The World's Only Slavic Deity 

Krakow boasts the world’s only known representation of a Slavonic deity. The 8-foot-tall limestone idol was found in the Zbruc river – once eastern Poland, now western Ukraine – in 1848. Brought to Krakow in 1851, nowadays it ranks among the most treasured exhibits of the city’s Museum of Archeology at 3 Poselska St. Experts date the idol to the 9th c. or later and believe the square column 2.57m tall, 0.32m long, and 0.29 m wide, shows pagan cosmology of some forgotten Slavic tribe. All four sides are sculptured, yet obscure carvings on them differ. Still they fit into four layers with the four-faced god Swiatowit on the top, the underworld at the bottom, and mortals in between. Four sides, four godheads, four levels of the universe... For some Slavic tribes Swiatowit (a.k.a. Swietowit, a.k.a. Svantevit) was the leading god of their pantheon, the one responsible for war and harvests. Some scholars identify him with the thunderbolt-wielding Perun of eastern Slavs. Since the religion of ancient Slavs is shrouded in mystery, Krakow’s Swiatowit idol proves both a unique curio and an invaluable if cryptic source on beliefs of peoples that once ruled over the eastern half of the European continent.

Replica of the Swiatowit idol stands at the foot of the Wawel Hill east of the Royal Castle.