The Wawel Necropolis Contents

The Wawel Necropolis
The Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland, is a roy al pantheon unlike any other.
Unlike Saint-Denis, it has nev er been looted or destroy ed, despite am ple opportunities of foreign powers to do so. Unlike
the Kapuzinergruft, it is not restricted to one dy nasty . Unlike Westm inster Abbey and St George’s Chapel, it is the sole
roy al necropolis. Unlike El Escorial, it also houses sev eral national heroes and poets “equal to kings”. Unlike Roskilde
Dom kirke, it was also the traditional coronation site. Finally , it is rare for roy al burial grounds to be in such close
proxim ity to the roy al residences as is the case on Wawel Hill.
There are m any questions that can be asked about the Wawel Cathedral's significance:
Do the Cathedral's unique features as a pantheon reflect on perceptions of it?
How hav e the criteria for being “accepted” into the Wawel necropolis changed ov er the centuries? Who has not
“m ade the list” and why ? Whose acceptance has caused conflict? How does the choice of burial location influence
long-term perceptions of the buried indiv idual?
How has the Cathedral helped transfer a sense of nationality ov er generations, ev en during long periods of
foreign occupation? Can it be said that the Cathedral perform s "work" as a repository of national m em ory ?
"As a national sanctity, Wawel can be compared with Zion and the Acropolis, and as the royal capital - to Palatine. But it
exceeds these mounts in that it has yet another charm, though perhaps a little sombre, as it has become a necropolis for
Polish kings."
- Stanislaw Windakiewicz: History of Wawel, 1925
Contents
I. Introduction
Cracov ia, totius Poloniae urbs celeberrim a - Krakow, the m ost fam ed of Polish cities
Genius loci - The spirit of the place
Ab urbe condita - A history of Wawel Cathedral
II. Constructing a Necropolis and a Nation
Hic iacet... - Who lies there?
Ara Patriae - On the Nation's Altar
Lapides v iv i - History 's liv ing stones
Am or Patriae - For the lov e of the country
Bellum dom esticum - The Wawel Conflict(s)
Totus Tuus - The Polish Pope
Corpora dorm iunt, v igilant anim ae - While the bodies sleep, the souls are on watch
Ceterum censeo - A personal reflection and conclusion
III. Final Comments
About Me
Project Proposal
Bibliography
Cracovia, totius Poloniae urbs celeberrima
Kraków, the most famed of Polish cities
"I believe that a man who loves Kraków is simply a good man."
- Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland 1995-2005
"I have always felt respect for Kraków. I find it is more the capital of Poland than Warsaw is. I think the capital should be
moved to Kraków."
- Lech Walesa, Solidarity Leader, President of Poland 1990-1995
In far away Poland, there's a city that holds the soul of the nation in its care. It is, and alway s has been, the centre of
history and education and religion and culture. The roy al capital of by gone day s. To this day , considered by m any the
true capital.
In that distant city , legends are as im portant as history is. To the people of Kraków, both are equally real and equally
precious.
In Kraków ev ery hill, ev ery street, ev ery church seem s to hav e a story of its own. That stone there, with the footprint,
is where the saintly queen once rested her foot. That cav e under the castle? A dragon used to liv e there. The salt m ines?
Why , but the helpful gnom es still liv e there. Don't believ e m e? Just ask the m iners. That hill is where Krak, the first
prince, is buried. That riv er is where his daughter, princess Wanda, threw herself into the wav es to av oid m arry ing a
Germ an knight. The Market Square is where Pilsudski announced Poland's independence. That window... under it
Kraków's y ouths joked and sang with 'their' Pope, and then, when the tim e cam e, pray ed for him .
Tour guides nev er fail to m ention these stories in walks around the city . Children all ov er the country learn them as
part of their heritage. The citizens m ake sure to keep up the traditions and custom s they speak of. But it is not only
stories of centuries past. New stories, new custom s are born there now and again, still true to the spirit of the city . From
the legends of dragons and princesses of ancient tim es to the v igil stories of just a few y ears ago, the story of the city is
lov ingly handed down from one generation to the next.
Genius loci
T he spirit of the place
"We are well aware that one cannot enter the cathedral without feeling emotional. I can say as well that one cannot enter it
without a kind of internal trembling, without fear, as it encompasses - as few other cathedrals in the world - enormous
greatness through which all our history, our past speaks to us; it speaks to us through a set of memorials, it speaks through
a set of sarcophagi, altars, statues; but what speaks of our entire past, our history, most of all, is the list of names [...]
tracing the path of our thousand-year-long history."
- Card. Karol Wojtyla, future Pope John Paul I I (1920-2005)
Of all the places in Kraków, none is m ore im portant than Wawel Hill. There, towering ov er the Old City , stands the
Roy al Castle - the seat of the Polish kings in a long-gone era, its roy al liv ing quarters and state room s now open to
tourists. Neighbouring the Castle, nestled so close to it that one m ight think it is still the sam e building, is the Wawel
Cathedral, form ally known as the Cracow Metropolitan Basilica of SS Stanislaus and Wenceslaus.
Not only does the Cathedral hav e a 1 000-y ear history and the distinction of being the traditional Polish coronation site,
but it also holds within its nav es and cry pts the tom bs of Polish kings and queens, patriots and poets. It is a roy al
pantheon unlike any other - and the Polish people are well aware of that.
The Roy al Castle and the Wawel Cathedral, the Market Square downtown and the Church on the Rock - these four are
the focal points in the social m em ory of Kraków. Though distinct geographically , historically and functionally , they
com plem ent one another, m arking out the “sacred” space of the town. Here, sacred (sacrum ) does not only refer to the
religious - "it is a category of things and behav iours which the com m on people consider unusual and different from the
ev ery day case and connected with great v alues. ... The com m on im age of a town is com posed not only of m aterial
elem ents and m aterial v alues but, prim arily , of non ​
m aterial v alues." (Godula-Weclawowicz) Kraków's sacrum has
m ultiple lay ers of m eaning: religious, national/patriotic, artistic, and one connected with folk and popular culture.
While all four interact throughout the y ear through rituals and cerem onies of all sorts, it is the first two - and
especially the national/patriotic angle - that are m ost interesting for the purposes of this project.
The religious aspect is m ost significantly "related to the v iv id religious cults of Corpus Christi, St. Stanislaw and St
Mary . Periodic processions are organized that go from Wawel Hill to Main Market Square (and back) and from Wawel
Hill to the Church on the Rock (and back). They attract thousands of people not only from Krakow but also from other
Polish towns and v illages. What is m ost im portant is that this is a periodic cy cle, y ear after y ear, ages old.
The [...] cerem onies are connected with the anniv ersaries of the m ain national ev ents; we can call this “sacred national
history .” The way of celebration is alway s the sam e: a m ass in the cathedral; next a pro​
c ession through the streets of
the Old Town to the “Katy n Cross” – a sy m bol of Poles m urdered by the Sov iets during the Second World War – and
then along the so-​
c alled Roy al Road to the tom b of the Unknown Warrior placed in front of the m onum ent dedicated to
the v ictory ov er the Teutonic Knights in the Middle Ages. Another exam ple is the anniv ersary of the eighteenth​
century Kosciuszko insurrection celebrated on Main Market Square. It is significant that the rem em brance still
rem ains. It m eans the past is v ery im portant nowaday s and tradition is present in m odern tim es." (GodulaWeclawowicz)
This genius loci, a spirit of place sensed by all Poles who v isit Wawel Hill, is som ething that bears great im portance on
the Wawel Cathedral, and it's role as the Roy al Pantheon, and as such will be a recurring them e throughout the rest of
this project.
