Krakus Mound

Kopiec Krakusa is a conical earth mound sixteen metres high on a limestone rise in Podgorze, and after more than a century of investigation nobody can say with confidence who built it or why. Excavation in the 1930s went to the base and found no burial, though it did recover an Avar-type bronze fitting that suggests a date somewhere around the seventh or eighth century; the mound is built over a wooden mast structure with earth packed in radiating compartments, which is careful engineering. Tradition assigns it to Krak, the legendary founder of Krakow. There are three other mounds in the city - Wanda, Kosciuszko and Pilsudski - of which Wanda is the other ancient one. The walk up takes ten minutes and the top gives an unbroken circle of view: the old town and Wawel to the north, the Vistula, and in clear weather the Tatras on the southern horizon. It costs nothing, which is rare in Krakow.

What you actually see

• A sixteen-metre earth cone - built over a timber mast with packed radial compartments.
• No known burial - excavation reached the base and found none.
• A circle of view - Wawel, the old town, and the Tatras in clear weather.
• A companion mound - Wanda, the other ancient one, a few kilometres east.

When to go

All year; clear days for the Tatras. Two hours.

Honest expectations

There is nothing on the mound itself - no museum, no signage of substance. It is exposed and windy. The path is muddy after rain. The origin story is genuinely unresolved, so accounts you hear locally vary.

Nearby

The Podgorze quarry park is below; Wawel is across the river.