Przewodniki po Krakowie i jego okolicach. Od najstarszych do 1945 r. Charakterystyka, bibliografia

Abstract

GUIDES TO CRACOW AND ENVIRONS, FROM THE OLDEST UP TO 1945. CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES, LITERATURE

Cracow, a treasury of a thousand year history of the Polish nation, centre of culture, science and art, and an important industrial centre has always attracted tourists from all over Poland.
The oldest detailed guide-type descriptions of the city date from the 17th century. They were for pilgrims, who visited Cracow, where many sacred places and relics of saints were housed. The purpose of such visits was religious, involving indulgence of sins.

The first guide to Cracow was published in 1603. It was called by Jakub Siebenyher the Przewodnik abo Kościołow Krakowskich y rzeczy w nich widzenia godnych krótkie opisanie (A Guide or a Short Description of Cracow Churches and Things Worthy of Notice in Them). Based on descriptions contained in this Guide, the second guide entitled Stołecznego miasta Krakowa Kościoły y kleynoty (Churches and Treasures of the Capital City of Cracow), was written. It had three editions; the first edition was in 1647, the second in 1650. A copy of the third edition of the Treasures, from 1745, is in the collection of the Cracow Historical Museum.
After 1815, Cracow became also a sightseeing place, in addition to religious pilgrims’ journeys. Cracow’s historical monuments were a theme of many literary pieces published at various periodicals, and of many paintings.
A treshold date in promoting Cracow’s history and culture was 1822. It is the date of the first edition of Ambroży Grabowski’s guide, entitled Historyczny opis miasta Krakowa i jego okolic (An Outline History of Cracow and Environs). This publication promoted the town’s history in a very modern way, characteristic of that kind of publications, and rised patriotic spirit. The guide was republished successively in 1830, 1836, 1844, 1866, 1900 and 1905. From the second edition its title was Kraków i jego okolice (Cracow and Environs).
At the turn of the 19th century a great role in promoting Cracow’s history and culture was played by the Society of Lovers of Cracow’s History and Monuments. From 1897 it published the Biblioteka Krakowska (Cracow Library), and from 1897, the Rocznik Krakowski (Cracow Annual). Also the Polish Tourist Association’s role should not be neglected.
After 1918, tourism began in Cracow at a large scale, along with many publications, enclosed in the bibliogrpahy.
Specially worthy of notice are Najnowszy zwięzły przewodnik po Krakowie (The Newest Concise Guide to Cracow), published in 1920, and Kraków w paru dniach (Cracow in Several Days), a guide by Józef Rostafiński, with its second edition containing Cracow’s stories and legends.
In 1932 Karol Estreicher’s guide, Kraków. Przewodnik dla zwiedzających miasto i okolice jego (Cracow. A Guide for Visitors to Cracow and Environs), was first published. It was generally renowned as the best guide to Cracow. Further editions are — 2nd ed., 1934; 3rd ed., 1938.
Plan tury styczno-orientacyjny miasta Krakowa wraz z przewodnikiem po Krakowie (Cracow Map for Tourists with a Guide to Cracow), published in 1936, is also an interesting publication.
The book entitled Przewodnik po Polsce — Od Tatr do Bałtyku (A Guide to Poland — From the Tatras to the Baltic Sea), and especially its first part published in 1939, Kraków i ziemia krakowska (Cracow and the Cracow Region), by Z. Madalińska and E. Garbacik, is one of the lat guides published before the Second World War.
The Nazi occupation interrupted any kinds of tourism for five years. The guides Germans published during the war were to show that all cultural heritage of the Cracow was due to Germans only.
After the Second World War, efforts to write and publish guides to Cracow were taken again. The bibliography of guides to Cracow and environs, including a brief characterization of 1945-1977 can be found in the Bibliografia Krakowa (Cracow Bibliography), published by the Municipal Public Library, as well as in the Bibliografia Turystyki Polskiej (Bibliogrpahy of Polish Tourism) by A. Jackowski.