Medieval and Manuscripts

Kraków

Kraków, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 816,614 (2025), with 1,428,363 people living in the Kraków metropolitan area. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish economic, academic, cultural, and artistic life. Its Old Town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, one of the world's first sites granted the status. The city began as a fortified settlement on Wawel Hill around the 8th century. In 1038, it became the seat of Polish monarchs from the Piast dynasty, and subsequently served as the centre of administration under Jagiellonian kings and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until the late 16th century, when Sigismund III transferred his royal court to Warsaw. With the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918, Kraków reaffirmed its role as the nucleus of a national spirit. After the invasion of Poland, at the start of World War II, the newly defined Distrikt Krakau became the seat of Nazi Germany's General Government. The Jewish population was forced into the Kraków Ghetto, a walled zone from where they were sent to Nazi extermination camps such as the nearby Auschwitz, and Nazi concentration camps like Płaszów. However, the city was spared from destruction. In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. The Old Town and historic centre of Kraków, along with the nearby Wieliczka Salt Mine, are Poland's first World Heritage Sites. Its extensive cultural and architectural legacy across the epochs of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture includes Wawel Cathedral and Wawel Royal Castle on the banks of the Vistula, St. Mary's Basilica, Saints Peter and Paul Church, and the largest medieval market square in Europe, Rynek Główny. Kraków is home to Jagiellonian University, one of the oldest universities in the world and often considered Poland's most reputable academic institution of higher learning.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Glastonbury
• ▸Argyroxiphium
• ▸Church of Saint Mark, Belgrade

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.