Kraków’s Cultural Heritage

In 992, Bolesław Chrobry (Boleslaus the Brave, later the first king of Poland), son of the founder of the Piast dynasty Mieszko I, took the rule in Kraków. Under his reign, the city quickly grew to become one of the main strongholds in Poland. Wawel Castle was the centre of secular and ecclesiastical power and the seat of the duke and the Bishop of Kraków. The key moment in this relationship was the conflict between King Bolesław Śmiały (Boleslaus the Bold, or the Generous) and Bishop Stanisław came to a bloody end in 1079: the bishop was said to have been plotting against the king’s rule, so the king sentenced him to death by dismemberment. This marked the beginning of the cult of the bishop; his relics were laid to rest in Wawel Cathedral, and St. Stanisław has been one of the most important figures of the Polish Catholic Church since his canonisation in 1253. His intervention led to the unification of the kingdom after it was broken up into provinces by Władysław Łokietek (Ladislaus the Short) – the first king to have been crowned at Wawel in 1320.

In 1333, King Casimir the Great ascended to the throne as the last ruler of the Piast dynasty. He was said to have “found Poland built of wood and left it built of brick”, and Kraków developed rapidly under his reign. In 1335, he founded the town of Kazimierz as a satellite of Kraków; its layout closely following that of its big brother’s with a large market square and proud town hall. Kazimierz soon became home to Jews who were being expelled from Kraków.

In the meantime, Kraków was one of the most important metropolises in Europe. In 1364, the city hosted a congress of monarchs and princes from all over the continent to discuss issues of political balance in Central Europe and the growing threat from Turkey. They attended a splendid feast thrown for the noble visitors by local councilman Mikołaj Wierzynek; a fine dining restaurant bearing his name in memory of the banquet now stands at the Main Market Square.

Wawel Castle and the Main Market Square were both symbolic locations in the rapidly growing city and settings of some of the most important events in Poland’s history. Albert of Prussia, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, pledged a personal oath to King Sigismund I at the Main Market Square in 1525. Kraków was home to acclaimed architects and artists: the Nuremberg master Veit Stoss designed and built the altarpiece at the Basilica of St. Mary (1477–1489), the Cloth Hall was rebuilt in the second half of the 16th century in a Renaissance style with loggias designed by Giovanni Maria Padovano from Italy, while Wawel Cathedral and Castle were regularly expanded; they owe their Renaissance style to the Florentine architect Bartolomeo Berrecci. Wawel Royal Court was a centre of Renaissance culture with Italian traditions, mainly thanks to the efforts of Queen Bona Sforza. In any case, monarchs didn’t just turn their attention to the south: King Sigismund II Augustus commissioned a cycle of 160 arrases to decorate the castle in Brussels.

The golden age came to an end when the royal court moved to Warsaw at the turn of the 17th century, even though Kraków remained the seat of coronations until the 18th century. The Swedish deluge (1655–1657) swept through the city, with the invaders bringing sacking and devastation. Many priceless artworks and antique fittings were lost or destroyed, with further destruction coming with the Swedish occupation of Kraków in the early 18th century, during which Wawel Caste was ravaged by fire. Many wealthy Cracovians abandoned the city in the wake of the first partition of Poland in 1772. The city found itself under Prussian occupation, and following the third and last partition it fell under Austrian rule, becoming the second city of the Galicia province whose capital was Lwów. The Austrian occupation left its mark on Wawel, which was partly rebuild in order to house army barracks and hospital.

During the partitions and occupation, Kraków served as Poland’s spiritual capital. Wawel Cathedral was a powerful reminder of Poland’s former glory and became a symbol of the nation’s infallibility. In his drama “Liberation” (1902), Stanisław Wyspiański wrote: “here everything is Poland; each stone and crumb, and anyone who steps in here becomes a part of Poland, a part of its construction”. The cathedral, which had previously been the site of burial of Poland’s monarchs, became a necropolis to national heroes, including Prince Józef Poniatowski and Tadeusz Kościuszko, and the bards Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki.

The turn of the 20th century saw a flourishing in historical painting and the birth of the Young Poland movement. The boom in Kraków’s culture around 1900 can be compared to that of the 16th century. Jan Matejko brought Polish history to the canvas by creating monumental, histotrophic presentations of the nation’s past greatness and unfulfilled dreams; his paintings show the core of the reasons, course and outcomes of past events. Between 1889 and 1891, Matejko also worked on the major repainting of the interiors of the Basilica of St. Mary, starting by removing deposits of paint dating back to the Baroque period. He was assisted in his work on the polychromies and stained-glass windows by Stanisław Wyspiański and Józef Mehoffer, students at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków of which he was rector.

The 19th century brought major changes to Kraków’s historic centre following the decision to demolish the Town Hall, fill in the moat and pull down the city walls marking the boundary of the strict centre; the latter two were replaced by the Planty Garden Ring (1822–1830). At around the same time (1820–1823), work was conducted on building a new mound commemorating Tadeusz Kościuszko, hero of Poland’s struggles for freedom and independence, on Św. Bronisławy Hill.

Kraków also started to rapidly expand its territory: between 1910 and 1915, Mayor of Kraków Juliusz Leo started development plans involving incorporating neighbouring villages into the city and

In 1949, construction started on Nowa Huta – the largest steelworks plan in communist Poland with an adjoining independent city. Nowa Huta was designed around concepts of a utopian ideal city and a garden city, and it became a district of Kraków in 1951.

In spite of difficulties and limitations imposed by the regime, Kraków’s cultural life flourished: the cabaret in the cellars of the Pod Baranami Palace was the focal point of the city’s bohemian circles, Tadeusz Kantor founded his avantgarde theatre Cricot 2, and Kraków was home to authors Wisława Szymborska and Stanisław Lem and artists working as part of the Second Kraków Group. In 1979, the National Museum presented the exhibition “Self-Portrait of Poles” – visiting it was seen as an expression of patriotism.