Come with us on a tour of Krakow's nativity scenes!
Shimmering with a thousand colors, full of gold and silver, richly decorated or simple, soaring or quite small – 36 Krakow nativity scenes have been installed in the city space since December 5. We invite you to take a walk around the nativity scenes with licensed guides, but also to admire the works of Krakow's nativity scene makers on your own. The latter will be made easier by a guidebook with a map of this year's locations and information about all the nativity scenes in the city.
In this year's edition of the Around the Nativity Scene event, we will focus on cultivating traditions and the behind-the-scenes aspects of nativity scene craftsmanship. Preparing a nativity scene for a competition often involves hundreds or even thousands of hours of painstaking work, which creators often begin at the start of the year. To preserve this tradition, which has been present in the city since the 19th century, experienced masters are happy to share the secrets of their craft with young adepts of this art. Thanks to this, every year, on the walking tour and at the nativity scene exhibition, we can see the works of both the doyens of nativity scene making and younger creators. It was the efforts of the nativity scene makers, with the support of the Museum of Krakow, that led to nativity scene making being included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014 and, in 2018, as the first phenomenon from Poland, on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Walks and walking guide
You will find nativity scenes in squares, shopping malls, restaurants, and hotels. We invite you to take Christmas walks around winter Kraków, which will transport us into a world of colors, fairy-tale architecture, and living tradition.
This year's guided walks promise to be exceptional: if the winter weather is kind to us, a musical surprise will await participants along the route.
There will be three walks in December. The first one took place on Saturday, December 13. Emil Bajorek, a licensed Krakow guide, talked about the tradition of nativity scene making. On December 21, at noon, a walk with sign language interpretation (PJM) began, with a story told by guide Anna Stępień. On the second day of Christmas, December 26, at 4:00 p.m., Emil Bajorek will once again lead us along the nativity scene trail.
Tickets priced at PLN 10 will be available in the week before the walk at www.kbfbilety.krakow.pl. The walk will start at Świętego Ducha Square. Admission to the event is free for children under 3 years of age.
You can walk in the footsteps of the most beautiful Krakow nativity scenes until February 15.
Educational offer
A rich educational offer is also available: walks for primary school students, workshops for special school students, and lesson plans for primary school grades 4–8.
A permanent feature of the offer is its accessibility: the program prepared by KBF includes walks with translation into Polish Sign Language (PJM) and walks with audio description for blind and visually impaired people. All this so that everyone can experience the tradition that is the city's hallmark.
The annual Kraków Nativity Scene Competition took place on December 4. The competition nativity scenes can be viewed at the Krakow Museum exhibition at the Krzysztofory Palace from December 8 to March 1, 2026. Accompanying events can be found at muzeumkrakowa.pl.
The entire Around the Nativity Scene program and the walking guide can be found on the KBF website.