Kraków, Poland Cracow
Main Market Square, Wawel Castle, Barbican, St. Mary's Basilica, St. Peter and Paul Church, Collegium Maius
Flag Coat of arms
Kraków, Poland
Coordinates: 50°3′41″N 19°56′18″E / 50.06139°N 19.93833°E / 50.06139; 19.93833
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Lesser Poland
County	Kraków County
City rights	5 June 1257
Government
• Mayor	Jacek Majchrowski
Area
• City	327 km2 (126 sq mi)
Elevation	219 m (719 ft)
Population (2010)
• City	756,267
• Density	2,300/km2 (6,000/sq mi)
• Metro	1,393,893
Demonym	Cracovian
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	30-024 to 31–962
Area code(s)	+48 12
Website	www.krakow.pl

Kraków (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkrakuf] ( listen)) also Cracow, or Krakow (English /ˈkrækaʊ/), is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River (Polish: Wisła) in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century.^[1] Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic hubs. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1569; the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1596;^[2] the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918; and Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second most important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was already being reported as a busy trading centre of Slavonic Europe in 965.^[1] With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. The city has a population of approximately 760,000 whereas about 8 million people live within a 100 km radius of its main square.^[3]

After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany at the start of World War II, Kraków was turned into the capital of Germany's General Government. The Jewish population of the city was moved into a walled zone known as the Kraków Ghetto, from which they were sent to extermination camps such as Auschwitz and the concentration camp at Płaszów.

In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II – the first Slavic pope ever, and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.^[4] Also that year, UNESCO approved the first ever sites for its new World Heritage List, including the entire Old Town in inscribing Cracow's Historic Centre.^[5][6]

Etymology[link]

The name of Kraków is traditionally derived from Krakus (Krak, Grakch), the legendary founder of Kraków and a ruler of the tribe of Lechitians (Poles). In Polish, Kraków is an archaic possessive form of Krak and essentially means "Krak's (town)". Krakus's name may derive from "krakula", a Proto-Slavic word^[7] meaning a judge's staff, or a Proto-Slavic word "krak" meaning an oak, once a sacred tree most often associated with the concept of genealogy. The first mention of Prince Krakus (then written as Grakch) dates back to 1190, although the town existed as early as the 7th century, inhabited by the tribe of Wiślanie.^[1]

The city's full official name is Stołeczne Królewskie Miasto Kraków, or "Royal Capital City of Kraków".^[8] In English, a person born or living in Kraków is a Cracovian (Polish: Krakowianin).

History[link]

Early history[link]

Woodcut of Kraków in 1493, from the (Nuremberg Chronicle).

Kraków's prehistory begins with evidence of a Stone Age settlement on the present site of the Wawel Hill.^[9] A legend attributes Kraków's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski.^[10] The first written record of the city's name dates back to 966, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial centre owned by a Bohemian duke Boleslaus I.^[1] The first crowned King of Poland Mieszko took Kraków from Bohemians and incorporated it into the holdings of the Piast dynasty towards the end of his reign.^[11]

In 1038, Kraków became the seat of the Polish government.^[1] By the end of the 10th century, the city was a leading centre of trade.^[12] Brick buildings were constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle with St. Felix and Adaukt Rotunda, Romanesque churches such as St. Adalbert's, a cathedral, and a basilica.^[13] The city was almost entirely destroyed during the Mongol invasion of 1241. It was rebuilt in a form practically unaltered, and incorporated in 1257 by the king, with city rights based on the Magdeburg law allowing for tax benefits and new trade privileges for its citizens.^[14] In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols. A third attack followed in 1287, repelled thanks in part to the new built fortifications.^[15]

Tomb of king Casimir III of Poland in the Wawel Cathedral, 14th century.

The city rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III of Poland founded the University of Kraków,^[16] the second oldest university in central Europe after the Charles University in Prague. The city continued to grow under the joint Lithuanian-Polish Jagiellon dynasty. As the capital of the Kingdom of Poland and a member of the Hanseatic League, the city attracted many craftsmen, businesses, and guilds as science and the arts began to flourish.^[17]

The city in Poland's 'Golden Age'[link]

King Sigismund I, observes the hanging of the Wawel's Sigismund Bell in 1521; by Jan Matejko.

