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A short long history of Cracow
The Wisla (Vistula) river has its sources in the Beskidy mountains. Before joining the Baltic sea, it will have traversed all the lands and landscapes of Poland. A popular song goes that Wisla, while flowing through the countryside, encountered along its way the city of Cracow. When the river saw "him", "she" fell in love at first sight, and encompassed "him" in a loving embrace forever. The massive white rock of Wawel Hill, rising above the Jurassic plain overlooking Vistulan fens and marshes, formed a natural defensive site for ancient Cracovians. Neolithic tribes were the first to settle here after the Palaeolithic nomads. Since then, the region has been inhabited uninterruptedly, according to archaeological evidence. Cracow was placed at the crossroads of important east-west and north-south trade routes, and maintained a lively commercial relationship with the Roman Empire. It lies along the famous Amber Trail, on which the ancient Roman traders traveled from the Adriatic sea to the Vistulan delta and the Baltic whence they brought the precious honey-coloured stone, bursztyn, or amber -- the petrified sap of coniferous trees. Due to its favourable location, Cracow grew in size and importance. Although the town's oldest surviving monument -- the Krakus mound -- dates back to the 7th century, Cracow's name was first mentioned in writing around the year 965, by a Spanish Jew from Cordoba, Ibrahim Ibn Yaqub. He was one of many merchants from all over the world who came to Cracow to buy salt, copper, silver and other goods produced in the Malopolska province, of which Cracow was the capital. By the end of the first millennium, the year of the founding of the bishopric of Cracow, the town included a Romanesque cathedral, a stone castle and a citadel surrounded by ramparts, all built on Wawel Hill. In the first half of the eleventh century, Cracow officially became the capital of the kingdom, under Kazimierz Odnowiciel (Casimir the Restorer) of the Piast dynasty, the first dynasty of Polish kings. In 1257, under Boleslaw Wstydliwy (Boleslaus the Chaste), Cracow received its town charter and proceeded to draft and execute the plan of the city that has survived to this day. In the mid-thirteenth century, Cracow suffered three consecutive Tartar invasions. Only at the end of that century was the system of ramparts and fortifications erected. Between 1333 and 1370, the ruler occupying the Wawel Castle was the last of Piast dynasty, King Kazimierz Wielki (Casimir the Great), of whom it is said that, "...when he came to the throne, Poland was made of wood; at the close of his reign, it was made of brick". Among his accomplishments was the foundation of the Cracow Academy in 1364 (later called the Jagiellonian University), which is the second oldest in Central Europe after a university in Prague. The King also founded another fortified town on the other side of the river called Kazimierz. That's why the early century engravings of Cracow actually show two cities, Cracovia and Casimirus, each surrounded by its own walls and numerous fortified tower-gates, divided by a branch of the Wisla River which has since dried. The third city of Clepardia, or Florence as it was initially called, stands small outside the walled towns. The niece of Casimir the Great and daughter of the King of Hungary -- Jadwiga -- became the first female King of Poland. At the age of twelve, she married the Lithuanian Grand-Duke, Władyslaw Jagiello. Thus the union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Duchy of Lithuania was formed. The power of the Kingdom grew, and for the first time in its history, Poland's borders reached from the Baltic to the Black Sea. It was under the rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty, in the 15th - 16th centuries, that Cracow experienced its *Golden Age." The town became more than a centre of trade: thanks to the development of the University, endowed by Queen Jadwiga, as well as to a flourishing printing business, it was also a centre of science, culture, and art. It attracted students from all over Central Europe. One of them, perhaps the most famous, was Nicolas Copernicus who studied at the Jagiellonian University between 1491 and 1495. People say that "he stopped the Sun, and moved the Earth..." as he formulated the revolutionary heliocentric theory which negated earlier concepts of the structure of the universe. The Jagiellonian dynasty was connected by marriage with many royal families of Europe, including the houses of Hapsburg, Hohenzollern, and Wasa. Wawel Castle became famous all over Europe. The royal residence was extended and refurbished in the Renaissance style by the Polish King Zygmunt Stary (Sigismundus the Old), which must have felt like home for his future wife, the Italian princess Bona Sforza, a native of Milan. In 1572, due to the lack of a male successor for the throne, Poland's Royal Republic was established, with kings elected by the Parliament. Throughout the 17th century, a new class of Polish gentry (szlachta) acquired many privileges and enjoyed the "Golden Freedom", a partial democracy which unfortunately evolved -- or rather degenerated -- into anarchy. The transfer of the capital to Warsaw in 1609 by King Zygmunt Wasa marked the beginning of the city's decline. Soon afterwards, in 1655, Cracow experienced the Swedish invasion, referred to as the "Deluge." The whole country suffered severely in the two ensuing