Fortress Fever. Krakow Fortress Draws Crowds
The 2nd Krakow Fortress Days attracted nearly twice as many visitors as last year’s event. Just as the year before, the festival for fans of stories about defensive Krakow was held as part of the European Heritage Days.
The Krakow Fortress Days lasted a full 10 days this year. The events, which took place on 8 to 17 September, were attended by more than 3,500 guests. In comparison, the first edition of the Krakow Fortress Days, which took place on 10-18 September 2022, was attended by 2,000 people, who could choose from dozens of events at 14 former Krakow Fortress sites. During this year’s Krakow Fortress Days, participants could choose from nearly 60 unique proposals, which were organised or co-organised at 32 sites associated with Krakow Fortress, promoting the heritage of Krakow’s defensive architecture. As many as 12 sites, and 7 institutions managing them, took part in the Krakow Fortress Days for the first time.
This year, the event organiser, the Municipality of Krakow, entrusted the Museum of Polish Army AK with managing the event. Together with the administrators (hosts) of the individual sites, the museum, which is based in the buildings of the former Krakow Fortress, prepared a rich programme, with visitors able to choose from: 38 walks, 24 guided tours of post-fortress sites, including night tours, 15 hours of workshops, 12 lectures, 5 concerts, 5 film screenings, 2 reenactment group shows, 2 dance performances, and even one sporting event.
This year’s event began with a meeting of the Friends of the Krakow Fortress at the Museum of Polish Army AK. The following day, 9 September, Fort “Swoszowice” hosted the official launch of the second edition of Krakow Fortress Days, during the Swoszowice Patriotic Picnic. The event was in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Museum of Military Affairs. The biggest amount of interesting events took place over two weekends: 9-10 and 16-17 September, enabling as many interested parties as possible to participate. The specific nature of fortress architecture, full of narrow passageways, rooms and entrances, limit the possibilities of the organisers regarding the comfort and safety of participants during their visits. In order to allow as many people as possible to participate in Krakow Fortress Days, some events were also held on weekdays. The programme can be viewed HERE.
Krakow Fortress is an appealing tourist attraction thanks to its diverse and varied offer. The municipality’s increasing cooperation with partners working on Krakow’s post-fortress sites is yielding better and better results, such as the Krakow Fortress being awarded the title “Tourism Product of the Year 2023” by the jury of Forum Biznesu (an editorial team cooperating with “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”).
See you at the Krakow Fortress Days in 2024!