The 15th and 16th centuries were known as Poland's Złoty Wiek or Golden Age.^[18] Many works of Polish Renaissance art and architecture were created then,^[19][20] including ancient synagogues in Kraków's Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, such as the Old Synagogue.^[21] During the reign of Casimir IV, various artists came to work and live in Kraków, and Johann Haller established a printing press in the city^[22] after Kasper Straube had printed the Calendarium Cracoviense, the first work printed in Poland, in 1473.^[23][24]

In 1520, the most famous church bell in Poland, named Zygmunt after Sigismund I of Poland, was cast by Hans Behem.^[25] At that time, Hans Dürer, a younger brother of Albrecht Dürer, was Sigismund's court painter.^[26] Hans von Kulmbach made altarpieces for several churches.^[27] In 1572, King Sigismund II, the last of the Jagiellons, died childless. The Polish throne passed to Henry III of France and then to other foreign-based rulers in rapid succession, causing a decline in the city's importance that was worsened by pillaging during the Swedish invasion and by an outbreak of bubonic plague that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. In 1596, Sigismund III of the Swedish House of Vasa moved the administrative capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Kraków to Warsaw.^[2]

18th to early 20th centuries[link]

Kraków's growth since the late 18th century

Already weakened during the 18th century, by the mid-1790s the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had been twice partitioned by its neighbors: Russia, the Habsburg empire, and Prussia.^[28] In 1794, Tadeusz Kościuszko initiated an unsuccessful insurrection in the town's Main Square which, in spite of his victorious Battle of Racławice against a numerically superior Russian army, resulted in the third and final partition of Poland.^[29] Following the Uprising, Kraków became part of the Austrian partition in a province of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte captured former Polish territories from Austria and made the town part of the Duchy of Warsaw.^[30] Following Napoleon's defeat in Russia, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 mostly restored earlier structures, although it also created the partially independent Free City of Kraków.^[31] As in 1794, an insurrection in 1846 failed;^[30] resulting in the city being annexed by Austria under the name the Grand Duchy of Krakow (Polish: Wielkie Księstwo Krakowskie).^[32]

Tadeusz Kościuszko takes the oath to the King on the Rynek in Kraków, 1794

In 1866, Austria granted a degree of autonomy to Galicia after the Austro-Prussian War,^[33] and Kraków became a Polish national symbol and a centre of culture and art, known frequently as the "Polish Athens" (Polskie Ateny) or "Polish Mecca".^[34] Many leading Polish artists of the period resided in Kraków,^[35] among them the seminal painter Jan Matejko,^[36] laid to rest at Rakowicki Cemetery, and the founder of modern Polish drama, Stanisław Wyspiański.^[37] Fin de siècle Kraków evolved into a modern metropolis; running water and electric streetcars were introduced in 1901, and between 1910 and 1915, Kraków and its surrounding suburban communities were gradually combined into a single administrative unit called Greater Kraków (Wielki Kraków).^[38][39]

At the outbreak of World War I on 3 August 1914, Józef Piłsudski formed a small cadre military unit, the First Cadre Company — the predecessor of the Polish Legions — which set out from Kraków to fight for the liberation of Poland.^[40] The city was briefly besieged by Russian troops in November 1914, but they were pushed back afterwards.^[41] The Austrian rule in Kraków ended in 1918 when the Polish Liquidation Committee assumed power.^[42][43]

1918 to the present[link]

With the emergence of the Second Polish Republic, Kraków restored its role as a major academic and cultural centre with the establishment of new universities such as the AGH University of Science and Technology and the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, including a number of new and essential vocational schools. It became an important cultural centre for the Polish Jews with a Zionist youth movement relatively strong among the city's Jewish population.^[44] Kraków was also an influential centre of Jewish spiritual life, with all its manifestations of religious observance from Orthodox, to Chasidic and Reform flourishing side by side.

The funeral procession of head of state Marshal Józef Piłsudski at the Wawel, 1935.

