DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29897#0089
ABRIDGEMENT
translated by Joanna Infeld-Sosnowska
The Cracow Market Place is one of the most beautiful medieval squares in Europę. The site
was chosen in 1257 and it was then supposed to combine into an architectural whole all the
settiements that were founded here in the earlv Middle Ages in a place which was well
situated from a defensive point of view and which lay at the meeting point of important
commercial routes.
The invasion of the Tartars in 1241 which mainly destroyed a large number of the wooden
buildings helped form a regular structure among the expanding construction of market settie-
ments, situated at the foot of Wawel hill, where the sovereign had his seat. This is why the
market place could become the centre of town. It was typical of medieval structures and was
inherited from the Roman military camps: a square, each side of which had 200 metres with
three streets leading form it. These streets divided the town into squares, filled with buildings.
The south-eastern corner, from which Grodzka Street leads, is an exception to this strictly
geometrical rule and it is a remnance of the olden commercial route which led to Wawel hiii
and the crossings on the Vistula. St. Adalbert's church is the oldest monument on the
square. This is a Romanesque construction with a modest structure: a rectangular chancel
and a new, wider one. Where the ground is higher on the market place, the church seems
to "grow into the ground". In 1961-17 it was reconstructed — the church was raised higher
and covered with a dome. The chapel and vestry which were added in the 18th century,
deform its earlier shape; however, they add a picturesque complex surrounded by a ring
of trees.
St Maiy's church is the most excellent monument in the Market Place, it was the first tempie
of the Cracow burghers. It was built in a few stages. At the end of the 13th century a Gothic
building in the shape of a hali with a faęade that had two towers was erected on the
foundations of the Romanesque building, only the lower part of the towers romain from this
stage. In 1355-65 the present chancel was completed and at the end of the same century,
in 1397 master Werner finished the ceiling of the main part of the church, shaped like
85
translated by Joanna Infeld-Sosnowska
The Cracow Market Place is one of the most beautiful medieval squares in Europę. The site
was chosen in 1257 and it was then supposed to combine into an architectural whole all the
settiements that were founded here in the earlv Middle Ages in a place which was well
situated from a defensive point of view and which lay at the meeting point of important
commercial routes.
The invasion of the Tartars in 1241 which mainly destroyed a large number of the wooden
buildings helped form a regular structure among the expanding construction of market settie-
ments, situated at the foot of Wawel hill, where the sovereign had his seat. This is why the
market place could become the centre of town. It was typical of medieval structures and was
inherited from the Roman military camps: a square, each side of which had 200 metres with
three streets leading form it. These streets divided the town into squares, filled with buildings.
The south-eastern corner, from which Grodzka Street leads, is an exception to this strictly
geometrical rule and it is a remnance of the olden commercial route which led to Wawel hiii
and the crossings on the Vistula. St. Adalbert's church is the oldest monument on the
square. This is a Romanesque construction with a modest structure: a rectangular chancel
and a new, wider one. Where the ground is higher on the market place, the church seems
to "grow into the ground". In 1961-17 it was reconstructed — the church was raised higher
and covered with a dome. The chapel and vestry which were added in the 18th century,
deform its earlier shape; however, they add a picturesque complex surrounded by a ring
of trees.
St Maiy's church is the most excellent monument in the Market Place, it was the first tempie
of the Cracow burghers. It was built in a few stages. At the end of the 13th century a Gothic
building in the shape of a hali with a faęade that had two towers was erected on the
foundations of the Romanesque building, only the lower part of the towers romain from this
stage. In 1355-65 the present chancel was completed and at the end of the same century,
in 1397 master Werner finished the ceiling of the main part of the church, shaped like
85