A piece of Krakow

In 1937 Krakow held its first official nativity scene contest for the residents of the city. This beginning of a tradition was not actually the beginning at all. The people of Krakow had been making nativities since the 19th century, though their form had slightly changed and previously, competition had been for the eye and money of wealthy families.

On Friday John and I were able to see the entries into the 67th contest in Krakow and they were unbelievable. These aren't your normal holy family in a wooden stall kind of nativities. Artists (most of them amateurs, many of them children) use buildings from the city itself as inspiration for their fairy tale structures. The buildings are elaborately and ornately decorated with colorful foil, tiny stained glass windows, and intricate, albeit miniature metalwork. Windows are lit up, walls are covered in ornate papers; not a single detail is left undone.

At the center of the building is always the holy family but the other characters that appear are a bit surprising. There's local villagers wearing traditional costumes, musicians, protagonists of Krakow's legends like the Dragon of Wawel Hill, the bugle players of St. Mary's church, and Mephistopheles, to name a few.

We were also able to see some of the winning entries from years past and these were just as impressive as the modern versions. The mechanized ones were particularly fun to watch. Characters spun in place, Mary rocked the cradle, angels flew back and forth and the buglers popped out of the tallest towers. Keep in mind that this is all done by hand! It was truly magical and so we wanted to share it with you.