Krakow’s partitions communicate volumes by means of symbolic murals. The avenue artwork in Krakow paints Jewish heritage and societal change with explosions of inventive expression.
Street artwork in Kraków began as a type of expression throughout communism, when artists had restricted freedom. Back then, voices have been heard by means of unofficial posters and political graffiti. After 1989, the autumn of the regime opened up public house, and metropolis partitions become inventive shops. Over time, extra curated murals appeared backed by galleries, festivals, and initiatives just like the 101 Murals of Krakow, the Jewish Culture Festival, and the ArtBoom Festival.
Walk by means of the hip district Kazimierz, the previous Jewish ghetto of Podgórze or the quiet streets close to the Old Town, and you may’t fail to come across an ever-evolving assortment of murals. From the enduring Judah and Lem’s Robot to Blu’s thought-provoking Ding Dong Dumb, each bit provides that means to its environment.
In this weblog, we’ll discover among the most putting, and a few refined items of avenue artwork in Kraków, uncovering the tales and artists behind them.
Where To Find Street Art in Krakow
Street Art in Krakow Map
Street artwork in Kraków retains altering, with new items popping up on a regular basis. This map highlights standout murals in Kazimierz, Podgórze, and the Old Town that can assist you plan your metropolis break to Krakow.
|| CLICK FOR KRAKOW STREET ART MAP
Street Art Tours in Krakow
Street Art in Kazimierz
Judah by Pilpeled
The Judah mural by Israeli artist Pilpeled was painted in 2012 as a part of the Jewish Culture Festival. It exhibits a younger boy’s face merged with a lion’s mane. The paintings attracts on the biblical “Lion of Judah” image, representing the enduring spirit of the Jewish folks, notably youngsters, throughout the Holocaust.
The mural has turn into a part of the town’s evolving story. It covers the wall of an deserted home that was as soon as house to a Jewish household and now towers above a gaggle of meals vehicles. In recognition of its influence, the town renamed the realm “Judah Square” (Judah Skwer).
About the Pilpeled
Pilpeled, born Nir Peled in 1985 in Herzliya, Israel, is a recent artist, graphic designer, and illustrator recognized for his distinctive monochromatic fashion. He started his profession in 2005 in Tel Aviv, creating posters for events and golf equipment, and has since expanded his work to incorporate murals, installations, and collaborations with massive manufacturers. His artwork has been showcased in exhibitions worldwide and, should you love his work, his Pilpeled clothes and niknaks model that options his black-and-white designs.
|| LOCATION: Judah Food Market || INSTAGRAM: Pilpeled
Judah by Pilpeled
Ephraim Moses Lilien by Broken Fingaz Crew
Israeli avenue artwork collective Broken Fingaz painted this distinguished mural in 2014 throughout Kraków’s Jewish Culture Festival. It covers the wall of a traditionally important constructing as soon as house to the Bosak household, who lived there for 4 centuries earlier than transferring to Israel after World War II.
The untitled mural honours Ephraim Moses Lilien, a Polish-Jewish illustrator recognized for his Art Nouveau fashion and powerful Jewish themes. A graduate of the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, Lilien performed a key position in shaping the Bezalel college artwork motion.
About the Broken Fingaz Crew
Broken Fingaz Crew (BFC) is a gaggle of 4 multidisciplinary artists: Unga, Tant, Deso and Kip, who helped kickstart the Israeli graffiti scene. Their fashion is a cool mix of popular culture, 90s skate graphics and neo-psychedelia, and so they’ve proven their work in galleries world wide. You’ll spot their murals on partitions in Japan, Cambodia, Israel, Brazil and throughout Europe, together with cities like London, Berlin and Kraków.
|| LOCATION: Plac Bawół 3 || INSTAGRAM: Broken Fingaz Crew
Ephraim Moses Lilien by Broken Fingaz
Kazimierz Historical Mural by Piotr Janowczyk
The artist Piotr Janowczyk painted the Kazimierz Historical Mural on the aspect of Pub Wręga. Part of the Kazimierz Historical Murals undertaking in 2015, it options 5 portraits of figures tied to the district’s previous: Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, cosmetics Polish-American entrepreneur Helena Rubinstein, architect Karol Knaus, Esterka, and King Kazimierz himself.