Ab urbe condita
A history of Wawel Cathedral
The y ear 1 000 m arks the establishm ent of the Cracow Bishopric – and shortly thereafter, the first cathedral church
was built on Wawel Hill, supplanting a prev ious wooden church. Under the reign of Duke Wlady slaw Herm an (1 07 9 1 1 02 ), it was replaced by a Rom anesque church, consecrated in 1 1 4 2 . Substantial parts of this triple-aisle basilica of
lim e- and sandstone, hav e surv iv ed intact to this day – including St Leonard’s Cry pt and the lower part of what is now
the Silv er Bells Tower.
In 1 07 9 , while celebrating Mass at the Church of the Rock, Bishop Stanislaus (Stanislaw) of Kraków was m urdered on
the king’s orders, echoing Thom as Becket’s fate in Canterbury . The king was forced to flee the country , and legend has
it that, as div ine punishm ent for his act, Poland was subsequently quartered just as the bishop’s body had been.
Pilgrim s soon started to flock to the bishop’s tom b in Wawel Cathedral. Further basis for this v eneration was giv en upon
his canonization in 1 2 53 , with St Stanislaw associated with the idea of the Polish kingdom ’s unification after its
regional disintegration (1 1 3 8-1 3 2 0).
The coronations of Polish kings traditionally used to take place at the Archcathedral in Gniezno, the country ’s first
capital. Howev er, King Wlady slaw the Elbow-high, who succeeded in reunify ing the kingdom , chose to be crowned at
the Wawel Cathedral, near the relics of the restored Polish m onarchy ’s patron saint. And so, from 1 3 2 0 on, all Polish
kings were crowned at the Cathedral on Wawel Hill.
The Rom anesque church was replaced by the present Gothic cathedral, built from 1 3 2 0 to 1 3 6 4 . From an
architectural point of v iew, the triple-aisled basilica’s distinguishing features are its short m ain nav e, its apse and
am bulatory , and the 1 9 radiating chapels constructed and altered throughout next sev eral centuries. The greatest of
these is the stunning Sigism und Chapel (1 51 7 -1 53 3 ), easily identifiable from the outside by its golden dom e, and
described by the Germ an art historian Augu st Ottm ar Essenwein in 1 86 7 as “a Renaissance pearl this side of the Alps”.
Interior structures, such as the High Altar, were “updated” to the new Renaissance sty le – the work of m any
oustanding, m ostly Italian, artists who had settled in Kraków. Alm ost all the furnishings were replaced again in the
1 7 th century , with black and rose m arble now the fav oured m aterials, and further dom ed chapels were built. The 1 8th
century brought y et another rem odelling, this tim e in the late Baroque sty le, and y et again designed by outstanding
Italian and Italian-trained architects, pav ing the way for another thorough renov ation of the Cathedral and its
furnishings in 1 89 5-1 9 1 0.
The loss of Poland’s independence at the turn of the 1 9 th century m eant the Cracow Cathedral stopped receiv ing lav ish
roy al donations, and could only barely prov ide for its needs. Howev er, the cathedral becam e a pilgrim age destination
for Polish patriots, and a v enue for grand cerem onies on im portant historical anniv ersaries. The burials of national
heroes Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Duke Józef Poniatowski, as well as one of the nation’s spiritual leaders, the poet Adam
Mickiewicz, were of great im portance for the nation and turned what had been a Roy al Necropolis into a Polish
Pantheon. Later on, the Cathedral’s v aults also becam e the final resting place of other m eritorious Poles, including the
poet Juliusz Slowacki, Marshal Józef Pilsudski and General Wlady slaw Sikorski. Most recently , President Lech
Kaczy nski and his wife, killed in the Sm olensk air catastrophe on April 1 0, 2 01 0, were buried there.
The Wawel Cathedral is hardly a large church. For m uch of its history , it serv ed as the roy al church, restricted to the
king with his fam ily , his court, and of course the bishop. But, for as long as a thousand y ears, the Cracow Metropolitan
Basilica of SS Stanislaus and Wenceslaus has been the m other of all Polish churches, and a v ital national sy m bol. In its
glory day s, ov er a hundred priests were inv olv ed in the cathedral serv ices, and pray ers continued day and night
without interruption. The history of the Wawel Cathedral reached its culm ination at the election of its host, Cardinal
Karol Wojty la, to the Holy See as Pope John Paul II.
(Significantly adapted and shortened from information available at the Cathedral’s official website)
Hic iacet...
Who lies there?
As m entioned before, the Wawel Cathedral holds within its nav es, chapels and cry pts not just the rem ains of Polish
kings and roy als, but also those of other im portant people, including noblem en, poets, political and m ilitary leaders,
and clergy . Below is a quick listing of who is buried in or under the Cathedral; it is by no m eans exhaustiv e.
Saint s and Clergy
Saint St anislaus (St anislaw) t he Mart y r, Bishop of Kraków (1 03 0-1 07 9 )
Canonized in 1 2 53 ; patron of the Cathedral, of Kraków, and of Poland
Maurus, Bishop of Kraków (?-1 1 1 8)
Buried in Wawel's St Leonard's Cry pt then forgotten for 800 y ears, his grav e was rediscov ered in 1 9 3 8
Saint Hedwig (Jadwiga), Queen of Poland (1 3 7 3 -1 3 9 9 )
Canonized in 1 9 9 7 ; patron of queens and of a united Europe
Cardinal Adam St efan Sapieha (1 86 7 -1 9 51 )
De facto head of Polish church in WWII; Archbishop of Kraków; Ordained Karol Wojty la as priest
Blessed Wincent y Kadlubek (1 1 6 1 -1 2 2 3 )
Bishop of Kraków; Chronicler of Polish history
At one point, Pope John Paul II considered being buried on Wawel as well. Howev er, in the end, he was buried in St
Peter's Basilica, as papal tradition dictated.
Kings
The following is a table of all the Polish m onarchs with their current resting places; the ones whose nam es are
highlighted were crowned as kings.
Na m e
Rest i n g pl a ce
Not es
Mieszk o I
Pozn a n Ca t h edr a l, PL
Bolesla w I Ch r obr y
Pozn a n Ca t h edr a l, PL
Mieszk o II
Pozn a n Ca t h edr a l, PL
Ka zim ier z I Odn ow iciel
Pozn a n Ca t h edr a l, PL
Bolesla w II Sm ia ly
Ben edict in e A bbey in Osja k or
T y n iec, PL
W la dy sla w I Her m a n
Plock Ca t h edr a l, PL
Bolesla w III Kr zy w ou st y
Plock Ca t h edr a l, PL
W la dy sla w II W y g n a n iec
A lt en bu r g , Pfor t a or Peg a u , DE,
PL
Bolesla w IV Kedzier za w y
W a w el
Mieszk o III St a r y
St Pa u l's Ch u r ch , Ka lisz, PL
Ka zim ier z II Spr a w iedliw y
W a w el
Gr a v e dest r oy ed in 1 3 0 5 fir e
Leszek Bia ly
W a w el
Gr a v e dest r oy ed in 1 3 0 5 fir e
W la dy sla w La sk on og i
Ra cibór z, or Ben edict in e A bbey ,
Lu bin , PL
Hen r y k I Br oda t y
St Hedw ig 's Ch u r ch , T r zebn ica ,
PL
Hen r y k II Pobozn y
St V in cen t 's Ch u r ch , W r ocla w
(Br esla u ), PL
Kon r a d I Ma zow ieck i
Plock Ca t h edr a l, PL
Bolesla w V W st y dliw y
Fr a n cisca n Ch u r ch , Kr a k ów , PL
Leszek Cza r n y
Dom in ica n Ch u r ch , Kr a k ów , PL
Hen r y k IV Pr obu s
Ch u r ch of t h e Cr oss, W r ocla w
(Br esla u )
Pr zem y sla w II
Pozn a n Ca t h edr a l, PL
W a cla w II
Cist er cia n A bbey in Pr a g u e, CZ
W a cla w III
Olom ou c Ca t h edr a l, CZ
Ca pit a l m ov ed t o Kr a k ów
Gr a v e dest r oy ed in 1 3 0 5 fir e
W la dy sla w I Lok iet ek (W la dy sla w
t h e Elbow -h ig h )
W a w el
Fir st cor on a t ion in Kr a k ów
Ka zim ier z III W ielk i (Ca sim ir t h e
Gr ea t )
W a w el
Lu dw ik W eg ier sk i (Lou is I of
Hu n g a r y )
Szék esfeh ér v á r Ca t h edr a l, HU
Ja dw ig a (Hedw ig )
W a w el
W la dy sla w II Ja g iello
W a w el
W la dy sla w III W a r n en czy k
(W la dy sla w of V a r n a )
V a r n a , B?
