Culture of Kraków

It is also home to one of the world's oldest universities, the Jagiellonian University of Kraków, and Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, the oldest Polish fine art academy, established in 1818 and granted full autonomy in 1873.

Academy of Music in Kraków, founded in 1888, is known world-wide as the alma mater of the contemporary Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, and it is also the only one in Poland to have two winners of the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw among its alumni.

Community centres with their many exhibitions, art classes, educational and music programs are perhaps the most noticeable cultural venues at a local level.

They are paid for from the 4% of the budget of the city of Kraków (with revenue of 2,150 million złoty in 2006)[28] allocated to culture and recreational facilities.

Among the city's cultural centres are: There are over a hundred pubs and bars in the vicinity of the Kraków Market Square alone, most in the cellars of historic buildings, each with its own intimate character and atmosphere.

The main square is home to a melange of bars and shops where the hundreds of different Polish Vodkas can be tried out.

Jazz remains very popular and there is no lack of places for fans of rock, modern pop, ballads, including classical music.