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The traditional route used by Polish monarchs when entering the city took them through the Brama Florianska, down ul. Florianska to the Rynek, then south down ul. Grodzka - part of the old trade route up through Krakow from Hungary - to the foot of Wawel Hill. The alternative route for the last leg of the walk to Wawel Hill leads off ul. Grodzka via ul. Senacka and down ul. Kanoniczna , a quiet, dusty cobbled backstreet, unquestionably one of the most atmospheric in the city. Restoration work on the string of Gothic mansions lining the street is now almost complete, lending the ensemble a meditative aura that takes ready hold on the imagination. First of the street's pair of museums, two doors down from the legendary Tadeusz Kantor's Cricot 2 theatre at no. 5 (now home to an archive devoted to his work), is the Muzeum Wyspianskiego (Wyspianski Museum; Wed & Fri-Sun 10am-3.30pm; Thurs 10am-6pm; 5zl; free on Sun) devoted to the life and works of the brilliant writer/artist and longtime Krakow resident. The ground floor fills you in on the man's background and early development (there's a helpful set of English-language guide sheets you can borrow from the ticket office), and on the staircase there's an arresting set of photos of the Kazimierz district, a number taken by Wyspianski himself around the turn of the century, offering a view of life in the ghetto as seen by a Gentile outsider. The second floor houses a collection of paintings by Wyspianski and Mloda Polska movement contemporaries such as Jacek Malczewski and Wlodymir Tetmajer. Other notable exhibits here are the models that formed the basis of Wyspianski's plan to refashion and enlarge the Wawel complex as a Polish Acropolis - a bizarre, haunting vision given full reign in his play of the same name. In addition there are sketches from the conservation work carried out on the Kosciol sw. Krzyza by Wyspianski in the 1890s, then in a very dilapidated state, and some fine examples of the stained-glass windows he produced for the Dominican Church on plac Dominikanski. Proof of Wyspianski's endless inventiveness is provided by the display of wacky furniture he made for leading literary figure Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski - chunky, jagged-edged stools which look like film props from the set of some gothic epic. Almost at the bottom of the street, housed in an impressive pair of recently renovated mansions from the late 1300s, belonging to the archbishop of Krakow (nos. 19/21), is the archdiocesan museum (Tues-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat & Sun 10am-3pm; 5zl), an engaging newcomer to the city's already extensive set of museums. Like the Szolajski House, the wealth of religious art displayed here comes from the churches of the surrounding Malopolska region, much of it never previously put on public show. As well as the permanent collections, the museum is planning to hold a regular series of temporary exhibitions of further treasures from the obviously vast local ecclesiastical collection. Highlight of the collection in the first gallery is a set of Gothic sculptures , including a wonderful early-fifteenth-century Madonna and Child in the "Beautiful Madonna" style, from the Orawa region, a powerful late-Gothic Martyrdom of St Stephen , from the Krakow school of the early 1500s and an exquisite relief of the Adoration of the Magi dating from the 1460s taken from the Mariacki Church. As with the best of Veit Stoss's work, what's most striking here is the human realism of the figures, the gentle, expressive faces reaching out across the centuries. The second hall features a notable cycle of pictures by Hans Suess of Kulmbach, illustrating the legend of St Kathryn of Alexandria, executed in 1514 for the Boner family chapel in Mariacki and a notable Annunciation by Jakob Mertens from 1580, alongside a wealth of assorted religious artefacts. On into the third gallery there's yet more Gothic art from the region, including a fine early-sixteenth-century pentaptych from the St Nicholas Church in Krakow. Rounding off the exhibitions is a room dedicated to Karol Wojtyla, its one-time resident in his days as a humble priest in Krakow. As usual with Polish exhibitions devoted to the man, there's a string of papal memorabilia, much of it donated by the pope himself, including sets of his old vestments and to round it all off, a pair of pre-papal shoes. Back out on the street, the Ukrainian bookshop (no. 20) is worth a look for the occasional displays of contemporary Orthodox and Uniate art. At the very end of the street, the fifteenth-century Dom Dlugosza (Dlugosz House) at no. 25, named after an early resident, the historian Jan Dlugosz, originally served as the royal bathhouse. Local legend has it that in preparation for her marriage to Lithuanian Grand Duke Wladyslaw Jagiello, the future Queen Jadwiga sent one of her most trusted servants to attend the duke during his ablutions and report back over rumours of the grotesque genital proportions of the pagan Lithuanians. Exactly what the servant told her is not revealed, but at any rate the queen went ahead and married the man. At this point, most people head straight up to the Wawel by the obvious route across the road. If you can't face the crowds swarming up this path in summer, a quieter (though considerably longer) alternative route is to continue round the southern edge of the complex, and turn either up the castle approach to the right or along ul. Bernardynska, both of which lead you to the entrance to the complex at the Brama Bernardynska (Bernardine Gate). The absence of tourist-trinket hawkers aside, the advantage of these routes, particularly the latter, is the fine view back onto Wawel cathedral. At the foot of Wawel, along ul. Bernardynska, in the square of the same name is the Bernardine church , a Baroque basilica built on the site of an earlier Gothic church containing a wealth of lavish period furnishings, notably a graphic depiction of the Dance of Death in the main aisle, a well-known local favourite, and a fine sculpture of St Anne with the Virgin and Child attributed to the workshop of Veit Stoss in one of the side chapels.
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