Floriańska Street

Now, turn right onto Floriańska Street and continue straight toward the Main Market Square. Floriańska Street is one of the Old Town’s most famous walks - a straight line from St. Florian’s Gate to the Main Market Square. It is also the opening stretch of Kraków’s Royal Road, the ceremonial route used for the city’s most important entrances and processions. A small detail tells how old this street is: it was among the first in Kraków to be cobbled, and by the end of the 15th century many houses here were already solid masonry, owned by wealthy burghers and nobles. Even the name is unusually stable - sources note it has stayed essentially unchanged for centuries, tied to St. Florian and the gate at the northern end. Floriańska is also a street of “hidden museums” behind shopfronts. At number 41 is the House of Jan Matejko, the family home of the painter who shaped how many Poles pictured their own history, now part of the National Museum in Kraków. For a more playful chapter of Kraków culture, number 45 is Jama Michalika, the legendary artistic café. In 1905, this was where the cabaret Zielony Balonik began - a sharp, witty place that became closely linked with the Young Poland era.