Kraków

• 1. Origins And Medieval Foundations

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  The name Kraków derives from a legendary ruler named Krakus, who supposedly built the city above a cave inhabited by a dragon called Smok Wawelski. The first written record of this name appears in 965, describing the settlement as a notable commercial center controlled by Moravia before being captured by Boleslaus I in 955. Mieszko I took control of the town and incorporated it into the Piast dynasty holdings near the end of his reign. By 1038, Kraków became the seat of Polish monarchs under the Piast dynasty. Brick buildings rose during this era, including the Royal Wawel Castle with St. Felix and Adaukt Rotunda. Romanesque churches such as St. Andrew's Church were constructed alongside a cathedral and a basilica. The Mongol invasion of 1241 sacked and burned the city to the ground. It was rebuilt practically identically based on a new location act introduced in 1257 by high duke Bolesław V the Chaste. This act modeled city rights after Magdeburg law, granting tax benefits and trade privileges to citizens. A third attack occurred in 1287 but was repelled thanks to newly built fortifications. In 1335, King Casimir III the Great declared two western suburbs to be a new city named Kazimierz. Defensive walls were erected around the central section of Kazimierz in 1362. The city rose to prominence in 1364 when Casimir founded the University of Kraków, the second oldest university in Central Europe after Charles University in Prague.

• 2. Golden Age And Renaissance Flourishing

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  The 15th and 16th centuries marked Poland's Golden Age, creating many works of Polish Renaissance art and architecture. Synagogues appeared in Kraków's Jewish quarter located in the north-eastern part of Kazimierz, including the Old Synagogue. During the reign of Casimir IV, various artists came to work and live in Kraków. Johann Haller established a printing press in the city after Kasper Straube had printed the Calendarium Cracoviense, the first work printed in Poland, in 1473. In 1520, the most famous church bell in Poland, named Sigismund Bell after Sigismund I of Poland, was cast by Hans Behem. At that time, Hans Dürer, a younger brother of artist Albrecht Dürer, served as Sigismund's court painter. Hans von Kulmbach made altarpieces for several churches. In 1553, the Kazimierz district council gave the Jewish Qahal a license for the right to build their own interior walls across the western section of existing defensive walls. The walls were expanded again in 1608 due to community growth and an influx of Jews from Bohemia. King Sigismund II Augustus died childless in 1572, causing the Polish throne to pass to Henry III of France and other foreign-based rulers. In 1596, Sigismund III moved the administrative capital of the Polish, Lithuanian Commonwealth from Kraków to Warsaw. The city was destabilized by pillaging during the Swedish invasion in the 1650s, especially during the 1655 siege. A bubonic plague outbreak in 1707 left 20,000 residents dead.

• 3. World War II Occupation And Ghetto

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  Following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in September 1939, Kraków became part of the General Government, a separate administrative region of the Third Reich. On the 26th of October 1939, the Nazi regime set up the District of Kraków, one of four districts within the General Government. That same day, the city became the capital of this administration under Governor-General Hans Frank, who resided in Wawel Castle. Some 56,000 Jews resided in Kraków at the outbreak of World War II, representing almost one-quarter of the total population of about 250,000. By November 1939, the Jewish population had grown to approximately 70,000. German statistics from 1940 indicated over 200,000 Jews lived within the entire Kraków District, comprising more than 5 percent of the district's total population. In November 1939, during an operation known as Aktion Krakau, Germans arrested more than 180 university professors and academics, sending them to Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. The German authorities decided in March 1941 to allocate the suburban neighborhood Podgórze to become Kraków's ghetto. Initially open, the ghettos were generally closed as security tightened. From autumn 1941, the SS developed a policy of extermination through labor. Mass deportations occurred from June to September 1942, with the largest deportation taking place in the first week of June 1942. The ghetto was finally liquidated in March 1943. Roman Polanski survived the Kraków Ghetto while Oskar Schindler selected employees from the ghetto to work in his enamelware factory, saving them from the camps. By September 1943, the last of the Jews from the Kraków Ghetto had been deported.

• 4. Postwar Industrialization And Nowa Huta

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  After World War II, under the Polish People's Republic officially declared in 1952, the intellectual community came under complete political control. Universities lost their printing rights and autonomy. The Stalinist government ordered the construction of the country's largest steel mill in the newly created suburb of Nowa Huta. The creation of the giant Lenin Steelworks sealed Kraków's transformation from a university city into an industrial center. Karol Wojtyła, cardinal archbishop of Kraków from 1964 to 1978, successfully lobbied for permission to build the first churches in the newly industrialized suburbs over two decades. In 1978, the Catholic Church elevated Wojtyła to the papacy as John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in over 450 years. That same year, UNESCO placed Kraków Old Town on the first list of World Heritage Sites. The district of Nowa Huta was built with apartment blocks constructed according to a Stalinist blueprint featuring repetitious courtyards and wide tree-lined avenues. This period in postwar architecture followed by mass-construction of large Panel System apartment blocks outside the city center. The soc-realist center of Nowa Huta is considered a meritorious monument of those times.

• 5. Architectural Heritage And Urban Landscape

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  Kraków provides a showcase setting for historic forms of architecture developed over ten centuries, especially Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles. Renowned artisans from Italy and Germany were brought and sponsored by kings or nobles who contributed to architectural wealth. Brick Gothic manner and countless structural elements such as Renaissance attics with decorative pinnacles became recognizable features. The central core surrounded by Planty Park remains the most prominent example of an old town in Poland, with the medieval street layout still existing. The Gothic Town Hall Tower measuring 70 meters in height remains standing despite the loss of the Ratusz town hall. In the Market Square stands the Gothic St. Mary's Basilica, rebuilt in the 14th century. It features the famous wooden altar carved by Veit Stoss, the largest Gothic altarpiece in the world. A trumpet call sounds every hour from the church's main tower, ending unexpectedly in midstream according to legend. Kazimierz is particularly notable for its many Renaissance buildings and picturesque streets, including the historic Jewish quarter located in the north-eastern part of that district. The last structure at the location of the Pons Regalis bridge was dismantled in 1880 when the northern arm of the river was filled in with earth and rock. 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.

• 6. Modern Economy And Global Recognition

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  Kraków is one of Poland's most important economic centers and the economic hub of the Lesser Poland region. Since the fall of communism, the private sector has been growing steadily. There are about 50 large multinational companies in the city, including Google, Uber, IBM, Shell, UBS, HSBC, Motorola, Aptiv, MAN, General Electric, ABB, Aon, Akamai, Cisco, Hitachi, Altria, Capgemini, and Sabre Holdings. The city is the global headquarters for Comarch, an enterprise software house. According to the World Investment Report 2011 by UNCTAD, Kraków is the most emergent city location for investment in global BPO projects. In 2011, the city budget had a projected revenue of 3,500,000,000 złoty. Primary sources included municipal taxation on real estate properties, transfers from the national budget, and state subsidies. Kraków was named the official European Capital of Culture for the year 2000 by the European Union. In 2013, Kraków was officially approved as a UNESCO City of Literature. The city hosted World Youth Day in 2016 and the European Games in 2023. Unity Tower was completed in 2020 after almost 30 years, creating a new business and residential center. It is the second-tallest building in the city after K1.