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Main Market Square - Krakow
Main Market Square is the main square of the Old Town, Kraków. It dates back to the 13th century and – it is the largest (200 by 200 meter square) medieval town square in Europe. The main landmarks of the square are the St. Mary's Basilica (to left), the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) and the St. Adalbert's Church. |
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The Wawel Castle - Krakow
The Wawel Royal Castle served as a royal residence and the site where the country's rulers governed Poland for five centuries from 1038 until 1596. Wawel Castle is a historic residence museum. Its aim is activity specified in art. 1 of the Museum Act, and in particular: preservation of the historic aspects of Wawel as the highest ranked monument in the history and the cultural and religious tradition of the Polish nation, and as part of world heritage, ideological reconstruction of Wawel’s past in its various aspects, extensive incorporation of the above values into the circulation of national culture. |
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The Wawel Castle - Krakow
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Wawel Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral – the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Stanisław and Vaclav – is Poland's national sanctuary, located on Wawel Hill. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs. It is the cathedral of the archdiocese of Kraków. The Cathedral comprises a nave with aisles, transepts with aisles, a choir with double aisles, and an apse with ambulatory and radiating chapels. The main altar, located in the apse, was founded about 1650. |
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Wawel Cathedral
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Wawel Cathedral
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Wawel Cathedral
The main altar. |
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Wavel Castel
Wawel Castle courtyard |
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The Wawel Castle - Krakow
The Wawel Castle on the Wawel hill. |
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The Wawel Castle - Krakow
By night in beautiful moonlight. |
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The Wawel Castle - Krakow
By night in beautiful moonlight. |
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St. Mary's Basilica at Main Market Square
St. Mary's Basilica, standing 80m (262ft) tall, is a Brick Gothic church built in the 14th century, adjacent to the main market square in Kraków. It is particularly famous for its wooden altarpiece carved. On every hour, a trumpet signal is played from the top of the taller of St. Mary's two towers. Interior of the BasilicaSt. Mary's Basilica also served as an architectural model for many of the churches that were built by the Polish diaspora abroad, particularly those like St. Michael's and St. John Cantius in Chicago, designed in the so-called Polish Cathedral style. |
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St. Mary's Basilica at Main Market Square
By night. |
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St. Mary's Basilica at Main Market Square
By night. |
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Town Hall Tower - Krakow
Town Hall Tower (to left in the picture) is one of the main focal points of the Main Market Square in the Old Town district. Tower is the only remaining part of the old Town Hall demolished in 1820 as part of the city plan to open up the Main Market Square. Its cellars once housed a city prison with a Medieval torture chamber. The top floor with an observation deck is open to visitors. Built of stone and brick at the end of the 13th century, the massive Gothic tower of the old Town Hall stands 70 meters tall and leans just 55 centimeters, the result of a wind storm in 1703. |
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Cloth Hall - Sukiennice, Krakow
Sukiennice in Kraków is one of the city's most recognizable icons, was once a major centre of international trade. Traveling merchants met there to discuss business and to barter. During its golden age in the 15th century, it was the source of a variety of exotic imports from the East – spices, silk, leather and wax – while Kraków itself exported textiles, lead, and salt from the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Other, similar cloth halls have existed in other Polish as well as other European cities such as Ypres (Belgium), Braunschweig (Germany) and in Leeds (England), but the one in Kraków is the best-known and best-preserved. |
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Cloth Hall - Sukiennice, Krakow
By night in beautiful moonlight. |
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St. Mary's Basilica
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St. Andrew's Church
St. Andrew's Church is a Romanesque church, founded in 1079 by Palatine Sieciech. It was built between 1079 - 1098. Along the bottom of the larger part of facade are small openings. The openings are defensive windows, unique to a church and part of the defensive character of building. Built in Romanesque style, it is one of the oldest buildings in Krakow, and from 1320 it was used by the Order of St. Klara's. The Baroque interiors have decorations by Baltazar Fontana, paintings by Karol Dankwart and gilded alters. |
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Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre built in 1893, was designed after some of the best European Baroque theatres and named after the poet Juliusz Słowacki. |
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