The 19th Royal Rafting on the Vistula begins

Today at 10:00 AM, the Royal Rafting officially began – a voyage with replicas of traditional boats from Kraków to Gdansk. The first Kraków section is accompanied by a four-day celebration co-organized by the Museum of Kraków. Find out why it’s worth heading to the Vistula in the coming days.

Kraków section from May 7 to 10

This year’s Royal Rafting sets off for the nineteenth time from the mouth of the Przemsza River near Oświęcim. This place marks the beginning of the navigable Vistula, the “0 kilometer” of the 941.3 km waterway route to Gdańsk. It is here that the rafters gathered this morning to ceremonially begin their journey, drifting with galar boats to Tyniec.

The participants of the rafting will spend tomorrow finalizing their preparations for the journey, fine-tuning technical details and decorating the boats, most of which are replicas of 18th-century galars –Polish, flat-bottomed rowing vessels. On Friday at 12:30 PM, the Rafting is scheduled to depart from Tyniec towards the center of Kraków.

At 6:30 PM, a rafting parade will set off from the Main Market Square to the Museum Harbor, where the director of the Museum of Kraków will raise the flag handed to him onto the mast of the “Szwajcarka” galar. An evening of musical festivities with rafting flair is planned to last until 10:00 PM. On Saturday morning, the rafters will sail to the Przewóz water gate, where they will participate in an anniversary event organized by the Yacht Club of Poland Kraków. The next day, they will set off from Kraków down the Vistula.

A long journey to Gdańsk

The first Royal Rafting was organized in 2006. Its creator and main organizer is skipper Jarosław Kałuża, and the flag fluttering above the boats bears the image of King Casimir the Great. The event is always held in May and lasts about three weeks. Participants spend nights on islands along the way, warmly welcomed by the residents of the Vistula‘s shores with refreshments. The final docking takes place in front of the bow of the Museum Ship SS Sołdek.

The whole event aims to raise awareness among Poles about the history and tradition of transporting goods down the Vistula. It is worth recalling that rafting was inscribed on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014, and in 2022 it became the fifth Polish tradition included in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Where did the Royal Rafting come from?

The participants of the rafting cite the decree of King John I Albert from 1496 as the legal basis for the voyage:

We have decided that navigation on the rivers of our Kingdom, upstream and downstream with all kinds of goods, shall be free for all people of any status, prohibiting any obstacles and customs duties.

As early as the 16th century, rafting navigation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was highly developed, and flat-bottomed boats called galars, byki, and komięgas transported goods such as grain, coal, and salt along the Vistula. Additionally, rafters floated timber, using rafts tied from individual logs. Only in the 19th century did berlinkas – more technologically advanced decked vessels powered by sails – appear on the Vistula. This marked the end of the traditional rafting era, which the participants of the Royal Rafting aim to recall and revive.