Following the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Nazi German forces turned the city into the capital of the General Government, a colonial authority headed by Hans Frank and seated in Wawel Castle. In an operation called "Sonderaktion Krakau", more than 180 university professors and academics were arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps, though the survivors were later released on the request of prominent Italians.^[45][46] The Jewish population was first confined to a ghetto and later murdered or sent to concentration camps, including Płaszów and Auschwitz in Oświęcim.^[47] Roman Polanski, the film director, is a survivor of the Ghetto, while Oskar Schindler, the German businessman portrayed in the Steven Spielberg film Schindler's List, selected employees from the Ghetto to work in his enamelware plant (Deutsche Emailwaren Fabrik, or Emalia for short), thus saving them from the camps.^[48][49]

Kraków remained relatively undamaged at the end of World War II.^[50] This is why the city by large kept its historical identity and architectural legacy. After the war, under the Stalinist regime, the intellectual and academic community of Kraków was put under total political control. The universities were soon deprived of their printing rights as well as their autonomy.^[51] The communist government of the People's Republic of Poland ordered construction of the country's largest steel mill in the newly created suburb of Nowa Huta.^[52] The creation of the giant Lenin Steelworks (now Sendzimir Steelworks owned by Mittal) sealed Kraków's transformation from a university city to an industrial centre.^[53] The new working class, drawn by the industrialization of the city, contributed to its rapid population growth.

In an effort that spanned two decades, Karol Wojtyła, cardinal archbishop of Kraków, successfully lobbied for permission to build the first churches in the new industrial suburbs.^[53][54] In 1978, Wojtyła was elevated to the papacy as John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In the same year, UNESCO placed Kraków Old Town on the first ever list of World Heritage Sites.

Geography[link]

Vistula River and Dębnicki Bridge

Kraków lies in the southern part of Poland, on the Vistula River (Polish pronouncition: Wisła), in a valley at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, 219 m (719 ft) above sea level; half way between the Jurassic Rock Upland (Polish: Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska) to the north, and the Tatra Mountains 100 km (62 mi) to the south, constituting the natural border with Slovakia and the Czech Republic; 230 km west from the border with Ukraine. There are five nature reserves in Kraków, with a combined area of ca. 48.6 hectares (120 acres). Due to their ecological value, these areas are legally protected. The western part of the city, along its northern and north-western side, borders an area of international significance known as the Jurassic Bielany-Tyniec refuge. The main motives for the protection of this area include plant and animal wildlife and the area's geomorphological features and landscape.^[55] Another part of the city is located within the ecological 'corridor' of the Vistula River valley. This corridor is also assessed as being of international significance as part of the Pan-European ecological network.^[56] The city center is situated on the left (northern) bank of the river.

Climate[link]

Kraków has an Oceanic climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system, one of the easternmost localities in Europe to do so (East of Tarnów, and north of Kielce the January mean dips below −3 °C (27 °F) and thus becomes continental (Dfb) in nature). The city features a temperate climate. Average temperatures in summer range from 18 °C (64 °F) to 19.6 °C (67 °F) and in winter from −2.1 °C (28 °F) to 0 °C (32 °F). The average annual temperature is 8.9 °C (48 °F). In summer temperatures often exceed 25 °C (77 °F), and sometimes even 30 °C (86 °F), while winter drops to −5 °C (23 °F) at night and about 0 °C (32 °F) at day; during very cold nights the temperature drops to −15 °C (5 °F). In view of the fact that Kraków lies near the Tatra Mountains, there is often blowing halny – a foehn wind, when the temperature rises rapidly, and even in winter reaches to 20 °C (68 °F).

Cityscape[link]

A panorama of central Kraków, as seen from the Krakus Mound to the east of the city's centre.

Cracow's Historic Centre *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Country	Poland
Type	Cultural
Criteria	IV
Reference	29
Region **	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1978 (2nd Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

Renaissance Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in Main Market Square

Developed over many centuries, Kraków provides a showcase setting for many historic styles of architecture. As the city expanded, so too did the architectural achievements of its builders. It is for this reason that the variations in style and urban planning are so easily recognizable. Built from its nucleus (the city centre) outwards, and having escaped much of the destruction endured by Poland during 20th-century wars, Kraków's many architectural monuments can typically be seen in historical order by simply walking from the city centre out towards its later districts.

