Archive News Stories of 2016 from Krakow Info
Year 2016
Krakow Catholics Have
a New Shepherd.
Pope Francis has
appointed Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski to succeed
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz as Metropolitan of the
Krakow Archdiocese. Until recently Archbishop
Jedraszewski, 67, was Metropolitan of the
Archdiocese of Lodz, the industrial city in central
Poland. Until his elevation in 2012 to the rank of
archbishop he managed to combine careers of a
Catholic prelate and a university philosophy
professor. In Poland Archbishop Jedraszewski has a
reputation as an outspoken conservative. His
predecessor as the head of the Catholic Church in
the Krakow region, Cardinal Dziwisz, has retired at
77 – he is best known for his role as the closest
aide to Pope John Paul II.
New Year’s Eve, Somewhat
Pruned.
The municipality of Krakow
scales down New Year’s Eve’s traditional celebrations in
Rynek Glowny central square. An open-air dance party
with DJ Charlie and XXANAXX electronica act on January
31th, 2016 replaced the usual long concert with a lineup
of pop stars. And no fireworks display either. There
will be also alfresco celebrations in two of Krakow's
uptown areas, namely Nowa Huta and Podgorze districts.
The former lures revelers to a show featuring covers of
seasoned pop hits by the Teatr Ludowy theater. The
latter hosts a sort of pop music show in Rynek Podgorski
square.
Krakow
Christmas decorations.
This year Xmas street
decorations in Krakow are Art Deco themed, white and
silver lights prevailing with bits of navy-blue,
green, and red. Expect ornaments in the shape of
stars, balls, and snowflakes. They will stay in
place till January 31, together with three Christmas
trees – two of them ten-meter-tall firs and one
measuring 15 meters in height. The Rynek Glowny
central square, where the
Krakow Christmas markets take place, gets the
tallest conifer, decked with some 40,000 LED lights.
Plus eleven giant angels made of LED lights adorn
varied parts of the city, six of them standing in
the middle of crucial traffic circles. And for the
first time computer animations, projected from the
Town Hall Tower, are meant to additionally enliven
the central square.
Mayoral survival
exercise
Krakow mayor Jacek
Majchrowski narrowly escaped a no-confidence
referendum thanks to August 10, 2016 ruling of the
local election official to void 38,919 signatures to
a petition to remove him from office. The remaining
48,323 valid signatures proved 9,696 short of the
minimum number required to call a plebiscite to
dismiss the incumbent mayor. Termination of the
highly publicized motion ends a lengthy campaign
that was electrifying the
Krakow
local politics for months. It was the first
serious attempt to remove 69-year-old Mayor
Majchrowski in his fourth term in the office. The
abortive crusade was led by 39-year-old Lukasz
Gibala, an entrepreneur turned left-wing politician,
who privately is a nephew of Jaroslaw Gowin,
currently the Deputy Prime Minister in the far right
government of Poland. In November 2014 Mr. Gibala,
then an incumbent MP, ran against Mr. Majchrowski
and six other hopefuls for the mayor of Krakow and
came third in the poll with 11 percent of the vote.
World Youth Day in Krakow, 2016.
Pope Francis designated
Krakow as the host of the World Youth Day 2016. In
the last week of July the Holy Father arrived to
the city to meet young Catholics from all over the
world. Pope John Paul II, a native of Krakow,
initiated the World Youth Days in 1984 and from 2002
they take place every third year in various cities,
alternately in Europe and on other continents. On
average, a World Youth Day attracts a couple of
millions young pilgrims with record five million
participating in the event in Manila in 1995.
Pope Francis visited Krakow July 27 to July 31
EURO 2016.
EURO 2016 European
Handball Championship took place in Krakow from
January 15th to January31st, 2016. Germany won gold,
Spain silver, and bronze went to Croatia. The city
hosted the final, semis, and the competition for
third place as well as some other games including
all matches of Group A that consists of Poland,
France, Serbia, and Macedonia. Besides Krakow three
other Polish cities co-host the championship:
Katowice, Wroclaw, and Gdansk.
World’s Best Volleyball in Krakow Again.
The 2016 FIVB Volleyball
World League Final Six tournament takes place in
Krakow from July 13th through July 17th. The Krakow
event crowns a series of 27 tournaments played on
six continents by 36 national teams divided into
three groups. The best five squads plus Poland as
the host qualify for the World League Final Six in
Krakow. The tournament venue, Tauron Arena, can seat
15,000 spectators.
No Free Parking in
Downtown Krakow
City council have passed
a motion to radically expand the existing paid
parking zone. The zone covers practically the entire
downtown Krakow, including the historic
Podgorze district on the right bank. Parking a
vehicle on any street in the area costs 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. Previously paid parking
in the street applied to Krakow’s two central
historic districts,
Old
Town and
Kazimierz, where most of the city’s tourists
attractions is situated.
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