Swedish wars (1655-60 and 1703-21). Yet the colours of 17th-century Cracow were not all dark. The counter-reformation brought many positive developments, mainly in education. Tolerance was the order of the day: already in 1573, religious freedom was proclaimed and equality of beliefs guaranteed by the Parliament. In Cracow, people of different denominations -- Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish and Islamic -- lived together peacefully. In the 18th century, Poland was gradually partitioned and annexed by its neighbours: Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The Polish struggle for freedom that followed was personified in the figure of General Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Kosciuszko, a Pole fiercely dedicated to the cause for freedom, actually received his military commission for his heroism while fighting with the revolutionary army during the American War of Independence (although his name was quite unpronounceable in that part of the world). Returning to his native Poland after its second partition, he aspired to preserve what remained of Polish sovereignty. On 24 March 1794, in Cracow's Market Square, Kosciuszko proclaimed a national insurrection and vowed to lead the fight for independence and to serve as the leader of the revolutionary government. Near the Town Hall Tower, on the Rynek, the very spot where he stood and gave his famous oath is commemorated with a marble plaque. When Poland finally ceased to exist as an independent state, Cracow was annexed by Austria, the most "flexible" of the three invaders. Cracow became a provincial part of the vast Austro-Hungarian empire, with capital in Vienna; yet at the same time, it remained central to Polish culture, nourishing the strength of its citizens to survive years of occupation. In 1815 the Congress of Vienna created the Republic of Cracow, a relatively "free city." Although the status was lost again after the failure of the Cracow Uprising, more autonomy was regained soon, and Polish language and culture was allowed to develop freely. It flourished especially at the turn of the century. Cracow became Poland's nucleus of national identity and sparked the awakening of the spirit of independence. The last of a series of uprisings restored Poland's sovereignty in 1918. Both the fight for independence, and the new Polish state re-established after 123 years of foreign occupation, were led by Marshall Jozef Pilsudski. His tomb is now in the Wawel crypt, among the tombs of great kings, warriors and statesmen. Unlike most other Polish cities, Cracow was spared the physical destruction of World War II. Nevertheless, this was a tragic period in Cracow's history. Cracow's intellectual and artistic community was virtually decimated. Universities were closed and many professors taken to concentration camps; the city's statues were destroyed, and many valuable works of art robbed. The German governor resided at the Wawel Castle, and the medieval Rynek was renamed Adolf Hitlerplatz. The Jewish community that had enriched the city's life since the middle ages was exterminated by the Nazis. The war had either claimed the lives of or had displaced nearly all of the 70,000 Jews who lived in Cracow before 1939. The period of communism (or "real socialism" as it was often half-mockingly called) also left its mark on Cracow. As a way of punishing the city for its reluctance to accept the totalitarian government, Cracow received the unwelcome *gift" of a steel industry along with the steelworkers' town of Nowa Huta. An infamous creation of socialist ideology and propaganda, this model socialist city was designed to balance the "overly intellectual and bourgeois" Cracow. This idea is reflected in Nowa Huta's urban design and architecture. In the last five decades of its history, Cracow was an important centre of resistance against the communist rule. In the 80s, the town became the stage of political manifestations in which students played a very active part as well as strikes of the workers of Nowa Huta supported by the whole Cracow community. Visits of the Pope John Paul II, former Cracow's bishop, were both an important catalyst and a symptom of the approaching end of the totalitarian regime. Unanimity and determination of the people was felt, when they gathered in hundreds of thousands to hear the truth spoken loudly and clearly. These gatherings charged them with a strong dose of freedom and hope. When the gigantic statue of Lenin, which had been towering over Nowa Huta ever since its establishment, was finally toppled and removed, people saw it as a sure sign that the unsuccessful experiment of communism was over for good. Since the peaceful revolution of 1989, Poland is developing on the strong basis of a democratic government and a free market environment. The transformations of the last decade are reflected in the countenance of the city, which is now brighter and more colourful. Cracow is changing as we speak. On 1 January 1999, the new administrative system of Poland replaced the previous 49 regions with 16 provinces. This reform is aimed at facilitating Poland's entry into the European Community with its strong regional identities. Cracow, which remains the capital of the enlarged Malopolska region, has evolved over a turbulent thousand years into a very Polish, and, at the same time, very cosmopolitan town... You will see for yourselves what it is like these days... Cracow's present is at least as fascinating and rich as its tumultuous past... |