The Krakow Nativity Cribs

The szopka is a nativity crib that in Krakow turned into architecture. Makers build towers, domes and arcades out of cardboard and coloured foil, borrowing from the city's own churches and gates, and set the nativity figures somewhere inside all that glitter. The craft was carried by builders and craftsmen in the nineteenth century and has been run as an annual competition since 1937. On the first Thursday of December the makers carry their cribs to the monument on the main square at midday and stand them out for judging, from pieces smaller than a hand to some taller than a person. The winners then go on show in the city museum through the winter.

What you actually see

• The judging on the square - makers carrying cribs to the monument on the first Thursday of December.
• The scale range - entries from matchbox size to over two metres, all judged together.
• The borrowed architecture - towers and domes copied from real Krakow buildings in foil.
• The winter exhibition - the prize cribs shown in the city museum until February.

When to go

The judging is the first Thursday of December, around midday on the main square, and it is over within a couple of hours. The exhibition then runs through the winter, so a visit in January or early February sees the same cribs indoors, without the weather. Christmas market crowds overlap with the judging day.

Honest expectations

The judging is short and outdoors in cold December weather, and the crowd around the monument is several deep, so you see little unless you come early. Cribs sold to tourists the rest of the year are mostly small souvenir versions. The museum exhibition is a single room and takes half an hour, no more.

Nearby

The main market square, the Cloth Hall and the city museum are all within a few minutes of each other.