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Cracow: The heartland of Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth

Between 1569 and 1795 Lithuania and Poland were a single country - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The collaborative efforts started much earlier in 1385 Union of Krėva (Krewo) when Jogaila (a Lithuanian) was crowned as king of Poland. Jogaila was a scion of the Gediminid dynasty (ruling Lithuania at the time). Still, as he was the first Gediminid to rule Poland, the Poles call the dynasty Jagiellonian after him. Gediminids/Jagiellonians then vied with Habsburgs to prevail in Eastern Europe. Many dynasty kings are buried in Cracow which was the Polish-Lithuanian capital.

The main pantheon of Cracow is the Wawel Cathedral, part of the royal palace. Jogaila himself rests in a covered red marble grave within the cathedral. Most other Polish and Polish-Lithuanian leaders are buried in the cellars. Holy Cross chapel has a grave of king Casimir (1440-1491), Sigismunds (Žygimantai) chapel includes graves of Sigismund the Old (1506-1548; Lithuanian: Žygimantas Senasis) and Sigismund Augustus (1548-1572; Lithuanian: Žygimantas Augustas). Maryacka Chapel is the final resting place of Stephen Bathory. Vasa chapel was constructed for the Vasa dynasty of Swedish origin which was elected to rule Poland-Lithuania by its nobles after the Gediminids had died out. There are also graves of Jan Sobieski (Lithuanian: Jonas Sobieskis), Michael Karibut Wiszniowecki (Lithuanian: Mykolas Kaributas Vyšnioveckis), Stanislaw Leszczynski (Lithuanian: Stanislovas Leščinskis) and August the Saxonian (Augustas Saksas). Adam Mickiewicz (Adomas Mickevičius) - a poet who wrote in Polish but considered himself Lithuanian because of his Lithuanian origins (something not unusual in the era) - is also buried there, as is the leader of 1794 uprising Tadeusz Kosciuszko (Tadas Kosciuška).

Medieval sites of Cracow. Wawel hill, its palace and cathedral are depicted on the bottom images and top left. Top right/center images show the remaining medieval district, once the capital of both Poland and Lithuania. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The Wawel grave of Poland-Lithuania's final king Stanislaw August Poniatowski is, however, empty. After Russia annexed Lithuania and much of Poland by 1795 he lived in exile in Saint Petersburg and was initially buried there. In 1930 the Soviets offered Poles to return the remains but the Polish opinion on "the king under whose rule the country collapsed" was understandably divided. He was thus reinterred in a village near Brest (today's Belarus) rather than Wawel in 1938 and moved to Warsaw's St. John Cathedral after Poland's communist regime went bust.

In Wawel, one may also visit the palaces, however, they have been greatly rebuilt from the times of Jogaila. Nevertheless, in many places, one could see Polish and Lithuanian coats of arms together, a symbol of a united country.

Lithuanian and Polish coats of arms in Wawel Museum

That common Polish and Lithuanian history is also reminded by a massive Grunwald Monument that commemorates the 1410 battle where joint Polish and Lithuanian forces defeated the Teutonic Knights, endless wars against which were among the reasons of Polish and Lithuanian cooperation. Built in 1910 for the battle's 500th anniversary, the monument features Lithuanians greatly. At the top of the monuments is a 24 m equestrian sculpture of Jogaila. In front of him stands Vytautas the Great, who led the Lithuanian forces into the battle, with the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Ulrich von Jungingen at his feet. On the right of Jogaila, a Lithuanian warrior is blowing the horn and leading a captured Teutonic knight.

Grunwald Monument

The monument was built before the 1920-1940 Polish-Lithuanian conflict over Vilnius - had it been built at that era, it is possible that there would be less representation of Lithuanians. The author of the monument Antoni Wiwulski lived in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he designed the Three Crosses, one of the symbols of Vilnius. That said, the Grunwald Monument was destroyed by the Nazi Germans (because of it celebrating a defeat of German Teutonic Knights) during World War 2 and rebuilt in the same style in 1976.

Cracow University is named after Jogaila (Jagiello).