUR HISTORIANS FLOCK TO VISIT ITS CENTURIES-OLD MONU- ways, old buildings, cracked walls, and stirring Jewish cemeteries, is MENTS, AND STUDENTS FILL THE LOCAL TAVERNS AND TRENDY arguably the trendiest area in town, NIGHTSPOTS. BUT MORE THRILLS AWAIT YOU IF YOU TAKE A TOUR AT filled with overflowing cafés and SUNDOWN, WHEN THE HAZY MOON SPLASHES ITS MILKY LIGHT outdoor restaurants. Kazimierz was ACROSS THE COBBLESTONES AND NARROW STREETS, SETTING THE formally a town separate from Krakow and, until 1941, home to a SCENE FOR AN AWAKENING OF ANCIENT LEGENDS AND CHILLING vibrant Jewish community. Over MYSTERIES. 500 years ago, the town was also eager to party, according to a local legend, which recounts the story of a group of wedding guests who met their fate one late afternoon. One of the most eminent rabbis of the time, Remuh, was alarmed by the activities of the boisterous crowd on the eve of the Sabbath, and asked the revelers three times to end their partying and go home. Unfortunately, no one listened to Remuh’s pleas. Out of sheer exas- peration, the rabbi cursed this den of iniquity, and the earth opened up and swallowed the entire wed- ding crowd. Remuh’s tomb can still be found today just behind the site where this infamous event took place in a small cemetery shaded by several centuries-old chestnut trees. It has become a pilgrimage for Jews around the world, who come here to invoke the blessing of the holy man. In 1941, the Jewish community was moved to the Podgorze ghetto, but the Nazis, frightened by this accursed story, never dared to remove Remuh’s tomb. According to the locals, if you listen carefully on a Friday night, you can still hear muffled cries and wails from 67 HL_125_CracovieeB_maquette base_HL_2009 16.10.09 13:52 Page68 THE WAWEL CATHEDRAL: IT IS SAID THAT IF THE “DRAGON BONES” HANGING BENEATH THE PORCHWAY OR ENTRANCE WERE TO FALL, IT WOULD BE THE END OF KRAKOW. LA CATHÉDRALE DU WAWEL: ON DIT QUE SI LES «OSSEMENTS DE DRAGON» QUI SE TROUVENT SOUS LE PORCHE OU L’EN- TRÉE DU BÂTIMENT VENAIENT À TOMBER, CE SERAIT LA FIN DE CRACOVIE. beneath Szeroka Street. Visitors heading towards the Old Town will want to climb Wawel Hill to view the porch of the Royal Cathedral. Slightly to the left above eye-level, a collection of curious remains that were deposit- ed on the banks of the Vistula River centuries ago hang from thick chains. Sparkling like bars of silver, these “dragon bones” have since been identified as mammoth remains, a woolly rhinoceros crani- um, and the rib of a whale—pre- sumably left by marauding Vikings. Legend says that if the bones were to fall, it would mean the end of Krakow. Inevitably, visitors pass beneath these bones with slight apprehen- sion before entering the 68 musty depths of St. Leonard’s Crypt. Here, the great kings, bishops and artists in Polish history lie in eternal and peaceful slumber. In 1973, a team of ill- advised researchers decided to open the tomb of Casimir Jagiellon, an obscure 15th century king, to exam- ine his royal remains. Unfortunately, they did not antici- pate the presence of the fatal Aspergillus flavus—a fungus, or common mold, which is also a human pathogen producing afla- toxin, a highly toxic carcinogen. After lying dormant for 500 years, the tomb’s remains decimated the 16 members of the research team in only a few years. Perhaps they should have heeded the warning inscribed in marble above the crypt: Violatur huius operis infelix esto, or “damned be those who 69 HL_125_CracovieeB_maquette base_HL_2009 16.10.09 13:52 Page70 PRACTICAL INFO OPPOSITE: THE ST. MARIE BASILICA. THE HOTEL DOM CASIMI ORGANIZES THEMATIC NEXT PAGE: 1_ DONOR PLAQUES BENEATH EVENINGS ON THE TALES AND LEGENDS OF KRAKOW. THE ENTRANCE TO THE WAWEL CATHE - THEY START AT 8.30 P.M. WITH A CANDLELIT DINNER AT DRAL. 2_ THE EPISCOPAL PALACE WHERE THE RESTAURANT POEZJA SMAKU (JAGIELLONSKA KAROL WOJTYLA LIVED FROM 1963 TO STREET NO. 5), FOLLOWED BY A WALK THROUGH THE 1978. OLD QUARTERS OF THE CITY. FOR MORE INFORMATION: CI-CONTRE: BASILIQUE SAINTE- MARIE. PAGE SUIVANTE: 1_ PLAQUES DE POLISH NATIONAL TOURIST OFFICE (EUROPE) DONATEURS SOUS L'ENTRÉE DE LA 9 RUE DE LA PAIX CATHÉDRALE DU WAWEL. 