One-thousand-year-old Krakow, the erstwhile capital of Poland, is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The entire mediaeval layout of the Old City has been preserved. Some buildings, for instance St. Adalbert's Church on Rynek GÅ‚ówny (the Main Market Square) and St. Andrew's Church in Grodzka Street, date from Poland's early Middle Ages, the 10th and 11th centuries. Krakow is a city of students there are over 100,000 of them studying at 12 universities, thanks to which one of the country's oldest cities is at the same time one of the youngest in spirit. One of Europe's oldest academic institutions, the Jagiellonian University, founded in 1364, is based here.
The heart of the city is the Main Market Square, the largest mediaeval square in Europe. Just as in previous centuries, the cultural, commercial, and public life of Krakow concentrates here. It's the favourite place for street artists, travelling musicians, and pigeons. There are cafes, restaurants, bars, galleries, museums and shops in almost every historic townhouse. In the Cloth Halls (Sukiennice), a historic covered market situated in the centre of the Market Square, there are souvenir stalls selling folk art and amber jewellery, just like in the 13th century.
In the gothic St. Mary's Basilica you can see the largest and one of the most beautiful mediaeval altars in Europe, carved in limewood by Veit Stoss. Besides the Old Town, the Royal Castle on the Wawel Hill has also been registered on the UNESCO list. It was the centre of power and chief residence of the kings of Poland (from the 10th to the 16th century). The Castle, situated on a hill and overlooking the River Vistula, had numerous conversions and additions over the centuries, which resulted in a mixture of styles: Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance.
In the Wawel Castle you can see the largest and most valuable collection of Renaissance arrases (Flemish tapestries) in the world – more than a hundred of them.
But there's one more place in Cracow that is fascinating in every respect. It is Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter, founded in the 14th century as a separate borough. Kazimierz is the world's second largest and most valuable group of Jewish historic buildings after Prague's Josefov. There are synagogues here (the oldest one dating back to the 15th century), small houses and the 16th-century Jewish cemetery.
