Wawel Royal Castle, Poland

The most historically and culturally significant location in Poland is the Wawel Royal Castle (pronounced "Wawel") and the Wawel Hill where it is located. On the instructions of King Casimir III the Great, it was built as a fortified residence on the Vistula River in Kraków. Over the ages, it expanded into a variety of buildings centered on a Polish Renaissance courtyard. It embodies almost every architectural style from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras in Europe.Standing 228 meters (748 feet) above sea level on a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula River, the castle is a component of a fortified architectural complex.The Wawel Cathedral, where Polish monarchs were crowned and interred, is one of the many structures of significant historical and national significance that make up the complex. In addition to the oldest instances of Romanesque and Gothic architecture in Poland, some of Wawel's oldest stone structures date back to 970 CE.Constructed in the fourteenth century, the present castle grew throughout the ensuing centuries. Wawel, which is a part of Kraków's Historic Center, was designated the first World Heritage Site in 1978.Wawel Castle, the home of Poland's monarchs for centuries and a representation of Polish nationalism, is currently one of the top art museums in the nation.Goldsmithing, arms and armor, ceramics, Meissen porcelain, period furniture, and a significant collection of Italian Renaissance paintings, prints, sculptures, and textiles, including the Sigismund II Augustus tapestry collection, are all part of the museum's ten curatorial departments, which were established in 1930.

The greatest collection of Ottoman tents in Europe is part of the museum's collections of oriental art. The side chapels that were erected in subsequent years surround the cathedral, which was built in a trinavel fashion. The first of these chapels was constructed off the chancel; St. Margarita's chapel was dedicated in 1322 (it now serves as a sacristy), and a few years later the chapel that would later be called the Báthory Chapel was finished. Built during the time of Casimir IV Jagiellon (1440–1492), the cathedral's west entrance is flanked by two chapels: one devoted to the Holy Cross and the other to Queen Sophia, the final wife of Władysław II Jagiełło. The former is famous for its polychrome vaulted ceiling.Nineteen further side chapels were constructed or renovated starting at the end of the 15th century.