Discover Cracow and Life in The Main Market Square

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>> The place to discover Cracow life is in the main market square of the town.

Although it is one of the largest and most beautiful squares in all of Europe everyday life still goes on here for ordinary Cracovians.

It is still the place for the locals and families to meet, and the phrase 'Pod Adamem' which means 'under Adam’ is regularly used to arrange a meeting under the statue of the poet Adam Mickiewicz .

Covering an area of four hectares it was the center point of many European commercial routes and it has been the center for many Polish historical events.

The Rynek as it is called was originally laid out in twelve fifty seven and was the focal point for many public and religious festivals. Today edged with many cafes and restaurants it is still fulfilling its role as a major meeting point.

The buildings that surround the square date back to the middle ages but of course over time have been remodelled and refashioned in to what you see today. Nevertheless there are many examples of seventeenth century architecture around. As you wander along the perimeter of the market square you will notice a number of commemorative plaques. For example at number seven there is one pointing out that it was here in fifteen fifty six that the first Polish post office was established.

Running down the center of the square is the thirteenth century Sukiennice or cloth hall, which is one hundred and eight meters long.

In medieval times the hall and the vicinity around about would have been full of merchants from the east and west trading textiles, spices, silk, leather, lead, wax and of course salt from the mines at Wieliczka.

Today still a market hall, the quaint wooden booth stalls are mostly given over to clothing, jewellery and ‘Baltic’ amber for the tourists.

By the cloth hall stands the City Hall Tower, which is the only remnant of the city hall that was pulled down in the early nineteenth century. To see what this building looked like go into the picture gallery on the second floor of the cloth hall and view the painting by Michal Stachowicz’s of Tadeusz Koiciuszko’s oath in market square.

Standing proud in Cracow main market square is the oldest building in Cracow, built around eight hundred years ago, St Adalbert’s Church. The present small Romanesque structure stands where the original stone church built over a thousand years ago once stood.

Another church on the edge of the square is the main parish church of Krakow St. Mary’s Basilica said to be one of the most beautiful churches in central Europe.

Inside is a picture that is one of the oldest replicas of the picture of the black Madonna.

It is from the tall tower of this church that the ‘live’ hourly trumpet call is made. In earlier days the trumpet was sounded at dawn and dusk to announce the opening and closing of the city gates. However since the sixteenth century it has been played every hour on the hour to commemorate a trumpeter who saved the city from invading forces by sounding a saving alarm call.

Spend some time in the main market square by sitting in one of the many cafes, restaurants or outside bars having a meal or drink as you watch the world go by and listen to the haunting call of the lone Cracow trumpeter.

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