Wanda's Mound
A princess who drowned herself in the Vistula rather than marry a German — or so the legend goes. The mound may predate the story entirely.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Krakow offline.
This 14-metre earthen tumulus in Nowa Huta is the mythical grave of Princess Wanda, daughter of Kraków's legendary founder Krakus. Archaeology from 1913 and the 1960s settled nothing about its age or purpose, making the legend the only real guide. Unlike Kraków's other three mounds, it sits on flat ground — no natural hill beneath it.
What to look for
- The Jan Matejko monument crowning the summit (1890): an eagle on a plinth carved with a sword and distaff, and the single word 'Wanda'
- The mound's unusually flat-ground position — 50 metres wide at the base, rising 14 metres with nothing beneath it to give it a head start
- Mogiła Abbey, visible within two kilometres, built in 1225 and still active today
Located in the Mogiła neighbourhood of Nowa Huta — budget travel time from central Kraków.
Wanda's Mound is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Krakow, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Krakow pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Krakow
- Wieliczka Salt MineSeven centuries of miners carved chapels and statues out of grey rock salt — 327 metres underground.
- Wawel CathedralPolish kings were crowned here for centuries, and a young priest named Karol Wojtyła said his first Mass in its crypt on 2 November 1946 — thirty-two years before becoming Pope.
- Wawel Royal CastlePolish monarchs were crowned and buried here — the limestone hill above the Vistula is where a nation kept its memory.
- St. Mary's BasilicaEvery hour, a trumpeter plays from the taller tower and stops dead mid-note — commemorating a 13th-century trumpeter who was shot in the throat mid-signal before a Mongol attack on the city.
- Wawel CastlePolish monarchs were crowned and buried here — and their palace now holds Europe's largest collection of Ottoman tents.
- National Museum in KrakówPoland's largest museum holds 780,000 objects — and a Bruegel the Nazis stole in 1939 that never came back.