Round the
Rynek Glowny Central Square of Krakow's Old Town.
All Krakow roads lead to the city’s
central Grand Square (Rynek Glowny)
which proves to be one of its greatest
attractions for the residents and the visitors
alike.
The 13th-century Gothic
basilica of the Virgin Mary’s (Bazylika
Mariacka)
towers above the huge plaza. It’s a must to
enter and see Veit Stoss’ great altarpiece, the 15th-century
masterpiece of monumental sculpture. The smaller
1338 St. Barbara’s church right behind the
basilica used to be a mortuary first.
Farther
clockwise round the Grand Square, at the Sienna
Street corner, one finds a large gray building
(Szara Kamienica) dating back to the 13th century
which got its Renaissance form in the 16th
century. The adjacent house of 1561 at 7 Grand
Square served as Poland’s first post office in
the 16th and the 17th centuries. The 16th-century
house at no. 9 is topped with an ornate 9-meter
attic with relief statues of circa 1560. The first pharmacy in the House Under a Golden Head at no.
13, now turned into a shopping arcade, opened in 1408.
The ground floor of the
stately Hetmanska building at 17 Grand Square
contains one of Krakow’s oldest interiors, the
14th-century Gothic great hall (now a bookstore).
The 1718 fresco Madonna adorns the front of the
16-century House Under Picture at no. 19. It
adjoins an aristocratic palace at no. 20 of the
16th-century Renaissance turned the 17th-century
Baroque and neo-classic since 1783 with a Louis
XVI facade.
More nobility palaces one finds on
the Grand Square’s western side at no. 27 (Pod
Baranami), no. 30, no. 34, and no. 35 (Palac Pod
Krzysztoforami, i.e. “Under St.
Christopher”). The first one dates back to the
16th century and was thoroughly rebuilt in 1860
(its cellar is home to the cult Pod Baranami
cabaret company since 1956). The last one was
erected in 1640 as an opulent Baroque residence
of the 17th-century richest Polish aristocrat and
now it shelters the City of Krakow Historical Museum.
The ground floor
cafe at 38 Grand Square, on its northern side,
was established in 1832 and remains the city’s
oldest. The corner house at no. 42 was build as
the 16th-century Renaissance palatial residence
for one Jan Boner, a patrician banker of three
Polish kings, and rebuilt as a neo-renaissance
bourgeois residence house in 1878. The
16th-century House Under Eagle (Pod Orlem) at 45
Grand Square boasts a rare gothic-renaissance
facade of red brick. The ornate rococo facade of
the last building in the row, the Margrave’s
House (Kamienica Margrabska), dates back to the
18th century.
Krakow
on Foot
The best way to enjoy old Krakow is
afoot.
Stroll through
Krakow's Kazimierz District
Stroll
Up the Royal Road
In
the footsteps of Pope John Paul II
