The History of Krakow Trivia Quiz

Answer: A dragon

The legend goes that Smok Wawelski was a dragon who lived on what is now Wawel Hill in Krakow. The dragon would destroy homes and eat villagers, especially young virgins. Krakus fed the dragon a poisoned lamb, which killed him, and the city was saved. Wawel Cathedral currently displays, what are claimed to be, the bones of Smok Wawelski, but it is unknown where exactly the bones came from.

Answer: Saint Stanislaus the Martyr

Stanislaus and King Boleslaw II had a number of disputes, mostly with the men accusing each other immoral acts. King Boleslaw believed, which historians now believe is correct, that Stanislaus was conspiring to oust him and take more power for himself. King Boleslaw ordered Stanislaus to be executed but none of his soldiers were willing to kill the bishop. King Boleslaw killed Stanislaus himself while the bishop was celebrating mass.

Answer: Mongol

This was the first Mongol invasion of Krakow. Two more followed in 1258 and 1287. By the time of the 1258 invasion, Krakow was destroyed again just after having been rebuilt two years earlier. The Mongols failed to take the city in 1287 and Krakow started becoming a stable city from then on.

Answer: Kazimierz

King Jan I Olbracht gave permission for the Jewish community to leave what is now called, the Old Town, which had been completely burned and demolished, and move to Kazimierz, which was later put aside specifically for the Jews. The Jewish people built walls around their quarter and it became known as Oppidum Judaeorum, the Jewish City.

Answer: Nicolaus Copernicus

Copernicus was actually born in Torun, Poland but his time spent in Krakow was critical to his scientific findings. He studied at the University of Krakow, which is now called the Jagiellonian University. Prior to his book "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" many, but not all, people considered the earth to be the center of the universe.

In addition to his scientific contributions, Copernicus was also a noted statesman and economist.

Answer: Sigismund II Augustus

Since he had no heir, Sigismund II Augustus' throne was passed to Sigismund III of Sweden. Sigismund III attempted to create a union of Poland, Sweden and Lithuania. It worked for a short time, but the different cultures caused tensions to escalate and the Treaty of Stuhmsdorf in 1635 gave Poland back most of its territory that Sweden had. The tensions continued until the '(Swedish) Deluge' of 1655-1660 when Poland received significant damage, more than in World War II, according to some sources.

(In the period c. 1648-1660 Poland found itself at war with most of its main neighbours - Sweden, Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia, though not with all of these countries at the same time: the overall cumulative damage to Poland was immense).

Answer: Tadeusz Kosciuszko

Although Krakow was under Galician rule, it was largely being influenced by Russia who had contributed in dividing up Poland in 1772. Kosciuszko had mostly an army of peasants nicknamed scythemen because they carried scythes. Kosciuszko was severely outnumbered by Catherine the Great's Russian Army.

However, he was able to defeat some smaller, though bigger than Polish, armies, but ultimately his uprising against the Russians failed.

Answer: Austria

Since 1795 Poland had been divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria (except for a brief period (1807-14/15). An uprising in Russian Poland in 1830-31 had been brutally suppressed.

The status of Krakow after 1815 made it a key center of Polish nationalism, which led to an uprising in neighbouring Austrian Poland. This 1846 uprising was supported by the wealthy noblemen, middle class merchants and intellectuals, who all wanted a united Poland like before it had been partitioned away. Austria was able to defeat the rebels by gaining the support of the peasants who believed an independent Poland would be ruled by the elite. Krakow, even as a free city, had always been seen as the center for the fight for Polish independence and its status as a free city was revoked because of this failure and Krakow became the Grand Duchy of Krakow, part of the Austrian Empire.

Answer: Auschwitz-Birkenau

Auschwitz-Birkenau was one of the most infamous camps from World War II. Krakow had a large Jewish population who was forced into ghettos when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. Stanislaw Klimecki was mayor of Krakow when the Nazis invaded and he sacrificed himself to save the city, which was destroyed anyway. Krakow lost a lot of historical buildings and objects during the war, mostly academic and intellectual in nature.

Answer: Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II was born in Wadowice, a city near Krakow. He was elected pope in 1978 and served until his death in 2005. He was the first Polish pope and the first non-Italian pope in four centuries. Pope John Paul II was a popular pontiff for many reasons, one of which was working to free Poland and Eastern Europe from Communist rule.