The Main Market Square – the main square of the Old Town in Kraków, regular, square, at the intersection of 11 streets, marked out in 1257 north of Okół and its foreground[1]; to the east of the Main Market Square, the Small Market Square was marked out (as an auxiliary market)[2].
The Main Market Square occupies four quarters of the city founded under the Magdeburg Law, delineated in a checkerboard layout; it has the shape of a square of 200 × 200 m, in the southern part adapted to the pre-foundation buildings of Okół[3]. The Royal Route, the main communication route of the medieval town, runs through the market square, leading from St. Florian’s Gate through the Old Town and Okół to the Wawel Royal Castle[3]. On the eastern side, St. Mary’s Square adjoins the market square, surrounding St. Mary’s Church[3].
In the southern part of the market square, at the funnel-shaped outlet of Grodzka Street, there is a small church of St. Adalbert, at the north-eastern corner, on Mariacki Square, there is the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (St. Mary’s Church), the parish church (from 1223). Both temples, originally Romanesque, were founded before the location of Kraków[1][4].
The history of the Market Square dates back to the thirteenth century; is the largest (4 ha in area) square in Kraków, as well as one of the largest markets in Europe (in Poland, the larger ones are in Olecko – over 5.5 ha[5][6] and Latowicz – about 4.3 ha[7], while the markets in Tarnogród and Wrocław are slightly smaller).
On the Main Market Square and in its vicinity there are important monuments – St. Mary’s Church, the Cloth Hall, St. Adalbert’s Church or the Town Hall Tower, the remains of the Town Hall demolished in 1820.
All tenement houses and palaces around the Market Square are centuries-old historic buildings. They house, m.in, the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow and the International Cultural Centre, as well as shops with exclusive goods. The most famous restaurants are Wierzynek (no. 15) and Hawełka – Tetmajerowska (no. 34). Others: Wentzl (no. 19), Redolfi (no. 38) and Under the Sun (no. 43). The Vis a Vis café at No. 29 was a favorite place of Piotr Skrzynecki, the creator of the “Piwnica pod Baranami” cabaret. His figure in a characteristic hat is still present in the café garden of the restaurant.
On the market there are:
Church of St. Adalbert
Town Hall Tower
Cloth
Monument to Adam Mickiewicz
Plaque commemorating Polish’s accession to the European Union
Plaque commemorating the Kościuszko Uprising
Plaque commemorating the Prussian Homage of 1525
Sculpture by Igor Mitoraj
Walenty Badylak’s well.
Around him:
St. Mary’s Church
a number of historic tenement houses
Monument to Piotr Skrzynecki
See also: Non-existent buildings of Krakow’s Main Market Square.
Since the square was built, its level has risen in some places by more than 5 m (from the outside, it is easiest to notice near St. Adalbert’s Church and next to St. Mary’s Church.
In September 2010, the Market Square Underground, a branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow, was opened.
Main article: Underground Market Square in Kraków
Under the market square there are also, m.in, cellars and a mini-archaeological museum in the basement of St. Adalbert’s Church. There is an underground connection between the Town Hall Tower and the Cloth Hall, and below the main hall there is a 100 m long and 5 m high medieval hall. Another space hidden under the surface of the market square in the vicinity of the Cloth Hall is the so-called Rich Stalls (approx. 1200 m²) located on the side of Sienna Street.
In order to increase attractiveness, increase safety and reduce pollution, pedestrian zones and pedestrian and bicycle zones have been introduced on the Main Market Square in Krakow and in the surrounding area.
My name is Eric Clark and I am a world traveler. I have been around the world a few times and decided to help fund my travels by sharing my videos and pictures. I have been to almost every country and would be glad to give tips and pointers. Drop me a note. = )
hey everybody this is Eric Clark’s travel videos and I’m in krackow uh Poland and I’m at uh rinet glowney and it’s a big shopping center here in the center of Oldtown and if you look over my shoulder you can see the tower and all that stuff and there’s another Tower over there but uh in the center of this is this Shopping Square I don’t know shopping building shopping something but it’s pretty amazing but I wanted to read you something else too so let me turn this camera around and I’ll show you the building itself and then I’ll read to you the main square of Les of Oldtown krackow is the principal Urban space located in the center of the city it dates back to the 13th century so 13th century so that’s pretty old um and at roughly 40,000 M it is one of the largest medieval Town squares in all of Europe the projects of public spaces PPS list the square is the best public space in Europe due to its Lively life and has and what is a major factor in the inclusion of crackout as one of the top off-beaten path destinations but anyway I just wanted to show you the shopping center so I’ve already showed you the the park to Oldtown then I showed you Oldtown and now I’m going to show you inside here the shopping building and it’s pretty neat so um and it certainly gets lots of tourists as you will soon soon see and there’s everything in here jewelry and chest boards and all sorts of stuff clothing stuffed animals for kids beads Amber tons of stuff chocolate gold lots of gold lots of Amber if you want to bug in your Amber this is like one of the the biggest tourist Hangouts for sure this in the old square and WW Castle in Schindler’s Factory but I just did that one too yeah it’s crazy bumper to bumper traffic for sure interesting he’s got a sword I guess it’s legal to carry swords here we carry guns in America might as well carry a sword in Poland anyway that’s it and this will dump us out right here at the other end of Oldtown which is pretty uh pretty neat I’ll show you here I’ll show you a good picture and it’s better when it wasn’t under construction but you see this Arch and then you can see the tower pretty spectacular that’s it everybody look how crazy this place is holy crap okay bye everybody