Ka zim ier z Ja g iellon czy k
W a w el
Ja n Olbr a ch t
W a w el
A lek sa n der
V iln iu s Ca t h edr a l, LT
Zy g m u n t I St a r y (Sig ism u n d I t h e
Old)
W a w el
Zy g m u n t A u g u st (Sig ism m u n d II
A u g u st u s)
W a w el
Hen r y k W a lezy (Hen r i de V a lois)
Sa in t -Den is, FR
St efa n Ba t or y
W a w el
Zy g m u n t III W a za (Sig ism u n d III
V a sa )
W a w el
W la dy sla w IV
W a w el
Ja n III Ka zim ier z
W a w el
Mich a l Kor y bu t W isn iow ieck i
W a w el
Ja n III Sobiesk i (Joh n III Sobiesk i)
W a w el
A u g u st II Mocn y
W a w el
St a n isla w Leszczy n sk i
W a w el
Cr ow n ed in W a r sa w
A u g u st III Sa s
Cou r t ch u r ch , Dr esden , DE
A lso Elect or of Sa x on y
St a n isla w A u g u st Pon ia t ow sk i
St Joh n 's Ca t h edr a l, W a r sa w ,
PL
Cr ow n ed in W a r sa w
Kin g of Hu n g a r y
Died in ba t t le, body n ev er fou n d;
em pt y sa r coph a g u s on W a w el
Du k e of Lit h u a n ia ; w ish ed t o be
bu r ied in Pola n d
Fled Pola n d t o becom e k in g of
Fr a n ce
W a r sa w becom es r oy a l r esiden ce
cit y
Kr a k ów r em a in s t h e ca pit a l
All in all, there were 2 8 crowned kings of Poland, 2 2 of whom ruled after 1 3 2 0 (the y ear of the first coronation on
Wawel). Of these 2 2 , 1 6 are buried in the Wawel Cathedral - up until Jan Olbracht, kings were buried under
m onum ents or under the Cathedral's floors, with sarcophagi placed on top; Sigism und I the Old becam e the first to be
buried in a chapel. Am ong the 6 crowned kings not buried on Wawel, 5 had also been kings of other countries, as in the
case of Louis the Hungarian or Henri de Valois. The 6 th, Wlady slaw Warnenczy k, though his body was nev er found
after a battle, has an em pty sarcophagus on Wawel:
Roy als
Apart from the ruling kings them selv es, their fam ilies also often were buried in the Wawel cathedral. This is
particularly the case for Sigism und I the Old's fam ily and Sigism und III Vasa's fam ily , to both of whom an entire cry pt
cham ber is dedicated.
Academics
Throughout the 1 6 th and 1 7 th centuries, at least sev eral dozen professors of the Kraków Academ y (now the
Jagiellonian Univ ersity ), including deans, were laid to rest here, particularly in the cry pts of what becam e known as
the Doctors' Chapel.
Bards
While m any poets were buried in the Cathedral, a select few found them selv es in the Bards' Cry pt:
Adam Mickiewicz (1 7 9 8-1 855)
The first of the Three Bards, and National poet of Poland; buried on Wawel 1 89 0
Juliusz Slowacki (1 809 -1 84 9 )
The second of the Three Bards; buried on Wawel 1 9 2 7
Cy prian Kamil Norwid (1 82 1 -1 883 )
The fourth of the Three Bards; urn with soil from the collectiv e grav e in Paris where he was buried brought to
Wawel 2 001
Fry dery k Chopin (1 81 0-1 84 9 )
Poland's greatest com poser; though buried in Paris, his heart in a Warsaw church, a plaque was placed in
Wawel's Bard's Cry pt in 2 01 0
For v arious reasons, three other fam ed poets are neither buried nor represented in the Cry pt, or elsewhere on Wawel:
Jan Kochanowski (1 53 0-1 584 )
The first great poet to write in Polish, com m only considered the greatest pre-1 9 th century Slav ic poet; plans for
erecting a m onum ent to him on Wawel were disrupted by the 1 84 6 Kraków Uprising, and nev er returned to
afterwards
Zy gmunt Krasinski (1 81 2 -1 859 )
The third of the Three Bards; though honoured by the request, his fam ily did not acquiesce to his rem ains being
m ov ed to Wawel
Piot r Skarga (1 53 6 -1 6 1 2 )
A Jesuit preacher and politician; the m onum ent in his m em ory was m ov ed from Wawel during the early 1 9 00
renov ations, and has since stood in the Church of SS Peter and Paul in Kraków, where he is also buried
Polit ical and Milit ary Leaders
Prince Józef Poniat owski (1 7 6 3 -1 81 3 )
Military leader and general, Com m ander-in-Chief of the Duchy of Warsaw; buried on Wawel 1 81 7
Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1 7 4 6 -1 81 7 )
National hero of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the USA; leader of the Kosciuszko Uprising, later a general in
the Am erican Rev olutionary War; buried on Wawel 1 81 8
Józef Pilsudski (1 86 7 -1 9 3 5)
Chief of State, Prim e Minister and Com m ander-in-Chief - and v arious com binations thereof - considered to be
largely responsible for Poland's regaining independence in 1 9 1 8 after 1 2 3 y ears of partitions; buried on Wawel
1 935
General Wlady slaw Sikorski (1 881 -1 9 4 3 )
Polish Prim e Minister and Com m ander-in-Chief during WWII, killed in a plane crash off Gibraltar; buried on
Wawel 1 9 9 3
President Lech Kaczy nski (1 9 4 9 -2 01 0) with wife Maria (1 9 4 2 -2 01 0)
President and First Lady of Poland 2 000-2 005; killed tragically in the Sm olensk catastrophe; buried on Wawel
2 01 0
Ara Patriae
On the Nation's Altar
In the v ery m iddle of the cathedral, under a dom e supported by 4 colum ns is the Baroque altar of St. Stanislaus. The
silv er-engrav ed wooden coffin-reliquary that rests upon it is decorated with scenes from the life, m arty rdom and
m iracles of St. Stanislaus. This coffin contains the relics of both St. Florian (patron saint of Kraków) and St. Stanislaus
of Szczepanów (bishop of Kraków, patron saint of Kraków and Poland).
It is here, at this altar, that a tradition was started after the Battle of Plowce of 1 3 3 1 : following v ictories on the
battlefield, war trophies of all sorts, and in particular captured banners, were deposited at the altar. Most significantly ,
King Wlady slaw Jagiello hung the banners of the Teutonic Order that had been captured at the great Battle of
Grunwald of 1 4 1 0, as the chronicler Jan Dlugosz (1 4 1 5-1 4 80) tells us: "They hang there [...] on the right and left,
gladdening the eyes of locals and foreigners alike, and constantly showing the king's triumph and the Teutonic Knights'
defeat. [...] Poles should guard them and keep them as a perpetual reminder and symbol [...] of so great a triumph."
Accordingly , though no longer in the Cathedral itself, these banners can still be seen on Wawel Hill today . The last
banner that was deposed here was the one that King John III Sobieski had flown in the 1 6 83 Battle of Vienna where he
had stopped the Ottom an Em pire from inv ading Europe.
This sam e altar also becam e the traditional place to obtain God's blessing before setting out for battle. It is no wonder
then that, ov er tim e, it cam e to be regarded as the Ara Patriae, the Altar of the Nation.
