Wawel Cathedral - Chapels and Burial Chambers

Chapels and Burial Chambers

For more details on this topic, see Sigismund's Chapel.

The Wawel Cathedral has been the main burial site for Polish monarchs since the 14th century. As such, it has been significantly extended and altered over time as individual rulers have added multiple burial chapels.

Sigismund's Chapel, or Zygmunt Chapel ("Kaplica Zygmuntowska"), adjoining the southern wall of the cathedral, is one of the most notable pieces of architecture in Kraków and perhaps "the purest example of Renaissance architecture outside Italy." Financed by Sigismund I the Old, it was built in 1517-33 by Bartolommeo Berrecci, a Florentine Renaissance architect, who spent most of his career in Poland.

A square-based chapel with a golden dome houses the tombs of its founder as well as of his children, King Sigismund II Augustus and Anna Jagiellon (Jagiellonka).

  • Map showing location of the Wawel Cathedral.

  • Main gate between the St. Sophia's Chapel (right) and the Holy Cross Chapel (left)

  • Entrance to the Wawel cathedral, from west.

Read more about this topic:  Wawel Cathedral

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