2_ LE PALAIS 75002 PARIS ÉPISCOPAL OÙ A VÉCU KAROL WOJTYLA WWW.TOURISME.POLOGNE.NET DE 1963 À 1978. HOTEL DOM CASIMI WWW.CASIMI.PL POEZJA SMAKU WWW.POEZJASMAKU.PL violate this place.” When the night falls and evening shadows are cast along the baroque façades of Krakow’s Old Town, the city takes Notre-Dame Cathedral in the on an even more mysterious air shadows of Saint Antoine chapel. filled with dark secrets. Beyond the Death-row inmates spent their last hum of distant traffic and noisy 1 night here confessing their crimes streets lies a world of whispers, 2 and imploring divine pardon, and cries and sighs. Behind the walls of the walls still ring with their tortured Wielopolski Palace, the ghost of a cries. lady dressed in black glides from At the Grand Square of Rynek one room to another, a poor tor- Glowny, jugglers draw flaming mented soul seeking rest. In 1903, arabesques with lit torches, while a workers were installing central group of breakdancers demon- heating in the palace and came strates its skills before the Cloth across the horrifying discovery of a Hall gallery. A flock of pigeons young woman’s skeleton walled up scatters at the approach of a gleaming in the basement. Was she the coach carrying a party of rambunc- shameful mistress of one of the tious tourists. The city birds then Wielopolski counts? No one settle back on the rain-washed knows. In any case, her cobblestones, glaring at the distur- 70 remains were buried dis- bance with charcoal-colored eyes creetly at night in the neighboring and definite indignation. cemetery. Perhaps they are the very same But there’s more. The plaintive pigeons forced into such a fate by cries of this lady dressed in black the prodigal Prince Henry. At the are answered by those of a woman end of the 13th century, Henry IV in white who haunts the halls of attempted to unite Poland, but the Episcopal Palace: the ghost of realized he could only achieve that Countess Urszula Dembinska, Lady with the Pope’s blessing. When he of Szczekociny, who hosted a dinner resorted to a witch for help, she for 200 people in honor of King granted him many jewels to garner Stanislaw II. The King toasted the the Pope’s support on the condition Countess before dancing with her, that his knights would be trans- and taking her for a walk in the formed into pigeons until he park. He enjoyed her company for returned. Sadly, he gambled his for- two days, but she never quite tune away, and returned to Krakow recovered from this royal encounter. in shame under the baleful glare of Although the Countess lived to be his poor knights, who have 80 years old, her ghost appears remained in their condition ever every year on the anniversary of since. Even birds have their legends the king's visit to await his return. in Krakow. I Other weepy moans can be heard CHRISTOPHE MIGEON at the foot of the Gothic towers of 71 HL_125_CracovieeB_maquette base_HL_2009 16.10.09 13:52 Page72 n connaissait l’exubérante Cracovie, comme os de mammouth, crâne de rhinocéros O trépidante sous son flot de visiteurs laineux et côte de baleine, probablement amateurs de vieilles pierres, d’étudiants oubliée par des Vikings en maraude. Une enjoués et de turbulents célibataires assoiffés légende raconte que s’ils venaient à tomber, ce de bière locale. Une visite à la tombée du jour serait la fin de Cracovie. révèle aussi une cité empreinte de mystère et On s’engouffre ensuite dans les boyaux menant pétrie de légendes. à la crypte de Saint-Léonard où reposent les Les vendredis soir sont souvent festifs à sépulcres des grands de l’histoire polonaise. Cracovie. Le quartier de Kazimierz, entrelacs Dans la pénombre, les gisants, allongés sur de ruelles étroites, de demeures veinées de leurs tombeaux, semblent sur le point de lézardes magnifiques et d’émouvants cimetières s’extirper de leur interminable sommeil. judaïques, est sans doute C’est ici qu’en 1973, une le secteur le plus branché équipe de chercheurs mal de la ville. Il y a plus de inspirés entreprit d’ouvrir cinq cents ans, l’ambiance la tombe de Casimir était aussi très chaude rue LA CRACOVIE Jagiellon, obscur souverain Szeroka. Un soir, les invités DES LÉGENDES du XVe, afin d’examiner d’une noce voulurent pour - sa dépouille. C’était sans suivre la fête malgré l’im- compter les facéties de minence du coucher du l’Aspergillus flavus, moi- soleil. L’un des plus éminents rabbins de sissure carcinogène qui, embusquée depuis cinq l’époque, un nommé Remuh, alarmé par ces cents ans dans les tissus racornis du défunt, bruyantes réjouissances alors qu’approchait le en profita pour décimer, en quelques années, début du sabbat, vint demander par trois fois 16 membres de l’équipe.