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Krakow Squares and Plazas.
City
of Krakow can boast numerous squares that provide a
wealth of quality public spaces.
The
Old Town's famous Rynek Glowny immense central plaza, lined
with sidewalk cafes and historic buildings, is a must for
every tourist. Also other squares – notably Maly Rynek, Plac
Szczepanski, and Plac Nowy – are popular venues for open-air
shows and other events. Some old piazzas, such as Plac Marii
Magdaleny and Plac Mariacki, enchant with their spectacular
scenery. Some, e.g. Plac Matejki or Plac Sw. Ducha, provide
fine vistas of the nearby monuments. At the same time a number
of squares in Krakow, including Rynek Kleparski next to the
Old Town historic district, have retained the traditional role
as popular marketplaces.
The
most notable squares in Krakow.
Grand Square (Rynek
Glowny, often wrongly translated as 'Market Square'), has been Krakow’ hub ever since the
city’s Old Town historic district
got the present grid of streets in the 13th
century. The huge 10-acre square, the largest of
all Europe’s medieval cities, is a curio in
itself. Its chief landmarks are the Renaissance
16th-century Cloth Hall in the center (now
home to the museum of the 19th-century
art upstairs and numerous ground-floor stalls
with souvenirs), the Gothic 13th-century Town Hall Tower, and the grand
Gothic 14th-century basilica of the
Virgin Mary’s. Yet practically each of 47
buildings at the square boasts a considerable
historical and/or architectural value.
Northern
side of Krakow central Rynek Glowny (Grand Square)
Plac
Szczepanski square, just one block west from Krakow’s huge central Grand Square, appeared in the
city’s medieval street grid in the early 19th century when a 13th-century church and the adjacent
buildings were demolished. Edifice at its corner
with the Jagiellonska Street dates back to 1798 and
is the oldest theater house in this
country. In 1907 it was given a modernist
facelift and now shelters the Teatr Stary theater,
reputed Poland’s best company of players. The Palace of Art
(Palac Sztuki), a monumental
modernist temple to the cult of fine arts, which
took up the square’s western side in 1900,
remains one of the city’s most prestigious
venues for temporary exhibitions. Since 1964 it
has got a rival exhibition hall in the bunker-like
structure just across the street where most of
the latest art is shown nowadays. After a refurbishment the Plac
Szczepanski square has got a stylish appearance in 2010. Its
most spectacular feature is a computerized fountain performing
the light-sound-and-water show in front of the Place of
Art.
Maly
Rynek Square, situated one block east from the
huge central Grand Square in Krakow’s
medieval compact grid of streets, ranks among the
city’s most scenic places. For centuries this
rectangle served as the meat market – crucial
function in the medieval economy. The eastern
side of the Maly Rynek Sq. is lined by
picturesque houses of burghers. They face an
array of church buildings across the square, at
the foot of the towering chancel of the basilica of the Virgin Mary’s with its famous
14th-century stained-glass widows.
Ulica
Szeroka Square is so long and narrow that it
is officially called a street (Polish ‘ulica’).
It once served both as a marketplace and a forum
of Kazimierz’s Jewish Town, the capital in
everything but name of Poland’s Jews from the
16th century through the 19th century. At the
square’s northern end one finds the
16th-century mansion of Polish noblemen, The
Jordans. The opposite end of the square, where
king Jan I Olbracht settled Jews from Krakow in
1495, is taken up by the grand Renaissance Old
Synagogue of 1570, now the Museum of Judaism. It adjoins
remnants of the 14th-century Kazimierz’s city
walls. The 16th-century modest R’emuh Synagogue
at 40 Szeroka Street is placed next to the
R’emuh burial ground; and the 17th-century
Baroque building of the former Popper Synagogue
still stands at 16 Szeroka Street.
Plac
Nowaka-Jezioranskiego square in front of a big shopping
mall
next to the central rail station.
|
 Krakow
Streets
Krakow
on Foot
The best way to enjoy old Krakow is
afoot.
Stroll
Up the Royal Road
Stroll
Round the Grand Square
Stroll
through Krakow's Kazimierz District
In the footsteps of
Pope John Paul II
Map
of Krakow
Krakow's
Old Town map
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