World Youth Day 2013 has finished but it's not too soon to prepare teens to begin planning a pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland. An official website has already been launched. The occasion will likely be one of immense celebration of the life of Bl. Pope John Paull II . . . who by that time will be St. John Paul II.

To get in the spirit of Krakow, here's a short quiz for your students on the city. Answers are included in the parenthesis.

Quiz

1. Where is Krakow situated in Poland? (In the south of Poland, next to the Vistula River)

2. What is the city’s current population? (756,000)

3. What is the city’s size? (126 square miles)

4. What language(s) do most people understand in Krakow? (Polish)

5. When was the city founded? (There have been settlements since 20,000 BC but first mention was in the seventh century AD)

6. What are the city’s major types of businesses or products? (tourism, technology, finances, steel, pharmaceuticals and tobacco)

7. What role did this city play for the Nazis during their occupation of the area? (After the Nazi invasion, the city became the capital of a region known to the Germans as the General Government.)

8. Under what form of government was Poland from 1952 until 1989? (Communist)

9. What role did this city play in the life of Blessed John Paul II? (Blessed John Paul II attended university in Krakow, taught at the same university, was auxiliary bishop of the city, and then cardinal of Krakow prior to being chosen as Pope)

10. What is the name of the Gothic Church in Krakow that has two towers and dates to the seventeenth century? (Church of the Virgin Mary – Kosciol Mariacki)

11. What is the name of the square in Krakow that is the largest square in any of Europe’s medieval cities? (Main Market Square)
12. What is the “world’s oldest shopping mall?” (Cloth Hall – Sukiennice)
13. What museum tells the story of a Nazi businessman’s effort to save over a thousand Jewish people during World War II? (Oskar Schindler’s Factory)
14. What are two places you can find in Krakow’s Historic Center? (market square, historical houses, palaces, churches, fortifications, ancient synagogues, a university, and the Gothic Cathedral where the kings were buried)
15. What is the name of the concentration camp built by the Nazis in Krakow in 1942? (Plaszow)
16. Where did Poland’s rulers live and rule their country from the eleventh through the sixteenth century? (Wawel Royal Castle – Zamek Krolewski)
17. What was the main cultural center for Polish Jews for centuries? (Jewish District)
18. Why is there a place named the Dragon’s Den? (This was the lengendary home of the dragon slain by the prince who founded Krakow)