Wawel Dragon's Den

Krakow is a city of dragons. There are differing legends about how the city of Krakow got its name. Fortunately, every version involves a dragon.

The Wawel Dragon (Smok) is the symbol of Krakow. Dragon images are everywhere: decorations on the roofs of houses, sculptures, souvenirs, toys, jewelry and figurines in the form of dragons.

It is a real cave, where according to legend lived a real dragon. As usual, he was evil and ate the most beautiful girls of the city. He was a true misfortune for Krakow, because the beauties could even disappear from the Polish land... In each version of the legends, the dragon was of course killed. Smok's bones were hung triumphantly outside the entrance of the Cathedral, where they remain today.

Now there is no dragon in the cave, so you can safely go down to his house. The total length of the cave is 270 meters, and only about 80 are for tourists. The height of the halls in the cave is about 10 meters.

The cave itself where the dragon is said to have lived is made up of a series of limestone rooms, that in medieval times served as a tavern and brothel. Today, it is a popular tourist attraction.

A fearsome bronze sculpture by artist Bronislaw Chromy was installed at the entrance to the Dragon's Den in 1972. Although the sculpture has seven heads, only one breathes fire (thanks to an ingeniously-placed natural gas nozzle). It was once possible to send Smok an SMS which would send him into temporary raptures of fire-breathing bliss, however he now does it without checking his phone first, so just be patient and don't look down his throat.