Краков: Польшаның мәдени астанасы

Overview of the culture of Kraków, Poland
Kraków is considered by many to be the cultural capital of Poland. It was named the European Capital of Culture by the European Union for the year 2000. The city has some of the best museums in the country and several famous theaters. It became the residence of two Polish Nobel laureates in literature: Wisława Szymborska and Czesław Miłosz, while a third Nobel laureate, the Yugoslav writer Ivo Andrić also lived and studied in Krakow. It is also home to one of the world's oldest universities, the Jagiellonian University of Kraków, and Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, the oldest Polish fine art academy, established in 1818 and granted full autonomy in 1873.

Opera Krakowska one of the leading national opera companies, stages 200 performances each year including ballet, operettas and musicals. It has, in its main repertoire, the greatest world and Polish opera classics. The Opera moved into its first permanent House in the autumn of 2008. It is in charge also of the Summer Festival of Opera and Operetta. Cracow is home to two major Polish festivals of early music presenting forgotten Baroque oratorios and operas: Opera Rara and Misteria Paschalia. Meanwhile, Capella Cracoviensis runs the Music in Old Cracow International Festival. Academy of Music in Kraków, founded in 1888, is known world wide as the alma mater of the contemporary Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, and it is also the only one in Poland to have two winners of the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw among its alumni. The Academy organizes concerts of its students and guests throughout the whole year. Music organizations and venues include: Kraków Philharmonic, home of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the chamber Capella Cracoviensis, Sinfonietta Cracovia (a. k. a. the Orchestra of the Royal City of Kraków), the Polish Radio Choir of Kraków, Organum Academic Choir, the Mixed Mariański Choir (Mieszany Chór Mariański), Krakow Academic Choir of the Jagiellonian University, the Krakow Chamber Choir, Amar Corde String Quartet, Consortium Iagellonicum Baroque Orchestra of the Jagiellonian University, the Brass Band of T. Sendzimir Steelworks, and Camerata Chamber Orchestra of Radio Kraków.

There are over a hundred pubs and bars in the vicinity of the Kraków Market Square alone, most in the cellars of historic buildings, each with its own intimate character and atmosphere. Many of the establishments are devoted to live music as well. Jazz clubs include: Harris Piano Jazz Bar, Jazz Club U Muniaka, Pod Jaszczurami Club, Kornet Jazz Club, U Louisa, and Piec Art Club. Popular places to drink, eat, and enjoy, are situated also in the nearby Kazimierz quarter. The main square is home to a melange of bars and shops where the hundreds of different Polish Vodkas can be tried out. Friday and Saturday nights are the high points of the entertainment week. Live entertainment fits all tastes. Jazz remains very popular and there is no lack of places for fans of rock, modern pop, ballads, including classical music. A number of restaurants in the centre of Kraków can seat more than 100. Among Jazz musicians with bands are: Reiner Trio, Beale Street Band, Boba Jazz Band, Aleksander Glondys Quartet/Quintet (formerly: Al’Mad), Jazz Band Ball Orchestra, Janusz Witko Quartet, Mr. Bober's Friends, Cracow Swing Quartet, Old Metropolitan Band, Marek Bałata Jazz Singer, Andrzej Cudzich, New Bone, Sebastian Bernatowicz, Jan Pilch, Karolina Styła, Overtime, Piotr Domagała, Ryszard Styła, Jorgos Skolias. Kraków Klezmer groups include: Kroke and The Cracow Klezmer Band. Selected Folk bands: Krakowiacy Song and Dance Company, Students Highlanders' Ensemble "Skalni", Retro Circus Folk Band "Vladimirska", Nowa Huta Song and Dance Ensemble, Highland Folk Group Hamernik, Children's Highland Folk Group Mali Hamernicy and Folk Dance Group Krakowiak.