Wawel was the seat of Poland’s rulers from the eleventh century, and after the capital moved to Warsaw at the end of the sixteenth it remained the place of coronation and burial. The castle as it stands is largely the Renaissance rebuilding carried out for King Sigismund the Old, with an arcaded courtyard modelled on Italian palaces.
The cathedral is really a collection of chapels added over successive centuries. The Sigismund Chapel is often called the purest Renaissance work north of the Alps. The crypts hold monarchs alongside Kościuszko, the poets Mickiewicz and Słowacki, and Marshal Piłsudski.
At the foot of the rock is the Dragon’s Den, a karst cave tied to the founding legend of the city. Several separate exhibitions operate on the hill, each with its own ticket and timed entry.