Wawel tickets official site: bilety.wawel.krakow.pl
Arcaded galleries
Wawel Royal Castle, one of the most beautiful monuments of Italianate Renaissance architecture in Europe, resulted from the transformation of a medieval residence. The decision to rebuild it was probably made as early as 1500, when the queen dowager Elizabeth of Austria and her son, the young King John I Albert (r. 1492–1501), resided at Wawel. However, the idea was not implemented until the short reign of King Alexander I (r. 1501–1506) and the first years of the long reign of his successor, Sigismund I the Old (r. 1506–1548).