Stradom Dragon
Dragon Trail
The dragon stands in the courtyard of a hotel on Stradomska Street. Its author is Bronisław Chromy, who also created the Wawel Dragon sculpture.
History
The Stradom Dragon is the younger and smaller cousin of the Wawel Dragon. It lives in the patio of the Stradom House Autograph Collection hotel at 12-14 Stradomska Street. The name Stradom comes from "strata", which in medieval Latin meant a stone-paved road: this was the route of the shortest road from Kraków to Kazimierz. Where the hotel stands there were once a monastery of the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of St Hedwig of Silesia. Later the site housed a post office and a customs office, and then the headquarters of Kraków Fortress, recalled by the Latin inscription on the façade: "Si vis pacem para bellum". Since 2023 it has been a hotel.
Did you know?
According to a legend told at the hotel, the real Stradom Dragon, a friend to people, dug itself a den in the monastery cellars centuries ago and fell into a long sleep. The staff say that in the evening, when everything goes quiet, you can hear gentle snoring in the walls.