The original 11th Century royal Polish palace on Wawel Hill was absorbed by later extensions and morphed into Wawel Castle’s current west wing. Romanesque was renovated into Gothic and then into Renaissance, but it’s the internal design of carved wood, painted friezes and portraits painted directly onto panels that make this royal residence so artily charming. For an original Gothic design the castle is very light - a lot is let in off the bright stone courtyard, which, with its many arched doors and balconies and red tiled roof, looks like an Italian town square.

The castle’s current use as an art gallery matches its artistic interior, a collaboration by some of the best European artists of the 16th Century, and its place as an architectural trail blazer – it was one of the most forward thinking royal residences in Europe during its Gothic to Renaissance conversion.

Beside it on Wawel Hill is Wawel Cathedral, coronation and burial place of the Polish monarchs and almost of Pope John Paul II, who changed his mind later in his life.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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