Krakow’s
Oldest Known City Charter Dates Back to 1257.
Krakow
was an important town and a bustling trading center as early
as the 9th century at least. And archeologists date the oldest
material evidence of human settlements excavated in the city
to circa 200,000 BC. In year 1038 Krakow became the capital of
Poland.
Another
crucial date in the municipal history is June 5, 1257 when
Boleslaw the Shy, Prince of Krakow, his mother Grzymislawa,
and wife Kunegunda – a.k.a. Blessed Kinga – signed a
foundation charter for the city of Krakow. Therein they
granted the municipality self-government with a wide range of
autonomy – based the Magdeburg Law, ius municipale
magdeburgense – plus tax benefits for its citizens,
trade privileges, and new territory.
Poland’s
parliament, namely the Senate, has voted 2007 the Year of
Krakow. The city government has decided to commemorate the
750th anniversary of the medieval incorporation of Krakow with
ten-day celebrations from June 1 to June 10, 2007.
Program
of celebrations commemorating the 750th anniversary of the
1257 city charter of Krakow, Poland.
June 1st through June 10th, 2007
Note: things keep changing, so take
into account, please, that the following program is liable to
alterations.
Spectacular
events
Friday,
June
1st
From 4 p.m.
to 11 p.m.
Hot-air balloon extravaganza, ‘Europe’s Open Air – the
UE Cup’, features among others balloon parade, parachuting,
and laser show.
Venue: Blonia
common (free
admission).
From
9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Opening of the ceremonies
commemorating the 750th anniversary of Krakow’s founding
charter followed by an open-air concert featuring the Krakow
Philharmonic Orchestra and Pro Musica Mundi choir performing
Piotr Rubik’s long cantata ‘In Love with Krakow’
inspired by Krakow’s history. Venue: the Rynek
Glowny central square (free admission,
open-air).
Saturday,
June
2nd
From
11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dragons' Family Picnic, a
festival whose attractions include musical performances,
competitions for kids, and re-enactments of medieval duels.
Venue: riverbank beneath the Wawel
Royal Castle (free admission).
From
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. ‘Great Parade of Dragons’
– a procession of dragons and knights marches down Grodzka
street to the central Rynek Glowny square.
From
7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Cabaret show featuring an array
of Poland’s comedy acts. Venue: the
Rynek
Glowny central square (free admission,
open-air).
From
10 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. ‘Great Parade of Dragons’
– a show featuring giant representations of dragons plus
music, light and sound effects, and water curtains. Venue:
riverbanks near the Wawel Royal Castle (free admission).
Sunday,
June
3rd
From
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dragons’ Family Picnic,
a festival whose attractions include musical performances,
competitions for kids, and re-enactments of medieval duels.
Venue: riverbank beneath the Wawel Royal Castle (free admission).
4:30
p.m. ‘The Lute of Shakespeare’, a
concert of early music features UK’s soprano Jeni Melia and
lute-playing baritone Christopher Goodwin who perform the old
English songs and duets. Venue: Tyniec Abbey.
From
8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Krakow’s Cracovia Danza Court
Ballet produces its show, ‘La Fortuna – Lady with an
Ermine’, an re-enactment of the Renaissance’s famed
Italian court ballet, Il Paradiso, with costumes designed by Leonardo
da Vinci. Venue: Plac Szczepanski square (free admission,
open-air).
From
9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Poland’s top jazz trumpeter
Tomasz Stanko and his guests perform music that would bridge
the past with our times. Venue: Rynek Glowny central square (free
admission, open-air).
Monday,
June
4th
From 9
p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Concert ‘Krakow Artists for Krakow’ features the
best and most popular songs ever authored by the city’s
composers and/or lyricists. Venue: Rynek Glowny central square
(free admission, open-air).
Tuesday,
June
5th
5:30
p.m. Historical parade commemorating the 1257
founding charter proceeds from the Teatr
Slowackiego theatre, 1 Plac Sw. Ducha square at Szpitalna
street, to the Old Town’s central
Rynek Glowny square.
7:30
p.m. ‘The Lute of King David’, a concert
of early music features counter-tenor Francisco Orozco and
lute-players performing medieval Europe’s songs. Venue:
Kosciol Sw. Katarzyny church (St. Catherine), Augustianska street at Skaleczna street.
From
9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The world premiere of oratorio
‘Cracovia Est’ by Poland’s contemporary composer
Dariusz Regucki features the Krakow Opera Company’s
soloists, orchestra, and choir. Venue: Rynek Glowny central
square (free admission, open-air).
