THE KRAKOW NEWS 

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Currencies exchange rates in Krakow. 

/official median rate of exchange/

One euro buys 4.1 Polish zloties (PLN). 

One US dollar buys 3.1 Polish zloty (PLN). 

One Swiss franc buys 3.3  Polish zloties (PLN).

One British sterling buys 4.9 Polish zloties (PLN). 

One Japanese yen buys 0.035 Polish zloty (PLN).

Still More Tourists
In 2012 Krakow received nearly nine million visitors, of which 6.5 million arrived from other parts of Poland and the rest from abroad. It’s 340,000 more visits than in 2011. The largest contingent of foreign tourists came from the United Kingdom, namely 26 percent of the total number. Second place went to Germans who made up 13 percent of last year’s foreign travelers in Krakow, followed by Italians, Frenchmen, and Spaniards. An average visitor from abroad spent some 140 euro in Krakow. In 2012 all guests, foreign and Polish, left the total of about euro 833 million in the city, an increase of 17 percent on the previous year.

Da Vinci's Masterpiece, Lady with an Ermine, Is Back in Krakow. At last.

One of the world’s finest portraits by Leonardo da Vinci, ‘Lady with an Ermine’, missing in the city for over two years, has returned last February. From May 2012 the Renaissance masterpiece has been shown at the Krakow Royal Castle on the Wawel Hill in the city center.

8th Top City
Krakow is one of Top 10 Cities in Europe according to the American readers of Conde Nast Traveler, the US magazine. Namely, Krakow has been voted the continent’s 8th most attractive city in the 2012 Readers' Choice Awards. It has been praised chiefly for its culture and sites as well as ambience. The seven higher-ranked cities are Florence, Barcelona, Rome, Vienna, Venice, and Budapest. 

Old Town’s Piazza Tops the List of the World’s Marvels
Krakow’s Rynek Glowny central square has been voted the most beautiful place on earth by readers of the Polish edition of the National Geographic magazine. And according to them, the world’s second most attractive site is Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow while the city’s Kazimierz town district comes fourth. The highest-ranking foreign sight is Norway’s Geiranger Fjord at the fifth place, and Peru’s Machu Picchu has been chosen our planet’s must-see wonder number seven. 

Polish National Pantheon in Krakow.

The new burial place of the greatest Poles has been opened in the crypts under Krakow’s SS Peter and Paul church at 54 Grodzka street, roughly halfway between the city’s central square and the Royal Castle. It complements two older mausoleums in Krakow, in the crypts of the Wawel Cathedral and at the Skalka sanctuary, both already filled to capacity. For now The National Pantheon consists of just three small rooms but an 800-sq-meter duplex extension is to be built beneath the churchyard. No rush, actually, as all candidates for a burial at the place take their time.

No Free Parking in Downtown Krakow

City council have passed a motion to radically expand the existing paid parking zone, effective February 1st, 2014. From then on the zone will cover practically the entire downtown Krakow, including the historic Podgorze district on the right bank. Parking a vehicle on any street in the area will cost three zloty (PLN) for the first hour and more for subsequent ones. The city hall expects the proceeds from the inflated zone will amount to an equivalent of four million euro a year. Currently paid parking in the street applies to Krakow’s two central historic districts, Old Town and Kazimierz, where most of the city’s tourists attractions is situated.

Rugby Capital of Poland In the Making.

Rugby 7 National Center is to be built in Krakow over the next two years. The sports complex will consist of a rugby stadium, a training ground, a club building, and a playground. The facilities are meant as a base for Poland’s national side in anticipation of 2016 Olympic Games which will feature rugby for the first time, namely the 7-player variety of the game. Plus the complex will double as the home turf of Nowa Huta Rugby Club, one of Krakow’s two pro teams. The city hall has earmarked PLN five million for the project, out of eight million zloties total, in a bid to turn Krakow into the country’s leading rugby center.

Krakow to Hold the World Volleyball Championships
Krakow is to co-host the world male volleyball championships in 2014 alongside six other Polish cities, namely Bydgoszcz, Gdansk, Katowice, Lodz, Sopot, and Wroclaw. Matches in Krakow will take place at a brand-new sports hall now under construction in Czyzyny neighborhood east of the city center. Built at a cost of euro 85 million, the venue should be ready early in 2014, fingers crossed. The 2014 World Volleyball Championship in Poland will bring the top 24 national sides from around the globe. In the course of the tournament they will play 100 matches in total. The sport is very popular in Poland and Polish volleyball teams, both male and female ones, have ranked among the best for decades.

Nearly 300 Monuments In Need of Repair

Committee supervising restoration of Krakow’s historic buildings expects some 300 of them to undergo extensive renovation till 2015, at a cost of 513 million zloties (about 122 million euro). Besides the Wawel Royal Castle and Cathedral the list of historic buildings earmarked for renovation in the first half of the next decade includes such Krakow’s famous ancient monuments as St. Mary’s basilica, the Dominican monastery, the Franciscan monastery, Corpus Christi church, St. Catherine’s church, Skalka Sanctuary, High Synagogue and Remuh cemetery, Tyniec Abbey, Cistercian Abbey in Mogila, and Bielany monastery. Fortunately, none of the city’s top landmarks requires comprehensive restoration.