DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25050#0012
edge, close to the Silesian border, and about ioo km north of the
Carpathian range.
The area on which the city grew is 200 m above sea level, and
the highest point of the Wawel Hill reaches 228 m. The primi-
tive landscape, markedly different from today’s, was determined
largely by the Vistula with the Rudawa and other tributaries,
which created a complex network with shallows and marshes.
Settlement initially concentrated on higher-placed, dry sites.
Urban development brought gradual regulation of the water
system and reclamation of land.
Archaeological findings attest to human habitation in the
Cracow area since paleolithic times. Neolithic, bronze and iron
cultures also left their traces here. Radical cultural changes were
usually the result of invasions by foreign peoples. The Celts, who
came from the southwest around 300 B. C., brought civilizational
progress. On the other hand, there were destructive waves of
eastern nomads: the Scythians, and probably the Huns and Avars.
2. Map of the city centre: i - Cloth Hall, 2 - town hall tower, 3 - St Mary, 4 -
St Barbara, 5 - St Adalbert, 6 - “Pod Jaszczurami” House, 7 - Zbaraski (Ja-
blonowski, Potocki) Palace, 8 - “Pod Baranami” Palace, 9 — Krzysztofory Palace
(Historical Museum), 10 - Collegium Physicum (Koll^tajowskie), 11 - Collegium
Maius, 12 - Nowodworski College, 13 - Collegium Novum, 14 - St Anne, 15 -
Old (Stary) Theatre, 16-Fine Arts Society building, 17-St John, 18-Dominican
nuns’ Church and convent, 19 - The Holy Cross, 20 - Slowacki Theatre, 21 -
St Florian Gate and the Barbican, 22 - Piarist Church, 23 - Czartoryski Museum,
24 - Polish Academy of Sciences, 25 - St Mark, 26 - Reformati Church and
monastery, 27 - St Norbert and the Premonstratensian convent, 28 - Bishop’s
Palace, 29 - Franciscan Church and monastery, 30 - Wielopolski Palace, 31 -
Dominican Church and monastery, 32 - St Joseph and the Bernardine nuns’
convent, 33 - Archaeological Museum, 34 - Collegium Iuridicum, 3; - Stanislaw
Wyspianski Museum, 36 - Jan Dlugosz House, 37 - SS. Peter and Paul, 38
St Andrew and Poor Clares convent, 39 St Martin, 40 St Giles, 41 - Arsenal
of Ladislaus IV, 42 - Bernardine Church and monastery, 43 - Missionaries’ Church
and monastery, 44 — Wawel Castle, 45 - Cathedral, 46 - Dragon’s Cave, 47 -
Czapski Museum, 48 - Capuchin Church and monastery, 49 — Carmelite Church
and monastery, ;o - Academy of Fine Arts, 51 Jan Matejko House, 52 -
St Nicholas
9
Carpathian range.
The area on which the city grew is 200 m above sea level, and
the highest point of the Wawel Hill reaches 228 m. The primi-
tive landscape, markedly different from today’s, was determined
largely by the Vistula with the Rudawa and other tributaries,
which created a complex network with shallows and marshes.
Settlement initially concentrated on higher-placed, dry sites.
Urban development brought gradual regulation of the water
system and reclamation of land.
Archaeological findings attest to human habitation in the
Cracow area since paleolithic times. Neolithic, bronze and iron
cultures also left their traces here. Radical cultural changes were
usually the result of invasions by foreign peoples. The Celts, who
came from the southwest around 300 B. C., brought civilizational
progress. On the other hand, there were destructive waves of
eastern nomads: the Scythians, and probably the Huns and Avars.
2. Map of the city centre: i - Cloth Hall, 2 - town hall tower, 3 - St Mary, 4 -
St Barbara, 5 - St Adalbert, 6 - “Pod Jaszczurami” House, 7 - Zbaraski (Ja-
blonowski, Potocki) Palace, 8 - “Pod Baranami” Palace, 9 — Krzysztofory Palace
(Historical Museum), 10 - Collegium Physicum (Koll^tajowskie), 11 - Collegium
Maius, 12 - Nowodworski College, 13 - Collegium Novum, 14 - St Anne, 15 -
Old (Stary) Theatre, 16-Fine Arts Society building, 17-St John, 18-Dominican
nuns’ Church and convent, 19 - The Holy Cross, 20 - Slowacki Theatre, 21 -
St Florian Gate and the Barbican, 22 - Piarist Church, 23 - Czartoryski Museum,
24 - Polish Academy of Sciences, 25 - St Mark, 26 - Reformati Church and
monastery, 27 - St Norbert and the Premonstratensian convent, 28 - Bishop’s
Palace, 29 - Franciscan Church and monastery, 30 - Wielopolski Palace, 31 -
Dominican Church and monastery, 32 - St Joseph and the Bernardine nuns’
convent, 33 - Archaeological Museum, 34 - Collegium Iuridicum, 3; - Stanislaw
Wyspianski Museum, 36 - Jan Dlugosz House, 37 - SS. Peter and Paul, 38
St Andrew and Poor Clares convent, 39 St Martin, 40 St Giles, 41 - Arsenal
of Ladislaus IV, 42 - Bernardine Church and monastery, 43 - Missionaries’ Church
and monastery, 44 — Wawel Castle, 45 - Cathedral, 46 - Dragon’s Cave, 47 -
Czapski Museum, 48 - Capuchin Church and monastery, 49 — Carmelite Church
and monastery, ;o - Academy of Fine Arts, 51 Jan Matejko House, 52 -
St Nicholas
9