The Church of St. Bernardine of Siena stands directly below Wawel on the Stradom side, its twin green-domed towers a landmark on the walk from the castle toward Kazimierz. The Franciscan Observants (Bernardines) settled here in the 15th century at the urging of the preacher John of Capistrano; the original Gothic church was deliberately demolished during the Swedish siege of 1655 and rebuilt in exuberant Baroque between 1659 and 1680.
Inside, the high altar and side chapels carry the full weight of Polish Baroque — gilded woodwork, dark canvases, and a much-venerated late-Gothic statue of the Madonna that survived from the earlier building. The most unusual feature is a 17th-century "Dance of Death" painting in the monastery, a memento mori in which skeletons lead figures of every social rank. It is an easy, free stop on the route between Wawel and the Jewish quarter.