By 2005, Poland was no longer a new destination for me. I had visited the country several times since my first trips in the early 1990s and had become familiar with its cities, people and distinctive atmosphere. This return offered an opportunity to revisit familiar places while also seeing how much had changed.
Poland had joined the European Union the previous year and was moving confidently into a new era. Streets and buildings were being restored, transport and visitor facilities were improving, and the country felt increasingly connected with the rest of Europe. Yet its history, traditions and individual character remained clearly visible.
These photographs record another stage in my continuing acquaintance with Poland: not the impressions of a first-time visitor, but observations made on returning to a country that had already become both familiar and rewarding.
A pair of traditionally dressed Polish Highlander musicians entertain passers-by with accordion and double bass on ulica Grodzka, just off Kraków’s Rynek Główny, in 2005. Their lively street performance brings a flavour of southern Poland’s Góral musical tradition to the heart of the Old Town.
The brick exterior of the medieval Church of St Mark the Evangelist at the corner of Sławkowska and św. Marka streets, Kraków, in 2005. Sheltered against the church wall is its striking Golgotha group, depicting the Crucified Christ accompanied by the grieving Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist.
The picturesque neo-Gothic bridge spanning ulica Pijarska and linking buildings of the Princes Czartoryski Museum, photographed in Kraków in 2005. Its decorative brickwork, crenellations and Czartoryski coat of arms give this quiet Old Town passage the appearance of a medieval gateway.
Paintings and prints displayed for sale beneath Kraków’s medieval defensive walls on ulica Pijarska, close to St Florian’s Gate, in 2005. Artists, pedestrians, cyclists and customers at the pavement café create a lively scene along this historic approach to the Old Town.
The ornate Juliusz Słowacki Theatre undergoing exterior restoration in 2005, viewed across its colourful formal garden on Plac Świętego Ducha. In front stands Cyprian Godebski’s monument to Aleksander Fredro, the celebrated Polish playwright and master of comedy.
The medieval Church of the Holy Cross rises above the busy taxi rank on Plac Świętego Ducha, Kraków, in 2005. Its restrained brick exterior conceals an unusual Gothic interior whose elaborate vaulting spreads from a single central pillar like the branches of a stone palm tree.
A banner spanning ulica Lubicz advertises the ninth Last Night of the Proms in Cracow, held at the Kraków Philharmonic Hall on 10 September 2005. The flower-decked Hotel Europejski stands on the left, while high supporting wires for street lighting and banners cross this busy approach to Kraków’s Old Town.
Crowds fill ulica Floriańska beneath the medieval St Florian’s Gate in Kraków in 2005. Once the principal northern entrance to the walled city, the gate marked the beginning of the ceremonial Royal Route leading through the Old Town to Wawel Castle.
Horse-drawn sightseeing carriages wait beneath the unequal towers of St Mary’s Basilica on Kraków’s Rynek Główny in 2005. From the taller Hejnał Tower, a trumpeter plays the traditional Hejnał Mariacki towards the four points of the compass every hour.
A pair of dapple-grey horses, decorated with red tassels and polished harness, wait with their sightseeing carriage on Kraków’s busy Rynek Główny in 2005. Behind them, café umbrellas, pedestrians and pigeons animate the square beneath the soaring brick towers of St Mary’s Basilica.
Late-morning crowds fill Kraków’s Rynek Główny on 3 September 2005, viewed over the red canopy of a horse-drawn sightseeing carriage. The arcades of the historic Sukiennice appear through the trees on the left, while café terraces and market stalls add to the bustle of the great medieval square.
A dense late-morning crowd passes The Mexican restaurant on Kraków’s lively ulica Floriańska in 2005. A huge decorative sombrero and the cheerfully translated sign—“Swings in Garden”—compete for attention along one of the Old Town’s busiest pedestrian streets.
Pedestrians make their way through the late-morning crowds on Kraków’s ulica Floriańska in 2005, while a young promoter in a bright yellow Cosinus T-shirt distributes leaflets for inexpensive adult-education courses. The photograph captures an everyday moment on the busy pedestrianised Royal Route.
The grand Baroque façade of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul on ulica Grodzka, Kraków, in 2005. Statues of the Twelve Apostles stand above the railings, welcoming visitors to the former Jesuit church, whose richly modelled façade was inspired by the churches of Counter-Reformation Rome.