Each portrait comes with an English description on a gold plaque mounted beside it on the wall. These plaques give context to the historic figures and assist folks perceive their connection to Kazimierz.
About Piotr Janowczyk
Piotr Janowczyk is a Polish visible artist and artwork historian, famend for his large-format murals and contributions to avenue artwork throughout Europe. He manages the Image Registration Workshop on the University of Warsaw and has lectured at establishments just like the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
Beyond murals, Janowczyk has directed movies and animations, and likewise initiated the “Street Art Summer” undertaking, travelling from Odessa to the Arctic Circle to doc rock artwork and create portrait murals.
|| LOCATION: Józefa 7 || INSTAGRAM: Piotr Janowczyk
Kazimierz Historical Mural
For God’s Sake, Censorship is Everywhere by Pikaso
During Kraków’s 2012 Grolsch ArtBoom Festival, avenue artist Pikaso painted the mural For God’s Sake, Censorship is Everywhere. The piece was a direct response to the rejection of his authentic design by the powers that be for being too anticlerical. As a type of protest, Pikaso created this mural with a big faceless head obscured by a black slash to symbolise the silencing of creative expression.
About Pikaso
Michał Linow, recognized by his avenue artwork alias Pikaso, is a Polish artist born in 1986 in Gdańsk. He started his profession in avenue artwork, later increasing into portray, installations, and digital media. His work typically tackles societal norms and the stress between the true world and our on-line world. Linow has participated in numerous exhibitions throughout Poland and different European cities comparable to Paris and Berlin.
|| LOCATION: ul. Św. Wawrzyńca 5 || INSTAGRAM: Michael Linow
For god’s sake, censorship is all over the place by Pikaso
Galicia Jewish Museum Mural by Marcin Wierzchowski
Commissioned by means of a design competitors in 2013, the mural depicts a big menorah at its centre and the encompassing imagery contrasts pre-industrial Jewish life on one aspect with post-industrial components on the opposite, illustrating the historic journey and resilience of the Jewish neighborhood. Wierzchowski’s design attracts inspiration from conventional Jewish papercut artwork, utilising daring black outlines in opposition to a vivid yellow background.
|| LOCATION: ul. Dajwór 18
Street artwork at Galicia Jewish Museum
Plac Nowy sercem Kazimierza by Marcin Kowalik
One of the standout initiatives of August 2020 was a mural proper within the centre of Kazimierz. Using Kamila Kochanowska’s design, Marcin Kowalik created a map of the district with a coronary heart at its centre, giving life to the Plac Nowy sercem Kazimierza mural, which interprets to “Plac Nowy, the Heart of Kazimierz.”
The thought got here from native restaurateurs who needed to enhance the look of the constructing and produce the neighborhood collectively. They found Dr. Hab. Marcin Kowalik, a painter with neighborhood pursuits. He based the “Fundacja Obraz W Pigułce” (A Dose of Painting Foundation), a undertaking that brings artwork into youngsters’s hospitals by turning younger sufferers’ drawings into large-scale work. That’s how the mural got here to be.
About Marcin Kowalik
Dr. Hab. Marcin Kowalik is a painter and affiliate professor on the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. His work contains portray, installations, and efficiency artwork, typically exploring summary varieties and the viewer’s notion. Kowalik has exhibited in over 50 exhibits throughout Poland and internationally, together with cities like Berlin, Dublin, Brussels, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Knoxville and New York.
|| LOCATION: Plac Bawół 3 || INSTAGRAM: Marcin Kowalik
Plac Nowy Sercem Kazimierza Mural
Singin’ within the Rain by Kuba
The Gene Kelly Singing within the Rain mural exhibits the notorious efficiency as he swings round a avenue lamp with the quote “I’m happy again”. The stencil artwork appeared in spring 2014 to painting a message a couple of metropolis recovering from the horrors of the world struggle.
I did some digging on-line to determine who created it. Originally, it was believed it was a Banksy giving it some notoriety though it’s nonetheless shrouded in an identical thriller. Many imagine Singing within the Rain was painted by Kuba, and some thought it was Mr. Trololo. Some assume it was impressed by Eduard Khil, Soviet-era singer, who changed censored phrases in his “I Am Glad Because I Am Finally Returning Back Home” track with the “Trololo” sounds. His track re-surfaced in 2010 on the web and have become an viral meme.
