The Wawel Crypts, Krakow
Wawel, 31-001 Kraków
Tourist region: Kraków i okolice
In the underground of this most famous Polish necropolis there are tombs with the remains of Polish kings and their families, from the times of Sigismund the Old, with the exception of the last three monarchs. The St. Leonard crypt is the final resting place of Tadeusz Kościuszko, General Władysław Sikorski, the crypt under Wieża Srebrnych Dzwonów (Silver Bell Tower) – Marshal Józef Piłsudski and President Lech Kaczyński with his wife. There are sarcophagi of Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki and an urn with the ashes of Cyprian Kamil Norwid in the Crypt of the National Bards. It was not easy to find a final resting place here, especially when the cathedral was under the care of Cardinal Adam Sapieha. He did not like disturbing the royal character of the place. He did not consent to the burial of the writer Henryk Sienkiewicz in the crypts, and the transfer of the remains of the late Marshal Józef Piłsudski from the crypt of St. Leonard in front of the Silver Bell Tower, caused a stormy conflict in Wawel.