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KRAKOW – THE CITY OF ART
The Main Square with Our Lady Basilica (Gothic style)
Kraków/Cracow, an ancient city, is the former capital of Poland, and the settlement of Polish kings. Almost all the Polish kings were crowned in the cathedral located on the Wawel Hill.
Archeological studies point to the earliest settlement in Krakow (on the Wawel Hill) dating back to the Middle Paleolithic era, circa 100,000 years B.C. The city owed its rapid development to its location at the crossing of a number of primary trading routes. Kraków is believed to be one of the strongholds of the Vistulan tribe (in Polish: Wiślanie) which formed a nation at the turn of the 8th and 9th century. Its legendary rulers Krakus and his daughter, Princess Wanda, who are said to have lived in the 7th and 8th centuries, are mentioned by the 13th century chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek. A legend attributes the founding of the city to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski. Although the genuine history of the city in the early miedieval times is unknown, two pre-Christian ground mounds, the Krakus Mound, 16 m high, and the Wanda Mound 14 m high, built in 7th or 8th century, are preserved up to the present times.
The research proved that Wawel Hill in Krakow began to play the role of the political power centre at the end of the first millennium A.D. In the 9th century it became the principal fortified castrum of the Vistulan tribe. The first written record of the city's name goes back to 966, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial centre. The big town called Karako, governed by a fromidable prince, was described in the second half of 10th century by the Arabic merchant, Ibrahim Ibn Jakub of Cordova. The introduction of Christianity into Poland at the half of 10th century implied the erection of a number of churches in Krakow. One of them, the Rotunda of St. Felix and Adauctus, located on the Wawel Hill, may be visited at present. Since the reign of Casimir the Restorer (1034-1058) the Wawel Hill in Krakow became the leading political and administrative centre for the Polish State. In the year 1364 king Casimir the Great founded the university (later called the Jagiellonian University), one of oldest ones north of the Alps.
Central part of Main Altar in the Our Lady Basilica (Late Gothic art, 15th century)
From the tourist point of view, Krakow is one of the most attractive cities in the world. It is a historic city in which one may encounter the abundance of pre-Romanesque, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and liberty style architecture. The visitor of the city may study the ‘cross-section’ of European art referring to ten century period.
The most magnificient objects of art, the Cathedral and the Royal Castle, are situated on the Wawel Hill situated about half a mile away from the Main City Square.
The Old City, surrounded partially by the city walls and towers, is preserved in its original, Gothic and Renaissance style. In the Old City there are the Cloth Hall, a number of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque style churches, old buildings and palaces.
In Kazimierz – the trendy, Jewish quarter which once was a separate town from Krakow one may visit 7 old synagogues and unique, ‘retro style’ restaurants in which kosher dishes are oferred.
Dozens of museums may be visited in Krakow. In the Czartoryski Museum, which is the most famous one, the visitor may study original pictures by Leonardo, Rembrandt and Rubens.
In 1978, UNESCO placed Krakow on the list of the World Heritage Sites. In the same year, Karol Wojtyła, the Archbishop of Kraków was elected as a pope ( he took name of John Paul II) by the Papal Conclave , the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.
His Holiness John Paul II, formerly the Archbishop of Kraków
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