Lapides vivi
History's living stones
"This basilica is so closely connected with the history of the Polish nation, with its ages of prosperity, with so many varied
events that were the fate of the monarchy that – even if there was no written history of the Polish lands, those marble walls
would reveal much of it anyway."
- Bp Józef Olechowski (1735-1806),
whilst giv ing a tour of the Cathedral to
the last king of Poland, Stanislaw August Poniatowski
For alm ost a thousand y ears, the Wawel Cathedral has been the m ost enduring chronicle of Polish history , which
determ ined the historical continuity of the statehood, and, ov er tim e, becam e a sy m bol of the state's perm anence. Its
role as a place of worship of St Stanislaus inextricably connected the Cathedral with the idea of a united and
independent Polish State – a concept equally v alid in the periods of regional disintegration (1 1 3 8-1 3 2 0), the Partitions
of Poland (1 7 7 2 -1 9 1 8), World War II (1 9 3 9 -1 9 4 5) and com m unist rule (1 9 4 5-1 9 89 ). This role, howev er, only cam e to
be recognized fully in the 1 9 th century .
The three partitions of 1 7 7 2 , 1 7 9 3 and 1 7 9 5 resulted in all of Poland's territories being split between Russia, Prussia
and Austria. The country had effectiv ely ceased to exist - it is said that of all the countries, only Turkey refused to
accept Poland's disappearance from the world m ap, alway s reserv ing a place in their diplom atic corps for an
Am bassador of Lehistan (Poland). In ev ery one else's ey es, the Polish country - and by extension the Polish nation - had
ceased to exist.
In the v arious regions of what used to be their own country , Poles faced m any form s of oppression, including
confiscation of property , deportation and forced m ilitary serv ice. Perhaps potentially m ost dev astating for the
continued existence of the Polish nation was the oppression in the field of education: not only were Polish univ ersities
closed, but prim ary schools underwent forced germ anization and russification (often, any use of Polish in schools was
strictly forbidden - as was, of course, the teaching of Polish history , literature and culture). The oppression was by far
the m ost lenient under Austrian rule, where Poles had parliam entary representativ es, and were ev en allowed to hav e
their own univ ersities; consequently , Kraków and Lv iv becam e centers of Polish culture and education.
Poland regained full independence after 1 2 3 y ears of slav ery ; how was the spirit of the nation kept aliv e for so m any
y ears?
With no land to call their own, it was v ital for the Polish people to hav e way s to pass on their sense of nationhood from
one generation to the next. Without it, regaining independence would becom e im possible, as the nation itself would
cease to be a nation. The Polish rev olutionaries of the 1 9 th century , then, were not just m ilitary ty pes or politicians,
but also artists of all ty pes who im bued Polish rom anticism with a desire for freedom and liberty . Many were forced to
em igrate, often to France - am ong them , Fry dery k Chopin, and the poets Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Slowacki and
Cy prian Kam il Norwid (all now rem em bered in the Bards' Cry pt of the Cathedral).
Poetry , literature, m usic, art - all of these play ed a significant role in the continued existence of the Polish national
identity . It was through these that history could also be taught - particularly telling is the rem iniscing of nov elist
Stefan Zerom ski (1 86 4 -1 9 2 5), after his v isit to the Cathedral at the age of 2 5:
"Sometimes, like an idiot, I stopped short at the sight of the white Eagles, and stared at them long and hard. So that's what
you look like, that's what you are? I t was in Kraków that I had seen the nation's coat of arms for the first time."
Other way s of transferring a sense of national identity were soon identified as well. Monum ents of all sorts becam e
considered liv ing stones, which told the people of past glories. The Wawel Cathedral thus gained a new m eaning, and
becam e a focal point am ong other patriotic sy m bols:
"Here, among the mementos and memories we have placed in God’s care, you live the life of the great past; once you learn to
read emotions, the building will become to you an open book of history in stone, speaking about the country and the Church;
as you read it, you will feel admiration, you will be touched, taught and made virtuous."
- Józef Maczynski: A souvenir from Cracow, 1845
Throughout the three partitions, Poles were taught that their own culture and history was not only unim portant and
forbidden, but also of far lesser quality than those of their oppressors. With entire generations going through life
without ev er hav ing liv ed in free Poland, it was im portant to know that the current state of affairs had not alway s been
so - that Poland had once been a great country , with high culture, quality education and great m ilitary v ictories. The
Cathedral was instrum ental in passing on that knowledge as, thanks to m any twists of fate and not a sm all am ount of
luck, no one ev er dem olished it, and it continued to tower ov er the city :
"I plunged entirely into the past whose symbols rise up before me in the Gothic arabesques, in the fantastic arches and aisles
of the Cathedral. Let us gaze at the Knights who rout from their tombs, at the Kings, chosen by their people, who approach
the altar and fall down on their knees to receive the anointing of the Lord. All of the ancient Poland has risen at my call. ...
Look how great she is, glorious, sparkling with weapons, resonant with clamour, harmonious with songs – a shield against
the infidels, protecting Europe in a gigantic battle spanning from the gates of Constantinople through the bulwarks of Vienna.
Yet now no more traces of the ancient Poland are left. Here lies the Past, completed, fulfilled and poetic."
The continuity of Polish history was further underscored by celebrations of the 2 00th anniv ersary of the Battle of
Vienna in 1 883 , and the 500th anniv ersary of the Battle of Grunwald in 1 9 1 0, a significant part of both of which took
place in and around the Cathedral, as it was not only the m ost im portant church, but also the final resting place of
King Jan III Sobieski and King Wlady slaw Jagiello, who had led the Polish arm ies to v ictory in those two battles.
The Cathedral's dangerous significance was not m issed by the Austrian occupants, who planned on conv erting it into a
garrison church so that "the Poles m ay easier forget the tom bs of their kings". Incredibly , though the com plete
destruction of all the cry pts and sarcophagi was the obv ious solution, all the tom bs surv iv ed. The roy al cry pts were
opened to the public in the latter half of the 1 9 th century . Ev ery guidebook around Kraków contained descriptions of
the tom bs, as a pilgrim age to the Cathedral was considered a patriotic duty . For a nation enslav ed, the Cathedral in
Kraków seem ed the last hope for change, and m any had tears in their ey es as they crossed its threshold.
The partitions were sadly not the last tim e that Wawel Cathedral was forced into being a silent rem inder of by gone
glory , as the independence regained in 1 9 1 8 only lasted 2 1 y ears before Germ any attacked. Following WWII, when the
Nazi Gov erner-General Hans Frank chose Wawel Hill as his residence, the Cathedral (along with the Castle) rem ained
v ital reconstructors of Polish national identity in the day s of com m unism (1 9 4 5-1 9 89 ).
"I t is here, in these crypts and ornamental chapels, that our history lives on. Those who, seduced by the world or futile
science, should grow cold in their love for their country – let them enter, let them sigh and pray, and they will leave as Poles.
Those who are weary of witnessing the suffering of the once supercilious, wealthy precincts, which now constitutes the
strength of our enemy, those who should become disheartened or lukewarm – once they come here and gaze at the crosses
on these tombs, they will gather new spirit and hope. Those who should dream of becoming Germans or Muscovites, or
Frenchmen for the money or for a lack of faith and reason, they also – if only out of curiosity – will wander underneath these
vaults and but for a moment will humble themselves since upon entering they will deny themselves and feel ashamed."
- I gnacy Domejko (1802-1889)
Amor Patriae
For the love of the country
"Here, everything is Poland, every stone and every little thing. Whoever enteres it, becomes himself part of Poland, part of its
construction. Here we add a measure to this body - and only now, within these walls, are we Poland ourselves."
- Stanislaw Wyspianski (1869-1907): Liberation (1902)
With the Polish kingdom gone, there were no m ore kings to bury at the Wawel Cathedral. And so, the cry pts started to
fill up with national heroes and poets known as "Spiritual Kings", a distant echo of the French "Pantheon", or the ancient
Greek heroon. The funerals of Poniatowski (1 81 7 ), Kosciuszko (1 81 8) and Mickiewicz (1 89 0) becam e huge, patriotic
cerem onies. It was said that these funerals allowed the spirit of Poland to call out, echoing the national anthem , that
"Poland has not y et perished".
