Wawel Cathedral - Burials

Burials

The crypt beneath the Wawel Cathedral holds the tombs of Polish kings, national heroes, generals and revolutionaries, including rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth such as Jan III Sobieski and his consort Marie Casimire (Maria Kazimiera), the remains of Tadeusz Kościuszko – a leader of a Polish national insurrection and Brigadier General in the American Revolutionary War; the national bards: Adam Mickiewicz (laid to rest there in 1890) and Juliusz Słowacki (1927), as well as Władysław Sikorski – Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, along with Marshal Józef Piłsudski – founder of the Second Polish Republic. Pope John Paul II considered being buried there also at one point in time, while some of the people of Poland had hoped that, following ancient custom, his heart would be brought there and kept alongside the remains of the great Polish rulers. (John Paul II was buried under St. Peter's Basilica, a papal burial site since antiquity, instead.)

Polish kings Polish saints
  • Władysław I the Elbow-high
  • Casimir III the Great
  • Jadwiga of Poland
  • Władysław II Jagiełło
  • Casimir IV Jagiellonczyk
  • John I Albert
  • Sigismund I the Old
  • Sigismund II Augustus
  • Stephen Bathory
  • Anna Jagiellonka
  • Sigismund III Vasa
  • Władysław IV Vasa
  • John II Casimir Vasa
  • Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki
  • John III Sobieski
  • Augustus II the Strong
  • Saint Stanislaus the Martyr
  • Saint Hedwig (Jadwiga) the Queen
Other notables
  • Princess Elizabeth Bonifacia of Poland
  • Adam Stefan Sapieha
  • Tadeusz Kościuszko
  • Józef Piłsudski
  • Władysław Sikorski
  • Józef Poniatowski
  • Adam Mickiewicz
  • Lech Kaczyński and Maria Kaczyńska
  • Juliusz Słowacki
  • Cyprian Norwid (soil from his grave in France)

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