The present Gothic cathedral on Wawel Hill was begun in the 14th century on the orders of Bishop Nanker, who held office from 1320 to 1326. It was consecrated in 1364 under Casimir III the Great. A stone Romanesque cathedral begun around 1000 was destroyed in a raid of 1038 or 1039, and a second Romanesque cathedral, consecrated in 1142, burned around 1305. The Crypt of Saint Leonard survives from it.
Sigismund's Chapel, built from 1517 to 1533 by the Florentine architect Bartolommeo Berrecci and financed by Sigismund I the Old, has a gilded dome and Tuscan pilasters. The article calls it possibly the purest Renaissance architecture outside Italy. The Sigismund Bell, installed in 1521, weighs nearly 13 tons.
From 1320 until the final coronation in 1764, Polish monarchs were crowned before the high altar. The crypts hold kings, queens and national figures, including Sobieski, Kościuszko and Piłsudski.
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