While being buried on Wawel was a priv ilege of all Polish kings from 1 3 2 0 onwards, regardless of their personal m erits
or faults, it was not (and could not) be so in the case of non-roy als. It was prim arily these non-roy al funerals that lay at
the heart of m any an interesting story or feature of the Wawel Cathedral:
When Jan Pawel Woronicz (1 7 57 -1 82 9 ), bishop of Kraków and Polish Prim ate, was to be buried in the Wawel
Cathedral, his funeral becam e a m assiv e patriotic dem onstration. Most affected by his death was apparently
Kraków's y outh, who tore the v elour decorations and the handles on his casket, and had them m ade into rings
with the letters "PW" engrav ed on them . To those in the know, the letters did not refer to "Pawel Woronicz", but to
"Polska Wolna" - "Free Poland".
In 1 86 9 , renov ators accidentally cam e across the grav e of king Casim ir III the Great. The tom b was closed, and
reopened the next day in the presence of, am ong others, Jan Matejko (1 83 8-1 89 3 ), a painter known for his
representations of notable historical, political and m ilitary ev ents. Matejko m ade som e sketches of the interior of
the tom b before it was closed again. The finding of the tom b was a great excuse for a second, lav ish state funeral
to be perform ed for one of the greatest kings in Polish history . There were two direct results of this funeral: the
sense of patriotism was y et again bolstered, and Poles gav e funds to the Wawel Cathedral, which were used to
start a larger-scale renov ation effort in the roy al tom bs.
Matejko was at the opening of m any of the tom bs, alway s sketching what was located inside. Later on, from
1 89 0 to 1 89 2 , he m eticulously analy sed the sketches, and drew portraits of what he believ ed the kings and
queens had looked like in life, based on bone structure and size, funerary item s, and first-hand historical
accounts. These were com piled into the book Portraits of Polish Dukes and Kings, which from then on serv ed as a
teaching m aterial of history for generation after generation of Poles. To this day , the m ental im age Poles hav e of
m any of the kings and queens is the one from this book, as the im ages were and continue to be reproduced in
history books.
While the transportation of the rem ains of Poniatowski, Kosciuszko, Pilsudski and the Kaczy nskis to Wawel, and
subsequent funerals, took place relativ ely soon after their deaths, this was not the norm :
It took 3 5 y ears for Adam Mickiewicz (1 7 9 8-1 855) to be laid to rest in the Cathedral's cry pts. The first initiativ e,
in 1 86 9 , was sidetracked by the discov ery of King Casim ir the Great's tom b on Wawel - in fact, the tom b was
discov ered on the v ery sam e day as the Com m ittee to Bring Mickiewicz's Rem ains to Wawel was form ed! But the
idea was only set aside, not forgotten, and was periodically reattem pted, though as it turned out, alway s at the
worst possible m om ent (right before a war, or insurrection, or catastrophic flood). Finally , in 1 887 , it was the
students of the Jagiellonian Univ ersity who gathered a significant percentage of the funds required for the
coffin's transportation. The rem ainder was funded by the country , and in 1 89 0, 3 5 y ears after his death,
Mickiewicz was finally in Kraków, waiting to be laid to rest in a brand new cry pt carv ed out specifically for him .
His funeral was a state one, with the Zy gm unt Bell tolling from the top of Wawel Cathedral, and representativ es
from all the regions of what once was Poland taking part.
Juliusz Slowacki's (1 809 -1 84 9 ) road to Wawel was ev en longer - 7 8 y ears in total. Three y ears after Mickiewicz's
second funeral, the idea for m ov ing Slowacki to Wawel arose. The plan was to be carried out in 1 89 9 , on the
50th anniv ersary of his death, but the Austrian gov ernm ent was opposed to the idea. It again seem ed the plan
would com e to fruition in 1 9 09 , but Cardinal Puzy na, in whose care the Cathedral was, refused to consent to
accepting Slowacki's rem ains on Wawel due to his questionable religious affiliation. Finally , in 1 9 2 7 , Slowacki
m ade it to Kraków, in part thanks to the personal interest of Marshal Pilsudski, for whom Slowacki was a
fav ourite poet.
It was also 50 y ears before General Wlady slaw Sikorski (1 881 -1 9 4 3 ), killed off of Gibraltar and buried in
Newark, was laid to rest on Wawel Hill in 1 9 9 3 . The uncertainties surrounding his death led to a exhum ation,
m edical analy sis, and subsequent third funeral in 2 008.
Bellum domesticum
T he Wawel Conflict(s)
Józef Pilsudski
Józef Pilsudski (1 86 7 -1 9 3 5) is said to hav e asked "whether there would be room for him on Wawel" during one of his
earlier v isits there, and was assured that there would be. Long considered the m an who brought about Poland's
independence, his death in 1 9 3 5 resulted in a m assiv e outpouring of grief. Cerem onies of all sort were organized, and
the prev ious funerals on Wawel Hill were recalled to m em ory . Pilsudski's funeral train toured Poland as the first part of
an enorm ous state funeral:
He was laid to rest on display in St. Leonard's Cry pt in the Cathedral, while a new cry pt was prepared for him under
the Tower of the Silv er Bells. When the cry pt was ready two y ears later, howev er, those in the gov ernm ent refused to
hav e Pilsudski m ov ed ov er, as the new location was considered inferior. Archbishop Adam Sapieha, who was in charge
of the Cathedral (and was also later interred there) had Pilsudski's coffin relocated to the new cry pt despite the
gov ernm ent's opposition.
Sapieha's decision was a result of two things: Pilsudski's socialist past and, m ore im portantly , his hav ing changed
denom inations in order to rem arry . Earlier on, Sapieha had not consented to the burial of Nobel laureate writer
Henry k Sienkiewicz in the cry pts, and had apparently m ade an agreem ent with Pilsudski him self that the poet Juliusz
Slowacki would be the last one to be buried on Wawel.
Sapieha's decision brought about m assiv e protests, including the gov ernm ent threatening to resign in dem onstration of
its disagreem ent, and widespread calls for the rem ov al of Archbishop Adam Sapieha. The state, church, the Holy See,
radio, press, state institutions, Catholic and trade organizations all becam e em broiled in the so-called "Wawel Conflict".
Sapieha was accused of insulting both Marshal Pilsudski and the president. Am ong the dem ands placed was the
Cathedral being put in the care of state authorities, the taking away not only of Sapieha's honourary distinctions but
also of his Polish citizenship, and his leav ing the country . Ultim ately , the Archbishop apologized to the President, and
explained how his decision was based on his conscience and ecclesiastical law, which dem anded that he take care of the
Wawel Cathedral placed in his care.
More conflict ?
The "Wawel Conflict" was not, howev er, the only Wawel conflict. As early as 1 83 2 , noblem an Artur Potocki was laid to
rest in the Wawel Cathedral am idst widespread protests, as m any people did not believ e he deserv ed to be buried next to
kings and heroes. Yet m ore conflict surrounded Slowacki's burial in the early 2 0th century . Henry k Sienkiewicz and
Czeslaw Milosz, the Nobel Prize winners in Literature for the y ears 1 9 05 and 1 9 80 respectiv ely , were also not let onto
Wawel - the form er is buried in Warsaw, the latter in the National Sepulchre at the Church on the Rock in Kraków.
Lech and Maria Kaczy nski
The m ost recent such protests took place in 2 01 0, following the tragic dem ise of President Lech Kaczy nski and his wife
Maria in the Sm olensk plane catastrophe of April 1 0, 2 01 0, while on their way to a com m em oration of the 1 9 4 0 Katy n
Massacre perpetrated by the Sov iets on 2 2 ,000 Polish officers.