Kraków's historic centre, which includes the Old Town, Kazimierz and the Wawel Castle, was included as the first of its kind on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1978.^[58] The Old Town (Polish: Stare Miasto) is the most prominent example of an old town in the country.^[59] For many centuries Kraków was the royal capital of Poland, until Sigismund III Vasa relocated the court to Warsaw in 1596. The whole district is bisected by the Royal Road, the coronation route traversed by the Kings of Poland. The Route begins at St. Florian's Church outside the northern flank of the old city-walls in the medieval suburb of Kleparz; passes the Barbican of Kraków (Barbakan) built in 1499, and enters Stare Miasto through the Florian Gate. It leads down Floriańska Street through the Main Square, and up Grodzka to Wawel, the former seat of Polish royalty, overlooking the Vistula river. Old Town attracts visitors from all over the World. Kraków historic centre is one of the 13 places in Poland that are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The architectural design of the Old Town had survived all cataclysms of the past and retained its original form coming from the medieval times. The Old Town district of Kraków is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art.^[60] Its rich variety of historic architecture includes Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings. Kraków's palaces, churches, theatres and mansions display great variety of color, architectural details, stained glass, paintings, sculptures, and furnishings.

Kanonicza Street, which leads to the Wawel, is home to a number of 16th and 17th century architectural masterpieces.

In addition to the old town, the city's former Jewish district of Kazimierz is particularly notable for its many renaissance buildings and picturesque streets. Kazimierz was founded in the 14th century to the south-east of the city centre and soon became a wealthy, well-populated area where construction of imposing properties became commonplace. In 1362, defensive walls were erected around Kazimierz's newly-built central section and a plot was set aside for the Augustinian order next to Skałka. Casimir the Great (for whom the district is named) also began work on a campus for the Cracow Academy (later Jagiellonian University) founded in 1364, but he died in 1370 and the campus was never completed. Perhaps the most important feature of medieval Kazimierz was the only major, permanent bridge (Pons Regalis) across the northern arm of the Vistula. This natural barrier used to separate Kazimierz from the Old Town for several centuries, while the bridge connected Krakow to the Wieliczka Salt Mine and the lucrative Hungarian trade route. The last structure at this location (at the end of modern Stradom Street) was dismantled in 1880 when the northern arm of the river was filled in with earth and rock, and subsequently built over.^[61][62]

Basztowa Street, one of Kraków's wide, representative radial boulevards.

In 1553, the district's Qahal successfully petitioned the Kazimierz town-council for the right to build its own interior walls across the western section of the already existing defensive walls, for protection against riots. The walls were expanded again in 1608 due to the growth of the community and influx of Jews from Bohemia. Further requests to expand them were turned down.^[63] In 1791, Kazimierz lost its status as a separate city and became a district of Kraków. The richer Jewish families quickly moved out of the overcrowded streets of eastern Kazimierz. Because of the injunction against travel on the Sabbath, however, most Jewish families stayed relatively close to the historic synagogues, maintaining Kazimierz’s reputation as a Jewish district long after the concept ceased to have any administrative meaning. By the 1930s, Kraków had 120 officially registered synagogues and prayer houses that spanned across the old city. Much of Jewish intellectual life had moved to new centres like Podgórze.^[64] This in turn, led to the redevelopment and renovation of much of Kazimierz and the development of new districts in Kraków. Most historic buildings in central Kazimierz today are preserved in their original form. Some old buildings however, were not repaired after the devastation brought by the Second World War, and have remained empty. Most recent efforts at restoring the historic neighborhoods gained new impetus around 1993. Kazimierz is now a well-visited area, seeing a booming growth in Jewish-themed restaurants, bars, bookstores and souvenir shops.

Palace of Art at Szczepański Square (view from Planty), prime example of Art Nouveau architecture in central Kraków^[65]

As the city of Kraków began to expand further under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the new architectural styles also developed. Key buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries in Kraków include the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, the directorate of the Polish State Railways as well as the original complex of Kraków Główny railway station and the city's Academy of Economics. It was also at around that time that Kraków's first radial boulevards began to appear, with the city undergoing a large scale program aimed at transforming the ancient Polish capital into a sophisticated regional centre of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. New representative government buildings and multi-story tenement houses were built at around that time. Much of the urban-planning beyond the walls of the Old Town was done by Polish architects and engineers trained in Vienna. Some major projects of the era include the development of the Jagiellonian University's new premises and the building of the Collegium Novum just west of the Old Town. The imperial style planning of the city's further development continued until the return of Poland's independence, following First World War. Early modernist style in Kraków is represented by such masterpieces as the Palace of Art by Franciszek Mączyński and the 'House under the Globe'. Secession style architecture, which had arrived in Kraków from Vienna, became popular towards the end of the Partitions.^[66]