Wednesday,
June
6th
From 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Krakow’s Cracovia Danza Court Ballet produces its historical
show, ‘Queen Bona’s Masquerade’, inspired by the
Polish royal court’s customs of the Renaissance and
including such once popular ballroom dances as pavan, volte,
gavotte, and courante. Venue: Plac Szczepanski square (free
admission, open-air).
From
8 p.m. to 9:40 p.m. Opening concert of the ‘Wyspianski
2007’ Festival, ‘Wyspianski by Konieczny”
features Polish National Radio Orchestra, Krakow Philharmonic
Choir, and an array of Krakow’s pop vocalist performing
theater music by Krakow’s contemporary composer Zygmunt
Konieczny written to productions of Stanislaw Wyspinaski’s
various plays. Venue: Kosciol Sw. Katarzyny church (St.
Catherine), Augustianska street at Skaleczna street.
From
10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Krakow’s Sinfonietta Cracovia
chamber orchestra and the Pro Musica Mundi choir render Gustav
Holst’s seven-part suite ‘Planets’ with pop
singers Dorota Miskiewicz and Grzegorz Turnau filling in
interludes, plus a multimedia show of the solar system. Venue:
Rynek Glowny central square (free admission,
open-air).
Thursday,
June
7th (Corpus Christi feast day)
5 p.m.
Delegations
of European marksmen’s fraternities parade from the Plac
Szczepanski square to the central Rynek Glowny square and next
through streets Mikolajska, Kopernika, and Strzelecka to Park
Strzelecki.
From
9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Italy’s accomplished baritone Roberto
Abbondanza soprano Susanna Rigacci plus enlarged
philharmonic orchestra and choir with famous composer Ennio
Morricone as conductor perform his oratorio ‘Song
about the Hidden God’ written to poems of Pope
John Paul II. Venue: Rynek Glowny central square (free admission,
open-air).
Friday,
June
8th
From 10
a.m. to 10 p.m.
Festival
of Krakow’s Bractwo Kurkowe, the city’s historic marksmen
fraternity, with shooting competition, musical performances,
and other attractions. Venue: the Blonia common (free
admission).
From
6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Krakow’s ensemble,
Galicyjska Orkiestra Straussowska ‘Obligato”, plays The
Strausses’ waltzes and polkas. Venue: Rynek Glowny central
square (free admission, open-air).
From
7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Poland’s championship of DJs.
Venue: Multikino multiplex, 128 Dobrego Pasterza street.
From
8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Krakow’s Cracovia Danza Court
Ballet produces its show, ‘Sobieski and Marysienka’,
of the Baroque’s dances and the period music by the Polish
and the French composers as well as the Turkish traditional
tunes. Venue: Plac Szczepanski square (free admission,
open-air).
From
9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ‘Krakow-Vienna Ball’,
a concert of ballroom dance music features Krakow’s and
Vienna’s ensembles playing The Strausses’ waltzes and
polkas plus dancers from both cities performing the steps.
Venue: Rynek Glowny central square (free admission,
open-air).
Saturday,
June
9th
From noon
to 2 p.m. ‘The
Enthronement of the Cock King’, Krakow’s traditional
colorful pageant of the city’s historical marksmen’s
fraternity followed by its parade through streets Florianska,
Basztowa, and Lubicz. Venue: Rynek Glowny central square and
the Old Town’s streets (free admission, open-air).
From
8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Krakow’s Cracovia Danza Court
Ballet produces its show, ‘Krakow through the
Centuries’ in the form of the parade of historical
fashions from medieval to contemporary, Venue: Rynek Glowny
central square (free admission, open-air).
Sunday,
June
10th
From 3 p.m.
to 5 p.m. Concert
of pop songs about Krakow and its residents. Venue: Plac
Szczepanski square (free admission, open air).
From
7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Krakow’s Cracovia Danza Court
Ballet produces its show, ‘The Chess’, based on the
16th-century poem by Jan Kochanowski, the Polish greatest poet
of the Renaissance, with the period music. Venue: Plac
Szczepanski square (free admission, open air).
7:30
p.m. ‘The Lute of the Renaissance’, a
concert of early music features Switzerland’s Hopkinson
Smith playing music for lute by Francesco da Milano and John
Dowland. Venue: Kosciol Sw. Katarzyny church (St. Catherine), Augustianska
street at Skaleczna street.
From
9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Concert of classical music
features Poland’s top contemporary composer Henryk Mikolaj
Gorecki conducting the performance of his piece, ‘Beatus
Vir’, commissioned for the 900th anniversary of
St. Stanislaw’s martyrdom by Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, then
Krakow’s archbishop soon to become Pope John Paul II. Venue:
Rynek Glowny central square (free admission,
open-air).