The north-eastern apartments of Wawel Royal Castle rise above the fortified wall in 2005. At the centre is the unusual projecting tower known as the Hen’s Foot, a medieval royal residence later altered with Renaissance and Baroque features as successive Polish monarchs enlarged their seat on Wawel Hill.
The pale Renaissance walls of Wawel Royal Castle rise above the crenellated red-brick fortifications, viewed through the trees from ulica Podzamcze in 2005. The contrast between the austere defensive wall and the elegant royal windows reflects Wawel’s long development from medieval stronghold to Renaissance palace.
The Clock Tower of Wawel Cathedral rises above the trees and surrounding buildings on Wawel Hill, viewed from ulica Podzamcze in 2005. Its gilded clock face and weathered copper spire mark the cathedral in which Poland’s monarchs were traditionally crowned and buried.
The medieval brick apse and copper roofs of the Franciscan Basilica overlook Plac Wszystkich Świętych in 2005. Beside the church stands the monument to Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, Archbishop of Kraków and an important mentor to the young Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II.
A four-piece rock band performs on an outdoor stage in central Kraków in 2005. With twin electric guitars, bass and drums, the musicians provide a lively accompaniment to the weekend crowds gathered around the Old Town.
Tadeusz Kościuszko raises his hat in salute from his equestrian monument at the entrance to Wawel Royal Castle, photographed in 2005. The original statue was destroyed by the German occupiers in 1940; this replacement was erected in 1960 as a gift from the people of Dresden to Kraków.
The richly varied royal chapels of Wawel Cathedral glow beneath a deep blue sky in 2005. At the centre, the golden dome of the 16th-century Sigismund Chapel marks one of the finest Renaissance buildings north of the Alps; beside it, the green-domed Vasa Chapel echoes its design in later Baroque form.
Slender columns and graceful arcaded galleries line the Renaissance courtyard of Wawel Royal Castle in 2005. Beneath the projecting roof runs a richly painted frieze of classical figures, part of the Italian-inspired decoration created when the medieval fortress was transformed into a magnificent royal palace during Poland’s 16th-century Golden Age.
Sunlight falls across the elegant Renaissance galleries of Wawel Royal Castle’s Italian Courtyard in 2005. Slender columns frame the royal apartments, while painted portraits, decorative foliage and a projecting carved gargoyle enrich the frieze beneath the broad tiled roof.
Looking west from Wawel Hill across the Vistula and the green slopes of Czerwieński Boulevard in 2005. Walkers and cyclists enjoy the riverside paths beside a moored floating restaurant, while the Jubilat department store marks the edge of the city centre in the distance.
The restaurant vessel Sobieski, then advertised as Pub Victoria, lies moored on the Vistula beneath Wawel Hill in 2005. Diners relax beneath the covered upper deck while people sunbathe on the grassy slopes of Czerwieński Boulevard behind it.
The Vistula curves eastwards beneath Wawel Hill on a bright September day in 2005. Grunwaldzki Bridge spans the river in the distance, while the flowing roofline of the Manggha Museum echoes the water beside the green embankments of Dębniki.
A canopied sightseeing launch cruises upstream along the Vistula beneath Wawel Hill in 2005. Its passengers enjoy a water-level view of Kraków while the little vessel leaves a gently spreading wake across the sunlit river.
The Kraków passenger vessel Nimfa, operated by Żegluga Krakowska, lies moored beside another river craft near Grunwaldzki Bridge in 2005. The two-deck boat offered sightseeing cruises along the Vistula, with views of Wawel Hill and Kraków’s historic waterfront.
Diners relax beneath the timber-framed canopy of Pub Victoria aboard the vessel Sobieski, moored on the Vistula below Wawel Hill in 2005. The restaurant and bar also formed the departure point for Sobieski’s sightseeing cruises along Kraków’s historic waterfront.
Wawel Cathedral and the fortified walls of the Royal Castle rise above the green slopes of Czerwieński Boulevard in 2005. People stroll and sunbathe beside the Vistula, while the passenger vessel Nimfa lies moored below Kraków’s historic royal citadel.
Wawel Hill rises beyond the Vistula and the green-painted Grunwaldzki Bridge in 2005. The towers of the cathedral, the red-roofed Royal Castle and the isolated Sandomierz Tower form Kraków’s most celebrated skyline beneath the billowing summer clouds.