The Municipal Savings Bank, a monument of Polish modernism in the inter-war period

With Poland's regained independence came the major change in the fortunes of Kraków – now the second most important city of a sovereign nation. The state began to make new plans for the city development and commissioned a number of representative buildings. The predominant style for new projects was modernism with various interpretations of the art-deco style.^[67] Important buildings constructed in the style of Polish modernism include the Feniks 'LOT' building on Basztowa Street, the Feniks department store on the Main Square and the Municipal Savings Bank on Szczepański Square. The Józef Piłsudski house is also of note as a particularly good example of interwar architecture in the city.^[68]

After the Second World War, new government turned toward Soviet influence and the Stalinist monumentalism. The doctrine of Socialist realism in Poland, as in other countries of the People's Republics, was enforced from 1949 to 1956. It involved all domains of art, but its most spectacular achievements were made in the field of urban design. The main lines of this new trend were precisely indicated in a 1949 resolution of the National Council of Party Architects. Architecture was to become a weapon in establishing the new social order by the communists. It was intended to help form a socialist reality by influencing citizens' consciousness and their outlook on life.^[69] During this period, the crucial ideological role fell to the architect perceived as an "engineer of the human soul". The ideological impact of urban design was valued more than aesthetics. It aimed at expressing communist ideas and to arouse a feeling of persistence and power. This form of architecture was implemented in the new industrial district of Nowa Huta, full of huge apartment buildings constructed according to a Stalinist blueprint, with repetitious courtyards and wide, tree-lined avenues.^[70]

The Pawilon Wyspiański 2000 is a rare piece of modern architecture present in the Old Town.^[71]

Since the style of the Renaissance was generally regarded as the most revered in old Polish architecture, it was also used for augmenting Poland's socialist national format. However, in the course of incorporating the principles of socialist realism, there were quite a few deviations introduced. One of these was to more closely reflect Soviet architecture, which resulted in the majority of works blending into one another; and finally the general acceptance of the neo-classicist form. From 1953, critical opinions in the Party were increasingly frequent, and the doctrine was given up in 1956 marking the end of Stalinism.^[72] Currently the soc-realist centre of Nowa Huta is considered to be a meritorious monument of the times. This period in postwar architecture was followed by the mass-construction of large Panel System apartment blocks, most of which were built outside of the city's historic centre and thus do not encroach upon the beauty of the old or new towns. Some monuments of the new style such as the recently listed Hotel Cracovia,^[73] were built during the later half of the 20th century in Kraków.

After the Revolutions of 1989 and the birth of the Third Republic, a number of new architectural trends came to Kraków. In the later half of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, a number of major projects, including the construction of a number of large business parks and commercial facilities have been carried out, such as the Galeria Krakowska, and infrastructure investments like the Krakow Fast Tram, giving the city a great deal of quality modern designs which, in many cases, blends seamlessly with the city's centuries old architectural heritage. A good example of this would be the 2007-built Pawilon Wspiański 2000.^[71] which is used as a multi-purpose information and exhibition space.

Parks and gardens[link]

Fountain, Planty Park

There are dozens of gardens, parks and forests in Kraków, several, like the Planty Park, Botanical Garden, Park Krakowski, Jordan Park, Błonia Park and Strzelecki Park], are located in the center of the city and the surrounding districts.

The Planty Park is the best-known park in Kraków. It was established between 1822 and 1830 in place of the old city walls, forming a green belt around the Old Town. It consists of a chain of smaller gardens designed in various styles and adorned with monuments. The park has an area of 21 hectares (52 acres) and a length of 4 kilometers (2.5 mi), forming a scenic walkway popular with Cracovians.^[74]

The Jordan Park, the first public park equipped with exercise fixtures, was founded in 1889 by Dr Henryk Jordan on the banks of the Rudawa river. The park equipped with running and exercise tracks, playgrounds, swimming pool, amphitheatre, pavilions, and a pond for boat rowing and water bicycles, is located on the grounds of Kraków’s Błonia Park.^[75] The less prominent Park Krakowski was founded in 1885 by Stanisław Rehman but has since been greatly reduced in size because of rapid real estate development. It was a popular destination point with many Cracovians at the end of the 19th century.^[76]

