#krakow

After the rain at Botanic Garden of the Jagiellonian University 🕸️🌱

Saint Catherine of Siena besieged by demons by the Kraków workshop, ca. 1500, National Museum in Warsaw (tempera and gold on panel, 77 x 58.5 cm, inv. Śr.215/1 MNW, earlier 210200). From the Dominican church in Kraków.

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I went to Krakow last year and the pigeons there are the healthiest and beefiest pigeons I've ever seen in my life. We kept joking about it, and on the last day there we found out the reason.

Krakow has a myth about the pigeons that live in the old town. The story goes that in the 13th century when Prince Henryk IV Probus inherited the throne to Krakow, he was determined to finally unify Poland into one nation, with him as it's King. He was in a good position politically, and he was loved by his men, but he didn't have the finances to make the pilgrimage to Rome to gain the support of the Pope.

Seeing the situation, a witch approached him and offered her help. She asked his men if they truly believed in Prince Henryk. Did they trust their Prince enough to put their own lives on the line, if it meant helping him succeed?

Well his men agreed. So she raised her hand, and in an instant, they were all transformed into pigeons. They flew up to the roof of St Mary's Church, and dropped pebbles from the rooftops that turned to gold as they fell. Thus Prince Henryk could finance his pilgrimage to Rome.

But there was a catch. His men would remain in their feathered form until Prince Henryk returned with the Pope's blessing.

There's a few versions of how this ends. Some stories say that Prince Henryk wasn't as good a king as his men believed, and drank or gambled the gold away before he ever reached Rome. Others say that he did present himself to the Pope, but seeing that he was alone, the holy man refused his blessing. My favourite version is that without his men to protect him, he was attacked and killed on the road. Whatever the reason, Henryk never returned to Krakow, and his men remain enchanted to this day, keeping watch over the city and waiting for their Prince to return to them.

The rain puts me in a daze. A daze that pulls me away into the worlds I've made.

-- Kaylee Stepkoski