Krypta pod Wieżą Srebrnych Dzwonów, Kraków

This is the crypt beneath the Silver Bells Tower, a burial place designed by Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz within a Romanesque tower. Marshal Józef Piłsudski rests here; his remains were transferred from Saint Leonard’s Crypt, where he had originally been buried. Beside him is a clay urn containing soil from his mother Maria’s grave.

Her burial place, like the marshal’s heart, is at the cemetery in Vilnius known as Rasos. The walls carry commemorative plaques for soldiers, while a bust of the commander by Konstanty Laszczka occupies a corner. The entrance is closed by an openwork grille bearing the arms of Poland and Lithuania, together with the Piłsudski family emblem.

In the vestibule, a sarcophagus holds President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria, who died in the air disaster at Smolensk on 10 April 2010. The inscription records their full names: LECH ALEKSANDER KACZYŃSKI and MARIA HELENA MACKIEWICZ KACZYŃSKA. This compact chamber brings military memory, family remembrance, and state history together in a distinctly intimate setting.