Points of interest outside the city include the Wieliczka salt mine, the Tatra Mountains 100 km (62 mi) to the south, the historic city of Częstochowa, the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, and Ojcowski National Park,^[77] which includes Pieskowa Skała Castle.^[78]

Governance[link]

President of Kraków, Prof. Jacek Majchrowski

The Kraków City Council has 43 elected members,^[79] one of whom is the mayor, or President of Kraków, elected every four years. The election of the City Council and of the local head of government,^[80] which takes place at the same time, is based on legislation introduced on 20 June 2002. The current President of Kraków, re-elected for his third term in 2010, is Professor Jacek Majchrowski.^[81] Several members of the Polish national Parliament (Sejm) are elected from the Kraków constituency.^[82] The city's official symbols include a coat of arms, a flag, a seal, and a banner.^[83]

The Wielopolski Palace, seat of Kraków's mayor, administration and city council.

The responsibilities of Kraków’s president include drafting and implementing resolutions, enacting city bylaws, managing the city budget, employing city administrators, and preparing against floods and natural disasters.^[80] The president fulfills his duties with the help of the City Council, city managers and city inspectors. In the 1990s, the city government was reorganized to better differentiate between its political agenda and administrative functions. As a result, the Office of Public Information was created to handle inquiries and foster communication between city departments and citizens at large.^[84]

In the year 2000, the city government introduced a new long-term program called "Safer City" in cooperation with the Police, Traffic, Social Services, Fire, Public Safety, and the Youth Departments. Subsequently, the number of criminal offences went down by 3 percent between 2000 and 2001, and the rate of detection increased by 1.4 percent to a total of 30.2 percent in the same period.^[85] The city is receiving help in carrying out the program from all educational institutions and the local media, including TV, radio and the press.

Districts[link]

Kraków is divided into 18 administrative districts (dzielnica) or boroughs, each with a degree of autonomy within its own municipal government.^[86] Prior to March 1991, the city had been divided into four quarters which still give a sense of identity to Kraków – the towns of Podgórze, Nowa Huta, and Krowodrza which were absorbed by Kraków as it expanded, and the ancient town center of Kraków itself.^[86]

Matejko Square at Kleparz is one of the city's more important public spaces

The oldest neighborhoods of Kraków were incorporated into the city before the late 18th century. They include the Old Town (Stare Miasto), once contained within the city defensive walls and now encircled by the Planty park; the Wawel District, which is the site of the Royal Castle and the cathedral; Stradom and Kazimierz, the latter originally divided into Christian and Jewish quarters;^[87] as well as the ancient town of Kleparz.

Major districts added in the 19th and 20th centuries include Podgórze, which until 1915 was a separate town on the southern bank of the Vistula, and Nowa Huta, east of the city centre, built after World War II.

The socialist-realist born Nowa Huta district is now, Kraków's largest

Among the most notable historic districts of the city are: Wawel Hill, home to Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral, where many Polish kings are buried; the medieval Old Town, with its Main Market Square (200 metres (660 ft) square); dozens of old churches and museums; the 14th-century buildings of the Jagiellonian University; and Kazimierz, the historical center of Kraków's Jewish social and religious life.^[88]

The Old Town district of Kraków is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art.^[60] Its rich variety of historic architecture includes Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic buildings. Kraków's palaces, churches and mansions display great variety of color, architectural details, stained glass, paintings, sculptures, and furnishings.

In the Market Square stands the Gothic St. Mary's Basilica (Kościół Mariacki). It was re-built in the 14th century and features the famous wooden altar (Ołtarz Wita Stwosza), the largest Gothic altarpiece in the World,^[89] carved by Veit Stoss. From the church's main tower a trumpet call (hejnał mariacki), is sounded every hour. The melody, which used to announce the opening and closing of city-gates, ends unexpectedly in midstream. According to legend, the tune was played during the 13th-century Tatar invasion by a guard warning citizens against the attack. He was shot by a Tatar archer while playing, the bugle-call breaking off at the moment he died.^[90] The story was recounted in a book published in the late 1920s called The Trumpeter of Krakow, by Eric P. Kelly, which won a Newbery Award.^[91]