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WAWEL – THE SETTLEMENT OF POLISH KINGS
The Wawel Hill with Royal Castle
Wawel Hill is the name of a Jurassic limestone outcrop formed about 150 million years ago. It is situated on the left bank of the Vistula River, half a mile away from the centre of Kraków, at the altitude of 228 metres above the sea level, and about 30 m above the Main Square of the city. Wawel is a place of great significance for the Polish people due to its primary role - the main political and cultural centre of the country starting from the first part of 11th century. The Royal Castle, one of the most magnificent objects of the Renaissance architecture, and the Gothic Cathedral in which the coronation ceremonies of almost all Polish kings occurred, are situated on the hill.
Archeological studies point to the earliest settlement on the Wawel Hill dating back to the Middle Paleolithic era, circa 100 thousand years B.C. It owed its rapid development to its location at the crossing of a number of primary trading routes. Wawel 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.
The research proved that Wawel 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 historical ruler Mieszko I of Poland (c. 965 - 992) of the Piast dynasty as well as his successors: Boleslaw I the Brave (Polish: Bolesław I Chrobry; 992-1025) and Mieszko II (1025-1034) chose Wawel as one of their residences. At that time Wawel became one of the Polish main centres of Christianity. The first early Romanesque buildings, including a stone cathedral serving the bishopric of Kraków in the year 1000, were erected there. Since the reign of Casimir the Restorer (1034-1058) Wawel became the leading political and administrative centre for the Polish State.
Romanesque St. Leonard Crypt on The Wawel Hill (end of 11th century)
The Our Lady Rotunda (called also the Rotunda of St. Felix and Adauctus) erected in the end of 10th century, is the earliest construction on Wawel preserved up to the present time. It is tetrakonchos, i.e. a pre-Romanesque circular building connected with four circular apses, made of carefully appointed slices of sandstone.
The erection of the second, Romanesque style cathedral was initiated at the end of 11th century and finished before 1117. At present the remnant of the Romaneque cathedral is St. Leonard Crypt.
The interior of the Wawel Catheral (Gothic style, beginning of 14th century)
The erection of the third cathedral began in the year 1305 or 1306 directly after the Romanesque cathedral was partially destroyed by the fire. The third cathedral, which still exists, is a wonderful example of the Gothic style, trinaval in construction, with the transept, the ambit, and the chapels added in later centuries. The Wawel Cathedral, in which the coronation ceremonies of almost all Polish kings occurred, is regarded by the Poles as the Heart of Poland.
The vault of the Wawel Catheral (Gothic style, beginning of 14th century)
In the first part of 14th century king Casimir the Great also erected a Gothic style castle. Its part, rebuilt 60 years later and embedded afterwards in the structure of the Renaissance castle is preserved up to the present time.
The 16th century, a golden age of the Polish nation, was a time of splendour for Wawel. The king Sigismundus the Old sponsored the rebuilding of the Royal Seat in the Renaissance style. The project and supervision of the enterprise was realised by the Italian masters: Bartolomeo Berecci and Fracesco Fiorentino. From the light arcade galleries of the courtyard, supported by slender columns, one enters spacious and sunlit chambers. The interior of the castle, including the splendid Deputy Hall with its coffered ceiling, gives evidence of great skills of both Italian and Polish craftsmen. The palace chambers were decorated with tapestries which king Sigismundus Augustus purchased in large quantities.
Arcadic courtyard of Royal Castle on the Wawel Hill (Renaissance style, beginning of 16th century)
The St. Cross Chapel attached to the Wawel Cathedral was built in the Gothic style at the end of 15th century. In the chapel one can study a masterpiece of a Polish sculptor Wit Stoss - the sepulchre of king Kazimierz Jagiellończyk - regarded as one of the most wonderful objects of late Gothic sepulchre art. It represents the realistic art, and may be regarded as a transition of the Gothic Style into Renaissance. The face of the old king presented in the naturalistic manner expresses pain and suferness referring to the last hours of his terrestrial life. Spectacular canopy based on eight slim columns is represented by the elaborate tracery-type construction consisting of a collection of inflected and partially inverted Gothic arcs intergrown in a unique manner.
The sepulchre of king Kazimierz Jagiellończyk in the St. Cross Chapel (late Gothic style, the end of 15th century)
The Sigismundus Chapel erected in the years 1519 – 1931 and adttached to the Wawel Cathedral is regarded as the most wonderful object of the Fiorentine Renaissance architecture north of the Alps. A square-based chapel with a golden dome houses the tombs of its founder King Sigismundus the Old, as well as king Sigismundus Augustus and queen Anna Jagiellonka. The idea of construction of the chapel is based on the sequence of regular geometric solids. The lower, cubic form construction is closed by the prolate elipsoidal dome based on regular octahedron construction with circular windows. The cylindrical cupola located at the top of the dome posesses enlogated, vertical windows. The cupola is closed by the gold crown and gold Latin cross, the symbols of royal authority. The sculptures, stuccos and paintings covering the interior of the chapel were designed by some of the most renowned artists of the Renaissance age.
The interior of the Sigismundus Chapel (Renaissance style, beginning of 16th century)
At present, a visitor to the museum, locatated at the Royal Castle, can see official Renaissance chambers, private royal chambers, crown treasury and armoury, and the collection of oriental art. The Cathedral Museum located in the older, Gothic style buildings contain old chasubles, chalices, and other objects of the cathedral treasury.
The interior of the Royal Castle (Renaissance style, beginning of 16th century)
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