The Tower is the only remaining part of the old Kraków Town Hall demolished in 1820 as part of the city plan to open up the Main Square.
Built of stone and brick at the end of the 14th century, the massive Gothic tower of the early Town Hall stands 70 metres tall and leans just 55 centimetres, the result of a storm in 1703.
The entrance to the tower is guarded by a pair of stone lions carved at the beginning of the 19th century. They were brought to Kraków from the Classicist palace of the Morstin family in Pławowice during the renovations of 1961–1965.
The tower serves as one of many branches of The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków featuring a permanent display of photographs of the Market Square Exhibition.
The mechanism of the clock is controlled by radio waves receiving the signals from the transmitter in Mainfligen, which gives it the accuracy of the atomic time standard. In the event of a power failure, the clock stops and sets back automatically to the correct time when the power is back on.
In 1967, after complex conservation which underlined its gothic ancestry, the object was given to the Historical Museum in Cracow for management of it.
Town Hall Tower in Kraków, Poland is one of the main focal points of the Main Market Square in the Old Town district of Kraków.
Built from limestone and brick, the preserved tower used to be one of the most opulent towers in mediaeval Poland.
The Town Hall Tower is a branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków.
The cellars of the Town Hall housed a prison with its own torture chamber.
The Kraków Cloth Hall, in Lesser Poland, dates to the Renaissance and is one of the city’s most recognizable icons. It is the central feature of the main market square in the Kraków Old Town.
The hall has hosted many distinguished guests over the centuries and is still used to entertain monarchs and dignitaries, such as Charles, Prince of Wales and Emperor Akihito of Japan, who was welcomed here in 2002. In the past, balls were held here, most notably after Prince Józef Poniatowski had briefly liberated the city from the Austrians in 1809.
Kraków Cloth Hall is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978.
The museum was upgraded in 2010 with new technical equipment, storerooms, service spaces as well as improved thematic layout for the display.
During the 1875-1879 refurbishment, the outside arcades and central transepts were added.
The successful renovation of the Cloth Hall, based on a design by Tomasz Pryliński and supervised by Mayor Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz, Sejm Marshal, was one of the most notable achievements of this period.
The Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art was a major cultural venue from the moment it opened on October 7, 1879.
The Wawel Royal Castle is a castle residency located in central Kraków, Poland, and the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world.
In 1978 Wawel was declared the first World Heritage Site as part of the Historic Centre of Kraków.
In 1118 Bishop Maurus was buried in the crypt. The paten and the chalice, buried with the bishop, were later exhumed from his tomb during its accidental discovery in 1938.
The Crown Treasury situated in the historic Gothic rooms which were used from the 15th century on for storing the Polish coronation insignia and Crown Jewels.
In 1921 a statue of Tadeusz Kościuszko sculpted by Leandro Marconi and Antoni Popiel was placed on the ramparts of king Władysław IV Vasa on the northside.
Wawel Royal Castle was Built between the 13th and 14th centuries.
The Wawel Castle used to be a home and a fortress of Polish kings while Krakow was the capital of the country. It has been a pride of the nation and a symbol of the regnant.
A chunk from one of the castle’s columns was incorporated into the upper-left part of the Chicago Tribune Tower’s main entrance. It is a visual tribute to the Polish community in Chicago, which is the largest outside of Poland.
A monumental restoration project was undertaken in the early years of the 20th century and when Poland regained her independence, the castle was converted into a residential museum.
In 1520 the Royal Sigismund Bell was cast, by Hans Behem, in bronze; it is the largest of the five bells hanging in the Sigismund Tower and was named to honour King Sigismund I the Old.
Kraków Old Town was declared the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Poland.
The name of Kraków is traditionally derived from Krakus, the legendary founder of Kraków and a ruler of the tribe of Lechitians.
The University of Krakow was founded in 1364 making it the second oldest university in central Europe.
Kraków’s Market Square is the largest medieval commercial square in Europe.
The official name of the city is the Royal Capital City of Krakow.
The city covers a total area of 327 square kilometres.
The average altitude is 219 meters above sea level.
There are about 40 parks in Kraków including dozens of gardens and forests.
Kraków was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596 and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918.
In 2000, Kraków was named European Capital of Culture.
On 22 June 2019, The European Olympic Committees at the General Assembly in Minsk, Belarus announced that Kraków will host the 2023 edition.
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.
In 2013, Kraków was officially approved as a UNESCO City of Literature.
Kraków lies in the southern part of Poland, on the Vistula River, in a valley at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains.
Kraków is divided into 18 administrative districts, each with a degree of autonomy within its own municipal government.
The city hosted the World Youth Day in July 2016.
There are five nature reserves in Kraków with a total area of 48.6 ha (120 acres).
The Population of Kraków is 774,839, as of 2019.
Kraków is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. On the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Province, the city dates back to the 7th century.
Kraków is twinned, or maintains close relations, with Batu, Indonesia; Bordeaux, France; Bratislava, Slovakia; Budapest, Hungary; Cambridge, Massachusetts, US; Curitiba, Brazil; Cusco, Peru; Edinburgh, Scotland; Fes, Morocco; Florence, Italy; Frankfurt, Germany; Göteborg, Sweden; Grozny, Chechnya; Guadalajara, Mexico; Innsbruck, Austria; Kyiv, Ukraine; La Serena, Chile; Leipzig, Germany; Leuven, Belgium; Lviv, Ukraine; Malang, Indonesia; Milan, Italy; Nuremberg, Germany; Orléans, France; Pécs, Hungary; Quito, Ecuador; Rochester, New York, United States; Rome, Italy; San Francisco, United States; Seville, Spain; Solothurn, Switzerland; Split, Croatia; Tbilisi, Georgia; Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria; Vilnius, Lithuania & Zagreb, Croatia.