On April 1 3 th, it was rev ealed that the couple would be buried together in a sarcophagus in the antecham ber to Józef
Pilsudski's cry pt. It is to this day unclear who suggested this - whether fam ily m em bers, Archbishop Dziwisz of the
Cathedral, or political associates of Lech Kaczy nski. The decision split the nation in half, and was considered highly
controv ersial for a num ber of reasons:
Many felt the President's achiev em ents were not in the sam e league as those of others buried at Wawel.
It was also believ ed that the idea would not be ev en considered had the President died of natural causes. It was
thus believ ed that he was to buried on Wawel not for what he had achiev ed in life, as all those before him had,
but for how he had died. If the circum stances of his death were what elev ated him to "deserv e" to be buried on
Wawel, it was argued that the fam ilies of all of the other 9 4 v ictim s should also be giv en the choice to bury their
lov ed ones on Wawel.
At the tim e, the cause of the accident was still v ery unclear. Due to a prior situation in which the President had
forced his pilot to fly through an area under fire in Georgia, it was conceiv able that the accident had in fact
been, at least in part, caused by the President him self, and his unwillingness to be late to what he knew was a
v ery im portant cerem ony .
The suggestion that he be buried on Wawel did not go hand in hand with a sim ilar one for form er president
Ry szard Kaczorowski (the last President of Poland in exile), who had died in the sam e crash.
Unlike prev ious presidents Walesa and Kwasniewski, Kaczy nski had nev er shown any significant sy m pathy
towards Kraków, rarely v isited the city , and had in fact rejected honourary citizenship of Kraków just m onths
earlier.
In fact, the whole Kaczy nski fam ily was heav ily linked to Warsaw, and so a burial in Kraków seem ed strange
and out of place.
St John's Archcathedral in Warsaw contains the rem ains of m any notable dignitaries and artists, including
Stanislaw August Poniatowski (the last of the Polish kings), Henry k Sienkiewicz (who was denied burial on
Wawel), and three notable 2 0th century leaders: Gabriel Narutowicz (Poland's first president, d.1 9 2 2 ), Ignacy
Jan Paderewski (com poser and Prim e Minister of Poland, d.1 9 4 1 ) and Ignacy Moscicki (President of Poland,
d.1 9 4 6 ). Particularly in v iew of the latter, it seem ed natural that the president would be buried there, and not
in the Wawel Cathedral, which had been until then restricted to kings and "kings of spirit" (ie., truly great poets
and heroes).
Som e also wondered how this would affect the future, when the tim e would com e for Lech Kaczy nski's identical
twin brother Jaroslaw to be buried. As the two had been unseparable throughout their liv es (at one point,
Jaroslaw was Prim e Minister while Lech was President - which caused quite a few headaches for ev ery one who
couldn't tell them apart), it seem ed curious that Jaroslaw would want his brother buried som ewhere where he
him self was unlikely to be buried.
Prior to the accident, Lech Kaczy nski's popularity had not been v ery high: a re-election surv ey done just two
day s before the accident showed his popularity had dropped to 2 0%. The m ourning period following his death
caused m any people to forget they had been highly unsatisfied with Kaczy nski during his presidency .
Som e went outright to say that while Lech Kaczy nski had been a good husband, father and grandfather, he
sim ply had not been a good president - and that was what he should hav e been, if he were to be buried on Wawel.
Many also, while not wholly opposed to the idea of a Wawel burial, rejected the high speed at which the decision
was m ade. Why , they asked, could he not hav e been buried for now elsewhere, and the issue could be rev isited in
sev eral y ears, once em otions had cooled down?
The fact that no one would adm it to hav ing m ade the suggestion in the first place also drew som e raised
ey ebrows.
The entire decision seem ed to be part of a political gam e. The Wawel Cathedral's significant role in determ ining
who is im portant and who is not, who is rem em bered by future generations, and who is forgotten was perceiv ed
to be used by the Kaczy nski's political party to their adv antage - from now on, after all, they could alway s refer
to their great founding leader, who is now buried am ongst kings.
In fact, it was also suggested that Archbishop Dziwisz had acquiesced to the suggestion - or m ade the suggestion
him self - because of his personal political beliefs.
At one point it seem ed that the couple was to be buried directly in Marshal Pilsudski's cry pts, which seem ed to
m any an attem pt at drawing an equal sign between President Kaczy nski and the m an who gav e Poland freedom
It was claim ed that it was the Nation's will to bury the Presidential couple on Wawel Hill, but not only was no
referendum or ev en surv ey ev er carried out - a significant part of the nation was not happy with the decision.
Finally , there were those who sim ply asked - if it was obv ious that so m any were against the decision, and the
country was in turm oil after m any of its top politicians had been killed in the Sm olensk catastrophe, would it
not be prudent to choose a location that would not spark dissent and conflict? After all, what the country needed
m ore than any thing else was a sense of unity .
All of the abov e reasons sparked m assiv e protests throughout the country , and in particular in Kraków, as its citizens
feel particularly protectiv e of Wawel. Those who protested (m ost online surv ey s judged at least half the population was
unhappy with the decision) were accused of being unpatriotic by those who supported the decision. A lot of nam ecalling ensued, particularly towards the protesters (a result of the different political, and thus socio-econom ical and
educational, m ake up of both groups). There were also those who, though they did not support the decision, told the
protestors to be "quiet ov er the coffin", ie. to not disturb the peace of the dead by starting conflict. This, again, was
considered by the protesters as y et another tactic the political party had at its disposal, as there had nev er been a
m om ent were those opposed could v oice their concerns without being called unpatriotic, self-serv ing, selfish, etc.
More than any thing else, what bothered the protesters was that the Wawel Cathedral was being set up to be used in a
political gam e. To this day , the burial on Wawel Hill, which did take place after all, is seen as not only controv ersial,
but also a div isiv e force on the Polish political and social scene, while Archbishop Dziwisz (a longtim e aide and personal
friend of Pope John Paul II) is no longer v iewed with as m uch sy m pathy as before, and his political im partiality is in
question.
Totus Tuus
T he Polish Pope
"Before I leave, I want to look from this spot, once more toward Kraków - this Kraków, the city in which each stone, each
brick is precious to me - and from this city, from this place I want to see the whole of Poland...
- Pope John Paul I I (1920-2005), end of 1979 pilgrimage to Poland
"My Kraków, the city of m y life." Any discussion of the Wawel Cathedral, and of the tom bs contained therein would be
incom plete without a m ention of Pope John Paul II. Despite hav ing been a bishop of Kraków (and thus traditionally
entitled to be buried on Wawel), and undeniably one of the greatest sons of Poland, he was laid to rest in the Vatican,
not in Kraków. Many of course wished he were buried on Wawel Hill, but, in retrospect, organising as m assiv e a funeral
as his would hav e been im possible in Kraków.
Why , then, is he im portant in this discussion? Because he him self knew and recognized the im portance of the roy al
tom bs to such a degree that he chose to carry out his first Masses as priest in St Leonard's Cry pt:
"As I was ordained priest on All Saints' Day, it turned out that I was to celebrate my first Mass on All Souls' Day, November
2nd 1946. On that day, every priest can celebrate up to three Masses, and that is why the nature of my first Mass was
threefold. I celebrated the three Masses in St. Leonard's Crypt at Wawel in Kraków. The crypt is part of the so-called
Herman Cathedral, an earlier Episcopal cathedral. At present, St. Leonard's Crypt wholly belongs to the royal tombs. By
choosing this crypt as the place of my first Masses, I wanted to express my special spiritual bond with all who rest here. The
Wawel Cathedral is a unique phenomenon, as it is so much imbued with historical, and theological, content – much more so
than any other temple in Poland. Buried here are Polish kings, beginning with Wladyslaw the Short. I n this temple, kings
were crowned, and then their dead bodies were deposed here. He who visits the Wawel Cathedral must come face to face
with the history of the Nation. [...] Those whose sarcophagi are located here await resurrection as well. The whole
Cathedral seems to repeat the words of the Apostles' Creed: '[I believe in] the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting'.