From
10 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. Twenty five bells of the Old
Town’s various churches play symphony ‘Campanae
Cracovienses’ by Marek Stachowski, Krakow’s late composer
of contemporary classical music. Venue: Old Town (free admission,
open-air).
Other
anniversary events
Friday,
June
1st
At noon.
Laying
of the foundation stone for the Tourism Center at Powisle
street near the Wawel Hill.
2
p.m. Opening
ceremony of the ‘Kolna’ Center for Sport and
Recreation with a swimming pool and a sports hall at 2 Kolna
street.
Saturday,
June
2nd
From noon
to 9 p.m.
‘Krakow
Feast’ on the Plac Szczepanski square.
From
1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Hot-air balloon festival ‘Europe’s
Open Air – the UE Cup’ with competitions for children.
Venue: the Blonia common.
2
p.m. Opening ceremony of the ‘Wyspianski
2000’ Exhibition and Information Center at Plac
Wszystkich Swietych square.
Sunday,
June
3rd
At noon.
Unveiling
of a commemorative plaque in the Cloth
Hall amid Krakow’s central Rynek Glowny square.
From
noon to 9 p.m. ‘Krakow Feast’ on the
Plac Szczepanski square.
Monday,
June
4th
At noon.
Unveiling
of a plaque commemorating the planting of the Anniversary Tree
(namely oak) at the Plac Sw. Idziego square near the Wawel
Hill.
2
p.m. Opening ceremony of a culture center in the
reconstructed Dwor Czeczow (The Czeczs Manor) at 36 Ks.
Popieluszki styreet.
Tuesday,
June
5th
11 a.m.
Laying of flowers in the National Pantheon in the crypt of the
Skalka Sanctuary’s church at
Skaleczna street.
From
noon to 1:30 p.m. High Mass for the city of Krakow
in the Wawel Cathedral.
From
4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Ceremonial session of the City
Council in the Teatr Slowackiego theatre, 1 Plac Swietego
Ducha square at Szpitalna street.
From
6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Opening of the exhibition ‘Krakow
– the European City of the Magdeburg Law 1257-1791’ in
the City of Krakow Historical Museum
at 35 Rynek Glowny (Grand Square).
From
10:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. Free admission for the
exhibition ‘Krakow – the European City of the Magdeburg
Law 1257-1791’ in the City of Krakow Historical Museum
at 35 Rynek Glowny (Grand Square).
Wednesday,
June
6th
At noon.
Opening ceremony of
the refurbished Maly Rynek square.
Thursday,
June
7th (Corpus Christi feast day)
3:30 p.m.
Opening
ceremony of the Jubilee Congress of Marksmen’s Fraternities
takes place on the Plac Szczepanski square.
5:30
p.m. Unveiling of the obelisk commemorating the
750th anniversaries of Krakow’s founding charter and the
city’s Bractwo Kurkowe marksmen’s fraternity in the Park
Strzelecki at 16 Lubicz street.
Friday,
June
8th
10:30 a.m.
Opening
ceremony of reconstructed Zajazd Kosciuszkowski (Kosciuszko
Inn) at 3 Bialopradnicka street.
At
noon. Opening ceremony of a new tourist tour of the
city walls by the barbican.
From
1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Presentation of Europe’s biggest
graffiti, i.e. the ‘Silva Rerum’ mural showing the history
of Krakow.
2
p.m. Opening of exhibition ‘In the Nest of
Printing and Book Loving’ in the Municipal Engineering
Museum at 15 Sw. Wawrzynca street.
Saturday,
June
9th
11 a.m.
High
Mass for Krakow’s historical marksmen’s fraternity,
Bractwo Kurkowe, in the Kosciol
Mariacki church (basilica of the Virgin Mary).
2:30
p.m. Laying of the foundation stone for a shooting
range in the Park Strzelecki at 16 Lubicz street.
5
p.m. Opening of an open-air exhibition of
Krakow’s accomplished photographer Adam Bujak’s showing
places and memorabilia connected with St. Stanislaw, the
11th-century Krakow bishop. Venue: the Skalka Sanctuary.
7
p.m. Opening of ‘The Krakow Theater Night’,
a presentation of the city’s theater
productions coupled with tours of its playhouses.
9:30
p.m. Unveiling of the reconstructed 19th-century
monument to Tadeusz Rejtan, a Polish hero, at the junction of
streets Basztowa, Asnyka, and Dunajewskiego.
Sunday,
June
10th
10:30 a.m.
High
Mass for Krakow’s historical marksmen’s fraternity,
Bractwo Kurkowe, in the Wawel Cathedral.
3:30
p.m. Closing ceremony of the Jubilee Congress of
Marksmen’s Fraternities takes place on the central Rynek
Glowny square.
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