Every day we walk through old neighborhoods of Krakow and visit oldest Polish landmarks such as Wawel Castle, Jagiellonian University, St.Mary's Church, Rynek Główny and many, many other historic places. Krakow is one of the oldest cities in Poland; interestingly, it even used to be the capital of Poland. Being a very old city, Krakow has many historic places, which have interesting stories and beautiful legends.
The first settlements in Krakow were on Wawel Hill in the 4th century. There is a legend, which says that Krakow has been ruled by king Krakus - the only ruler who was able to kill dragon Smok Wawelski in order to build the city on the hill. Today the Dragon is displayed at the entrance of Wawel Castle and every couple of minutes Smok lets out a flame of fire.
Krakow's Old Town is Rynek Główny - one of the largest medieval market squares in Europe. There are many different historical landmarks that you can view and visit in the Old Town. However, not many people know that there are also cemeteries just below this fascinating town. In the 11th century, it was popular to accuse people of being vampires and kill them if they looked or behaved differently from the majority. So every time you seat at a cafe in the main square, it is highly possible that there is a "vampire" buried right beneath you :)
Krakow was almost entirely destroyed by the Mongolians and Tatars in the 13th century. According to another legend, when the invaders entered the city, an old watchman saw them from top of the Marian Church and played a melody to warn Krakowians. Unfortunately, the watchman was killed immediately by arrow of the invader. Today, the same melody is played every day and every hour in the main square of Krakow as well transmitted by Radio Krakow every noon. This melody also stops abruptly to remember the death of the watchman and his brave act.
Krakow's Old Town is Rynek Główny - one of the largest medieval market squares in Europe. There are many different historical landmarks that you can view and visit in the Old Town. However, not many people know that there are also cemeteries just below this fascinating town. In the 11th century, it was popular to accuse people of being vampires and kill them if they looked or behaved differently from the majority. So every time you seat at a cafe in the main square, it is highly possible that there is a "vampire" buried right beneath you :)
Krakow was almost entirely destroyed by the Mongolians and Tatars in the 13th century. According to another legend, when the invaders entered the city, an old watchman saw them from top of the Marian Church and played a melody to warn Krakowians. Unfortunately, the watchman was killed immediately by arrow of the invader. Today, the same melody is played every day and every hour in the main square of Krakow as well transmitted by Radio Krakow every noon. This melody also stops abruptly to remember the death of the watchman and his brave act.
Again, there is another legend about the church in which old watchman was killed. Long time ago when the St.Mary's Church was being build, a king asked two brothers to work on the towers of the church. As you can see on the picture to the right, the two towers have different heights. According to the legend, one brother killed another brother, because his tower was much shorter. The murderer killed himself shortly after by jumping from top of the church. The construction was stopped, and until today one tower is still shorter than the other one. Our guide joked that probably there was no money to finish the construction, so this story was created :)
It is impossible to write a short blog post about old Krakow, simply because there is so much history. I strongly encourage everyone who's interested in Poland and Polish history to read about Krakow and its landmarks, to learn all the beautiful stories, legends, and myths, and get closer to Polish fascinating culture and spirit.
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