Saints Peter and Paul Church, Kraków, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Saints Peter and Paul Church is an early Baroque Jesuit church on Grodzka Street in Kraków, on the Royal Road between the Main Square and Wawel Hill. Its broad stone facade and the row of apostle statues along its fence make it one of the most recognisable landmarks on the street. It also sits close to the settings of some of the city's best-loved legends.

The story behind it

The church was built for the Jesuits at the turn of the 17th century and finished in the early 1600s. It was modelled on the Jesuit mother church in Rome and helped bring the Baroque style to Kraków. Inside, the crypt holds the tomb of Piotr Skarga, the Jesuit preacher and royal court chaplain.

The street outside is tied to the legend of the Lajkonik, the horseman in Tatar dress who is a symbol of Kraków. The story goes that when Tatar forces threatened the city in the 13th century, the townspeople sheltered in the fortified Romanesque church of St. Andrew, a short way down Grodzka. On a later raid, the Tatars camped by the river, and a group of raftsmen is said to have attacked them while they slept. The raftsmen then put on the fallen raiders' clothes and rode in triumph through the city streets. Historians treat the details as legend, but the memory lives on. Every year a costumed Lajkonik parade, with musicians, dancers and cheering crowds, passes through the city.

What to look for

• The statues of the Twelve Apostles stand along the fence in front of the church and give the entrance its distinctive look.
• The wide Baroque facade has columns, niches and sculpted ornament, and it looks very different from the Gothic and Romanesque churches nearby.
• Across and down the street, the heavy walls and tower of St. Andrew's Church show what a fortified Romanesque church looked like.
• The street itself, Grodzka, follows the old Royal Road, so you walk the same line that processions and coronation parties used to take.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 15 to 20 minutes for the exterior and a short look inside, and more if you want to linger or see the crypt. Access can vary, so check current opening hours.
• Visit in the morning or late afternoon, when the facade catches the light and Grodzka is calmer than at midday.
• Dress respectfully and keep your voice down, as this is a working church and services take place regularly.
• St. Andrew's Church, the Main Square and Wawel Hill are all within a few minutes on foot, so it fits easily into a walk along the Royal Road.

See it on a quest

On Legends of Krakow: The Artist’s Gamble, you reach this stretch of Grodzka on foot as one stop of a longer route through the Old Town. The app tells you about each place as you arrive and sets a puzzle based on what is in front of you, so you look at the street, the churches and the legends more closely. You can start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join, and one ticket covers the whole group.