Museums in Krakow

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is a UNESCO World Heritage underground world of carved chambers, chapels, and lakes—all carved from salt by miners over 700 years. The Chapel of St. Kinga, with chandeliers of rock-salt crystals, is breathtaking.

Auschwitz-Birkenau is the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp, where 1.1 million people—90% of them Jewish—were murdered. The preserved camps 60 km from Kraków are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a mandatory act of remembrance.

Oskar Schindler's enamelware factory in Podgórze has been converted into a museum tracing Kraków's WWII history—from Nazi occupation through the ghetto to liberation. It's one of Poland's best-designed historical museums.

The National Museum in Kraków's main building houses Poland's most important art collection after Warsaw, with Leonardo da Vinci's 'Lady with an Ermine' as its crown jewel.

Rynek Underground is a subterranean museum beneath the Main Market Square, using archaeological finds and multimedia to recreate medieval Kraków. Excavated market stalls, tollbooths, and ancient streets lie beneath the modern square.