No matter who the artist is, it’s turn into a well known piece of avenue artwork in Kraków. On my current go to in spring 2025, I seen it had pale fairly a bit since I first noticed it in 2018. So go and search for it earlier than it completely disappears!
|| LOCATION: Bożego Ciała 18
“Singing In The Rain” Photo taken in 2025
Street Art in Stare Miasto (Old Town)
Mural no. 658 by M-City
Polish avenue artist, M-City, created Mural no. 658 as a part of the Art Boom Festival in 2012. The numerical title provides you an thought of how prolific the artist is. This daring piece on the aspect of the Józef Mehoffer House portrays Kraków as a dystopian steamship below siege by fish-like missiles. It is created with large-scale stencils and highlights urbanisation and societal challenges.
About M-City
Mariusz Waras, AKA M-City, is a Polish avenue artist and graphic designer born in 1978 in Gdynia, Poland, and studied graphic design and portray on the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. M-City is understood for his large-scale stencil murals that reimagine industrial landscapes, merging structure, equipment, and cityscapes. With over 700 murals accomplished globally, his artwork has been showcased in cities like Berlin, Paris, and São Paulo.
|| LOCATION: ul. Krupnicza 26 || INSTAGRAM: M-City: Mariusz Waras
Mural No 658 by M-City
Małopolska Garden of the Arts
The Małopolska Garden of the Arts (Małopolski Ogród Sztuki) is a contemporary cultural venue in Kraków’s Old Town. There is a combines a theatre, cinema, gallery, and several other branches of the general public libraries. Just by the doorway to Arteteka, there are some commissioned murals alongside its wall shared with an area major college. This open-air gallery is continually altering celebrating college students creativity so count on a component of shock.
|| LOCATION: ul. Rajska 12
Małopolska Garden of the Arts
Street Art in Podgórze
Ding Dong Dumb by Blu
Ding Dong Dumb by Italian avenue artist Blu is one in every of Kraków’s boldest and most controversial murals. Painted in 2011 on a constructing within the former Jewish ghetto of Podgórze, this mural explores the advanced relationship between Polish society and the Catholic Church. At the highest, a pope-like determine preaches by means of a large megaphone formed like a church bell. Below, a crowd of individuals lookup, their faces turned towards the sound, suggesting obedience and collective submission.
Blu is understood for tackling political and social points, and this piece hits laborious in a metropolis with a deeply Catholic historical past. Ding Dong Dumb feels virtually rebellious because it challenges passersby to consider energy and conformity.
About Blu
Blu is a avenue artist from Bologna who started portray partitions in 1999 utilizing spray paint, however ultimately moved to deal with paint to work on a a lot larger scale. His murals typically embrace daring, cartoon-style characters and offers with politically-charged themes like capitalism, struggle, and inequality.
Blu chooses to remain nameless and doesn’t signal many items, he lets his work communicate for itself. You’ll discover his artwork on partitions internationally, together with Rome, Valencia, Berlin, Mexico City and Kraków.
|| LOCATION: Corner of ul. Piwna and ul. Józefińska
Lem’s Robot by Filip Kużniarz
This putting mural titled “Think: Literature!” pays homage to famend Polish science fiction author Stanisław Lem, who lived, labored and died in Krakow. Created in 2012 by artist Filip Kuźniarz for the Conrad Festival, the paintings options a big, strolling robotic impressed by illustrations from Lem’s works, accompanied by a quote from his 1957 e-book “Dialogues”:
“In the top, folks will shrink to the scale of senseless servants of the iron geniuses and, maybe, they shall worship them as divine“
This quote means that as we preserve coaching machines to do our considering and make life simpler, there’s an actual threat they may take over and outgrow us. It hits near house with AI in the present day. It’s a stark reminder that we nonetheless must preserve studying, studying, and questioning to remain in management and cease the machines from operating the present.
About Filip Kużniarz
Filip Kuźniarz is a Polish artist and graphic designer with a background in avenue artwork and illustration. Whilst he’s most well-known for his the “Lem’s Robot” mural, he’s additionally the proprietor of the branding company Wizualni and a co-owner and graphic designer at Brokreacja Craft Brewery.
|| LOCATION: Corner of ul. Józefińska and ul. Krakusa
Lem’s Robot by Filip Kużniarz
PIN to Find Street Art in Krakow
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