I’m smitten with Kraków and its gentle vibe! After several overcast days, the weather has turned crystal clear, making it the perfect time to explore Old Town – Stare Miasto. I started in Market Square, making my way toward Wawel Royal Cathedral. I’m saving an interior tour of massive Wawel Castle for a rainy day.
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“Wawel Hill, a Jurassic limestone outcropping, formed about 150 million years ago. At nearly 228 meters above sea level, it’s a dominant feature in the Cracow landscape.” wawel.krakow.pl
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Market Square
Market Square – Rynek Główny – with its magnificent middle age architecture is the “nerve center” of Old Town and known as Medieval Europe’s “most expansive Market Square“. It’s surrounded by Kraków’s largest green space, Planty Park, including eight lush gardens. During medieval times, the park area was where city walls and watchtowers stood.
St. Mary’s Basilica
St. Mary’s Basilica stands prominently in the middle of Market Square. The brick two-towered gothic church was built in the 14th century. On every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, “a trumpet signal – Hejnał Mariacki – is played from the top of St. Mary’s taller tower”. The tune “breaks off in mid-stream, to commemorate a famous 13th century trumpeter who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before a Mongol attack”. The “highly traditional tune” has a long-standing history and is known to almost every Pole. A “plethora of stories and myths” have grown into making the bugle call, a “symbol of Kraków“.
Wawel Royal Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral houses the sarcophagus crypts of Polish kings, national heroes, poets, saints, canonized bishops, and Bishop Stanislaus, the patron saint of Poland. The “venerated legacy of Stanislaus, who challenged a king and became a martyr, reveals that his saintly status may be the result of superstitious beliefs that his death placed a curse on the nation that revered him”. In 1320, Wawel Cathedral became the site for the coronations of Polish rulers.
Sigismund Bell Wawel Cathedral
Sigismund Bell is the largest of five bells hanging in Wawel Cathedral Tower. The other bells are Wacław, Cardinal, Urban, and Stanislaus. Sigismund is Poland’s most famous bell, named after popular King Sigismund I the Old. The special bell is used to “mark important holidays, celebrate church festivities, and herald moments of profound Polish significance”.
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The tomb of St. Stanislaus “became a destination for Catholic pilgrims from Poland and neighbouring countries”.
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Photography isn’t allowed inside the cathedral, but links in this post contain photos of the magnificent interior. I climbed through several stories of a narrow, wooden stairway leading to the top of Sigismund Tower, where you can enjoy breathtaking panoramas of the city!
Reflections
At day’s end, I reflected on memories of little things that happened, like an elderly Polish man graciously offering me his seat on the tram and a women walking a block out of her way with her dog, just to show me where to turn :)… On foot, the city can be confusing – at least to me. If you make a wrong turn along the twisted cobblestoned streets, you might not find your way back… Kraków is unique, but portions of it remind me of other beautiful Eastern European medieval cities – like Ljubljana and Prague. They’re fascinating places!
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“Currently, there are nine bells in Wawel Cathedral’s bell towers. Five larger bells with the most famous, Sigismund Bell, hanging in the Sigismund Tower. Four smaller bells hang in Silver Bells’ Tower. The third tower, known as the Clock Tower, houses the clock mechanism and two gongs which strike hours and quarters of an hour.” katedra-wawelska.pl
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More later…