And the people who rest in the Cathedral are great Kings-Spirits who led the Nation throughout the centuries. These are not
only crowned rulers and their spouses, or bishops and cardinals; these are the Bards, great masters of words who had an
enormous importance for my Christian and patriotic formation. [...] As a simple priest, and later on, as a bishop – I always
visited St. Leonard's Crypt with great emotion."
Corpora dormiunt, vigilant animae
While the bodies sleep, the souls are on watch
Kraków is known for its legends. There is at least one for ev ery church in the Old City , and m ore for other locations. The
Wawel Cathedral, too, has sev eral legends associated with it. Am ong them , the following one:
I f you are of pure heart, and happen to be near Wawel Hill on Christmas Eve, you may hear the distant sounds of a feast
taking place.
I t is said that every Christmas Eve, as the Zygmunt Bell tolls to announce the joyous news, the kings of Poland rise from
their graves. Leading them is Boleslaw Chrobry, the first king of Poland. Behind him, all the later kings follow, one after
another, in coronation order, until Stanislaw August Poniatowski closes the procession. Boleslaw leads them a great hall,
where a dining table is set up, and the kings all sit to begin a feast. During this feast they talk, conversing about the last year
of Polish history, exchanging comments and discussing how things should go from there.
At the first strike of midnight, a heavy knock on the door has Boleslaw rise from the table. He opens the door, where a knight
genuflects to him. "Sire," the knight says, "I s it time?" King Boleslaw shakes his head as the bell tolls again. "No, it is not. Go
back to sleep." The knight bows again, mounts his horse, and rides off into the mountains. Before Boleslaw can make it back
to the table, the Zygmunt Bell finishes tolling for midnight, and the ghostly images of all the kings dissolve into thin air.
Until the following year.
Of course, som e inconsistencies are there, as in any legend - for instance, both Boleslaw and Stanislaw are not buried in
Kraków, but in Poznan and Warsaw respectiv ely . The knight is a reference to another legend, that of the sleeping
knights of Mount Giewont, according to which there is a cav e under the m ountain, and in it, hundreds of Polish knights
are sleeping, waiting for the day when they will be awoken to serv e their country .
I believ e the m eaning behind the legend is cry stal clear. Not only hav e generations of Poles gained strength from the
Roy al Tom bs in the Cathedral on Wawel Hill, but the Cathedral itself and its roy al ghostly residents hav e kept a watch
ov er the nation, guiding it along its way . Perhaps it is thanks to them that the Cathedral was nev er destroy ed, despite
am ple opportunity of foreign powers to do so?
Ceterum censeo
A personal reflection and conclusion
"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. A
cathedral is more than the sum of stones. I t is not the stones that make its meaning. These stones are ennobled to be stones
of a cathedral. The most different stones serve one unity."
- Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1900-1944)
In choosing this topic for m y project, I had failed to take into account just how m uch backstory I would hav e to prov ide
for the significance of the Cathedral to be understandable to those who are not Polish. Back in 2 01 0, when the conflict
about the Kaczy nskis burial was at its highest, I read both Polish and foreign news articles. On the foreign websites, I
would v ery often com e across com m ents of people who v ery obv iously did not understand what the big fuss was about.
The com m ents v aried, from the v ague y et surprised "Why is this such an issue?" or "Don't they hav e better things to
worry about right now?", to the stunned "Don't they respect the dead?", to the far m ore direct "It's just a dead body ,
what do y ou care where it's put?"
What do we care, indeed.
The significance of the Wawel Cathedral is not sim ply in the specific arrangem ent of stones and bricks, put together to
the glory of God. Marv elous though its architecture and furnishings are, and im portant though its strictly religious
function undoubtedly is, the Wawel Cathedral is m ost im portant to m ost Poles, including m e, because it stands for an
idea of what being Polish is all about. It is an enduring m onum ent of who Poles hav e considered worthy throughout the
ages, who the guiding lights were for generation after generation.
Should President Lech Kaczy nski hav e been buried on Wawel Hill? I was opposed to it, and still am , for all the reasons I
listed in the prev ious sections. But, on the other hand, if one were to consider Lech Kaczy nski as a symbol of the fight for
the recognition of the Katy n m assacre (one denied by the Sov iets, then Russians, for 6 0 y ears, and one they were
finally going to officially adm it to and apologize for at the cerem ony to which Kaczy nski was fly ing on that fateful day
in 2 01 0), then perhaps his being there isn't as out of place as it would seem .
As I set out to research this topic, I chose a few questions that I wanted to answer.
Do t he Cat hedral's unique feat ures as a pant heon reflect on percept ions of it ?
Had the Cathedral been looted or destroy ed like Saint-Denis was - it is uncertain how the intrinsic knowledge we all
carry within us would hav e surv iv ed. It is thanks to places like the Wawel Cathedral that the Polish people hav e a sense
of historical continuity between the current country , and the kingdom of old. It is this sam e sense of continuity that
Warsaw, destroy ed in 80% during WWII, sadly lacks - and it is the reason that Kraków continues to be seen as the
spiritual capital of Poland.
Had the Cathedral been restricted to m em bers of one dy nasty like the Kapuzinergruft, or had there been another place
that shared the distinction of being a roy al necropolis for m any kings, like Westm inster Abbey and St George’s Chapel it certainly wouldn't hav e been nearly as im portant as it is. Unlike the Habsburgs, the Polish crown belonged to the
m em bers of 4 dy nasties, and m any elected kings afterwards. Had there been a separate church for each, the historical
continuity would not be as v isible.
Had the Cathedral not accepted the rem ains of non-roy als like El Escorial - y et again, the sense of historical continuity
would hav e been at risk, as no burials would hav e taken place there after 1 7 9 5. This would m ean there would be no
reasons for the great, patriotic cerem onies that were Poniatowski's, Kosciuszko's and Mickiewicz's funerals - within the
entire 1 2 3 y ears of partitions, only the state funeral of King Casim ir the Great would be observ ed.
Had the Cathedral been only a burial site, like Roskilde Dom kirke, and not also been the kings' coronation site and roy al
church - v isiting the Cathedral would hav e been solely about pay ing hom age to their rem ains, and not about what
they had achiev ed in life. It would hav e been sim ply a cem etery underneath a church. But here, the significance of the
tom bs is com pounded by the close proxim ity of the Wawel Castle - the roy al residence for centuries, and the knowledge
that the kings attended Mass in the v ery sam e building in which they know lie.
How have t he crit eria for being “accept ed” int o t he Wawel necropolis changed over t he cent uries? Who
has not “made t he list ” and why ? Whose accept ance has caused conflict ?
In the day s of the Polish Kingdom , the Wawel Cathedral accepted into its tom bs rulers and their roy al fam ilies. Then,
when there were no m ore kings, the spiritual leaders of an enslav ed Poland were buried in the cry pts: poets, political
leaders and m ilitary geniuses. For y ears now, subsequent generations of children from all ov er Poland go on schooltrips
to Kraków, and the Wawel Cathedral.
Based on what I'v e been able to find out, it seem s that ev er since 1 7 9 5, the final decision as to burial has alway s rested
in the hands of the Bishop of Kraków, in whose care the Wawel Cathedral rests. This has caused conflict in the past,
whenev er som eone who was considered a great patriot was not considered a good Catholic, as in the case of Juliusz
Slowacki and Józef Pilsudski (who both m ade it into Wawel regardless, though with v arious problem s), and Henry k
Sienkiewicz and Czeslaw Milosz (who both didn't). It has also been suggested that the bishop's political ties caused
conflict, as in the case of Lech and Maria Kaczy nski (who m ade it on Wawel, despite widespread public protests).
How does t he choice of burial locat ion influence long-t erm percept ions of t he buried individual?
