Proudly poised in the middle of the market square is Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), Poland’s greatest literary hero. Known as the ‘Father of Polish Romanticism,’ his epic poems and dramas served as inspiration for insurrections against the imperial powers that had partitioned Poland out of existence in the late 18th century.

Here he stands atop a large pedestal surrounded by symbolic representations of the Motherland, Science & Learning, Poetry, and Patriotism. Ironically, this work by Teodor Rygier lost the design competition, but the public demanded it be built. Originally unveiled in 1898 to celebrate the centenary of the great man’s birth, like so many other symbols of national pride, the monument was destroyed by the Germans during WWII. The statue that stands in the Rynek today is a 1955 copy of Rygier’s original, and is a popular and easily recognisable meeting place. As for Mickiewicz (whose most famous work, Pan Tadeusz, begins with the words ‘Lithuania, my country!’), he never actually visited Kraków until 35 years after his death, when his body was laid to rest in the Royal Crypts just down the road at Wawel Cathedral.