Krakow Info - Ancient View


	The first panoramic view of Krakow appeared in Hartmann Schedl's Liber cronicarum, published in Nuremberg in 1493. It was just a year after Christopher Columbus had left for India and found himself in the New World to everybody's surprise. And two years later Nicolaus Copernicus completed his studies at the famous Krakow university. This half-realistic and half-fanciful picture shows the medieval Poland's metropolis from the north alongside its twin city of Kazimierz. Above them hovers the magic castle of Polish kings atop the Wawel Hill. The last decade of the 15th century marked the beginning of Poland's Golden Age when the democratic kingdom commanded a vast territory from the Baltic to the Black Sea and became a major European power as well as a powerhouse for the continent's economy while its culture flourished like never before. At the same time Krakow, the country's capital since 1038, entered upon one of its best periods in history. Its burghers could even afford to fund the world's largest and grandest altarpiece ever for the city's central basilica of the Virgin Mary's.