DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25050#0202
THE MEDIEVAL CITY CENTRE
The medieval centre of Cracow is still the core of the modern
city. From a bird’s-eye view it presents the rectangle of its original
chartered settlement, adjoined from the south by the oblong of the
Okol and ending in the irregular oval of the Wawel, bordered by
the Vistula. The whole is ringed with the Planty park, and the
radiating pattern of main streets of newer districts highlights the
focal position of the old town in the overall layout of Cracow. The
centre owes its basic structure to the 1257 charter, although many
earlier elements were absorbed and there were important additions
made in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
The scene of all the most important city affairs was the Market
Square (Rynek Glowny). All prestigious buildings and administ-
rative offices and most of the city trade were located on the square.
The Market Square was the site for municipal and state ceremo-
nies, grand processions and corteges of royalty and foreign
ambassadors passed here on their way to the Wawel. Of the
historical events which took place on the Market Square, two
etched themselves the deepest in the national memory: the feudal
tribute paid by the Prince Albrecht Hohenzollern of Prussia to
Sigismund the Old in 1525, and the oath taken by Tadeusz
Kosciuszko, which marked the beginning of the 1794 insur-
rection.
To this day, the Market Square remains the living heart of the
city, with several-thousand-strong crowds gathering for great
state and church ceremonies. Many beautiful Cracow traditions
*95
The medieval centre of Cracow is still the core of the modern
city. From a bird’s-eye view it presents the rectangle of its original
chartered settlement, adjoined from the south by the oblong of the
Okol and ending in the irregular oval of the Wawel, bordered by
the Vistula. The whole is ringed with the Planty park, and the
radiating pattern of main streets of newer districts highlights the
focal position of the old town in the overall layout of Cracow. The
centre owes its basic structure to the 1257 charter, although many
earlier elements were absorbed and there were important additions
made in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
The scene of all the most important city affairs was the Market
Square (Rynek Glowny). All prestigious buildings and administ-
rative offices and most of the city trade were located on the square.
The Market Square was the site for municipal and state ceremo-
nies, grand processions and corteges of royalty and foreign
ambassadors passed here on their way to the Wawel. Of the
historical events which took place on the Market Square, two
etched themselves the deepest in the national memory: the feudal
tribute paid by the Prince Albrecht Hohenzollern of Prussia to
Sigismund the Old in 1525, and the oath taken by Tadeusz
Kosciuszko, which marked the beginning of the 1794 insur-
rection.
To this day, the Market Square remains the living heart of the
city, with several-thousand-strong crowds gathering for great
state and church ceremonies. Many beautiful Cracow traditions
*95