Historic, cultured, beautiful Old Krakow.

In 1960 my first year in high school, there were 120 students - a few from Russian, German or Romanian parents and 114 from Polish parents. They all wanted to re-visit Poland by 1970, especially to see Warsaw,  Krakow and Lublin.

Town hall tower, 

Visit Krakow

Kraków’s Market Square/Ry­nek in Poland is the centre of the city’s medieval Old Town, designed in 1257 when the town first won its charter. Laid out on a grid, the Old Town and its central square changed little in the centuries that followed. Always active, this 40,000 sq ms grouping of cafés, clubs, music centres, mus­eums, historical landmarks and hotels, shows some love­ly medieval architect­ure. Because the Square is surround­ed by eleg­ant town­houses, each with its own name and history, the import­ant histor­ical, cultural and social sig­nificance is largely intact.

In summer, umbrella shaded cafés sit along its sides, shaded from the sun by the gothic spires of St Mary’s Basilica. The church was consecrated in 1320, having an im­p­osing façade and flanked by two differently sized towers. Its crowning gl­ory is Stoss altarpiece, carved between 1477-89 by German-born sculptor Veit Stoss and placed behind the high altar. And because the church experienced many reconstructions of its exterior and inter­ior over the centuries, only three of the original high, stained glass windows were preserved. In the C18th the church was decorated with Bar­oque aesthetics and the wooden door of the galilee was decorated with sculpted heads of prop­h­ets, apostles, and Polish saints in 1929. In snowy winter, the square is full of Christ­mas markets. Visit the square on each hour when St Mary’s Church bugle calls.

St Mary's towers

Veit Stoss Altarpiece

St Mary's Basilica

At the square’s centre is the long medieval Sukiennice Cloth Hall, Krak­ów’s hist­or­ical hub of trade and commerce in Eastern Europe. Built in the C14th, this huge hall may have been one of the first shopping centres in the world, packed with market stands. The hall was later rebuilt in a Ren­ais­sance style, housing the stalls of local merchants selling handic­rafts, cloth products, amber, lace and woodwork, like oriental imports.

Cloth Hall  

Vecteezy

On the eastern side, the coffee shops are crowded with tourists enjoying the view of the Cloth Hall’s br­oadside and 70 m leaning Town Hall Tower. Established in the C14th, the 70-meter tower is the only part of the for­mer Town Hall that still stands after fires and renovations. At the top is an observation deck, to get a beautiful view of Kraków. Visitors climb the sta­irs up to the 3rd floor through Gothic vaulted rooms which display 1960s photos of Kraków and offer a grand panoramic view over the Main  Squ­are. 

 

The square’s eastern side is home to street entertainers that do their show at the foot of the Basilica’s red towers. There is the small C10th Church of St Adalbert to the south, an old stone structure that is one of the few well preserved examples of early Christian, Romanesque build­ings in Poland. It is next to the middle Gothic arches of the Cloth Hall

Today many of the building façades that line the Main Square have Polish Baroque architecture, despite their med­ieval begin­nings. For example see the Krzysztofory Palace on the N.E corner, now home to the central divis­ion of the Historical Museum of Kraków.

Krzysztofory Palace, now Historical Museum of Kraków 

Krakow-Wiki

Chopin is a national hero and a key cultural figure in the country’s fight for independence and self-identity. Much of the composer’s work was inspired by traditional Polish dance music, and written against a backdrop of national resistance to occupation from neighbouring countries. Although Chopin left Poland when young and spent much of his time in Paris, he was consciously helping to establish a Pol­ish cultural identity. Kraków celebrates the great composer with reg­ular, even lavish concert performances, at the Chopin Concert Hall just off Kraków’s main square.         

Chopin Concert Hall 

Viator

Originally built in C15th, Old Synagogue is the oldest surviv­ing example of Jewish religious architecture in Poland, and one of Kr­aków's important historical monuments. Rebuilt in 1570 by Polish-Ital­ian architect Mateo Gucci with elements of Renaissance and milit­ary architecture added, Old Synagogue is a rare example of a fort­ress synagogue, meant to protect families during a siege. Directly al­ong the synagogue's side is a bit of Kazimierz's original defens­ive walls.

Old Synagogue, 

wiki 

Enclosed by elegant townhouses and Medieval palaces, the square is one of the city’s main meeting points for both locals and tourists, bustling with life. See the picturesque terraces and beautiful horse carr­iages that await their next customer in the Main Market Square.

Directly next to the Sukiennice stands Poland’s most eminent scribe: Adam Mickiewicz, and a huge, striking bronze statue of Polish C19th romantic poet on the square's eastern side. Ironically this much loved bard never visited the city un­til after his death when his remains were transferred to the Wawel Cath­edral crypt, but this didn’t stop the statue from bec­om­ing one of Krak­ów’s best loved monuments.

Citizens used to witness many public events in the square, including royal cer­emonies and public executions. Even now grim tour­ists might want to see the very grim set of metal neck chains dis­played on St Mary’s side door, used to punish philand­ering women. But the worst was during German occup­ation when the square was renamed Adolf Hitler Platz and Nazi rallies attended by Der Führer himself happened.

Kraków’s medieval market square is one of the few places in the city that can chronicle Kraków’s history concisely; from its medieval origins, through its horrid C20th conflicts, to a vibrant modern European city. No wonder its buildings and history made the square a perfect choice for UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1978. Its population is now 770,000.

St Florians Gate

Polish Gothic tower, focal point of Kraków's Old Town.