While the Matejko paintings influenced Poles' m ental im agery of all Polish kings, he did not actually paint portraits of
any of the other people buried in the Cathedral. Howev er, it is worth noting that all but two of the "great" kings and
dukes are buried on Wawel (and those two are the first duke and first king of Poland - Mieszko I and Boleslaw the Brav e both of whom ruled in a period when Kraków was not y et the capital). Whether the lasting perception of significance is
influence by the location of their rem ains, or the location of their grav es was a direct result of perceptions of them
directly after their deaths is hard to say . Howev er, it can be suggested that the placem ent of the v arious sarcophagi
both in the church and the cry pts has significance, or is perceiv ed to hav e such significance - as ev idenced by the
conflict surrounding Józef Pilsudski's burial.
The idea of who was great and who wasn't, then, is to a certain point m alleable by future generations - in this case not
just through social construction and rev isionist history , but also through the sim ple m ov ing around of a few tom bs so
that other tom bs, other people, are m ore in focus. Som e of the tom bs in the cry pts are hardly v isible at all, hidden
behind a lattice grid - adm ittedly , these m ostly belong to roy al fam ily m em bers - or under the church floors, and so do
not appear in the public m em ory as v iv idly as others do. Other sarcophagi, such as those of the King Sigism und I the
Old and King Sigism und II Augustus, are in chapels in the cathedral itself and thus, one would think, m ore easily
v isible - howev er, due to the delicate, rich decorations of the chapel, it is alway s closed off to tourists, and so m ost only
see these by peeking through the lattice grids. Other sarcophagi are not only well v isible, but are easily identifiable the best exam ple of this is the beautiful sarcophagus of Queen Jadwiga, which any Pole would identify in a heartbeat.
Finally , other tom bs are heav y , rectangular structures that seem to sy m bolise the strength and courage of the king
who lies within it, as in the case of King Jan III Sobieski.
Ov er the last sev eral centuries, the Polish people hav e becom e aware of this, of the fact that where they bury som eone
will later on affect perceptions of that person. You could go "v isit" King Casim ir the Great, y et y ou couldn't do the sam e
for King Boleslaw the Brav e (as his grav e was lost for y ears), and so Casim ir seem ed "closer" than Boleslaw. It is this
knowledge that lay at the v ery basis of the 2 01 0 Wawel conflict.
How has t he Cat hedral helped t ransfer a sense of nat ionalit y over generat ions, even during long periods
of foreign occupat ion? Can it be said t hat t he Cat hedral performs "work" as a reposit ory of nat ional
memory ?
Through periods of foreign occupation, thanks to hard work, patience, a sense of patriotism and a good deal of luck, the
Polish people were able to not only v isit the Cathedral to learn about their history , but also to construct it. This was
greatly eased by the fact that Kraków was in the Austrian partition, which was particularly lax about oppressing Poles,
and so the funerals of fam ous Poles were easily transform ed into political m essages and patriotic dem onstrations.
During both the 1 9 th and 2 0th century periods of foreign occupation, learning about Polish culture was discouraged at
the v ery least, if not com pletely forbidden. History textbooks that spoke about Poland in a fav ourable light were
outlawed, and Polish literature was often disregarded. Places such as the Wawel Cathedral took ov er for books,
transm itting through stone and m arble that which other nations transm itted through the written word. And so, y es, it
can be clearly said that the Cathedral perform ed and still perform s today the work of a national m em ory repository .
Closing comment s
As I used to giv e tours of Kraków, I would often v isit the roy al tom bs as well. Howev er, I hav en't been there since the
2 01 0 state funeral. Partially this was on purpose, I adm it, especially as apparently people lined up for hours to pay
their respects to the recently deceased president and his wife. Howev er, I believ e I will be v isiting y et again (perhaps
this Christm as season?), to see if m y perceptions of what (and who) lies within the cry pts hav e changed after working
on this project.
"History is a force, it is not only a set of reliable, clean facts, but also the idea about its own history that a Nation creates."
- Cyprian Kamil Norwid (1821-1883)
Alicja Zenczykowska
Intro
My nam e is Alicja Zenczy kowska, and I’m a grad student in the Learning, Design and Technology MA program , in the
School of Education. My professional interests center around com puter-assisted language learning, particularly in the
context of ESL/EFL.
Languages are also a big hobby of m ine "after-hours". Another hobby centers around m y ths, legends, and traditions im m aterial cultural artifacts, if y ou will. In m y hom etown of Kraków, Poland, I lov e walking the ancient streets, and
the feeling of wonder I get ev ery tim e I rem em ber to look up, and end up discov ering som ething new. Giv ing tours to
fam ily friends is high up on m y list of things I enjoy , and m any a friend has been regaled with triv ia I'd found out about
the city . This is also another reason for m y project topic.
Project Proposal
T he Wawel Cathedral as a Royal Pantheon
My nam e is Alicja Zenczy kowska, and I’m an international student, born in the ancient roy al capital of Poland:
Kraków.
Towering ov er Kraków’s spectacular architecture, history and legends is Wawel Hill, where the heart of the Polish
nation beats. The Wawel Castle (seat of the Polish kings) shares the hill with an enduring national sy m bol, the Wawel
Cathedral. It is t he Wawel Cat hedral in it s role as a roy al pant heon t hat I have chosen as my t opic.
Wawel is unique in m any way s. Unlike Saint-Denis, it has nev er been looted or destroy ed, despite am ple opportunities
of foreign powers to do so. Unlike the Kapuzinergruft, it is not restricted to one dy nasty . Unlike Westm inster Abbey and
St George’s Chapel, it is the sole roy al necropolis. Unlike El Escorial, it also houses sev eral national heroes and poets
“equal to kings”. Unlike Roskilde Dom kirke, it was also the traditional coronation site. Finally , it is rare for roy al burial
grounds to be in such close proxim ity to the roy al residences as is the case on Wawel Hill.
Som e issues that m ay com e up include:
How do the unique features listed abov e reflect on the Cathedral and perceptions of it?
Does the choice of burial location influence long-term perceptions of the buried indiv idual?
How hav e the criteria for being “accepted” into the Wawel necropolis changed ov er the centuries? Who has not
“m ade the list” and why ? Whose acceptance has caused conflict?
How did the nation react to the occupation of Wawel Hill by foreign powers?
Is there a link between the Wawel pantheon and the Polish tendency to glorify m arty rdom ?
Are there any legends linked to the site?
How do other aspects of the Cathedral interact with its role as a necropolis?
Can it be said that the Cathedral perform s "work" as a repository of national m em ory ?
"A nation is made up of one generation of the living and many generations of the dead, who have shaped its past and from
this past exert decisive influence on the development of the present."
- Cyprian Kamil Norwid (1821-1883)
Bibliography
"A nation is made up of one generation of the living and many generations of the dead, who have shaped its past and from
this past exert decisive influence on the development of the present."
- Cyprian Kamil Norwid (1821-1883)
Written sources
Godula-Weclawowicz, R. "Kraków: Genius Loci of the Town Space" Urban People m agazine 9 , 2 007 , 1 (2 0).
"Miejsca pochówków wladców Polski".
Rozek, M. "Krakowska katedra na Wawelu", Petrus, Kraków 2 01 0.
Rozek, M. "Wawel i Skalka: Panteony Polskie", Ossolineum , Wroclaw 1 9 9 5.
"Swiaty nia wieszczów narodowy ch", Alm a Mater, 2 005, (7 3 ).
"Virtual walk through the Wawel Cathedral".
Wawel Cathedral. "Portal Edukacy jny - Katedra Wawelska".
Wawel Cathedral, "Official Website of the Wawel Cathedral".
Szlaban. "Zakret historii i Wawel", blog post, April 1 4 , 2 01 0.
Oral sources
Fam ily tales and legends heard at the dining table
Polish history , literature lessons in grades 4 -1 2
Image sources
Im ages taken from the net, and from personal archiv es