Krakow

Poland’s major cities were almost totally flattened during World War II. That is clear.  One city, Krakow, however, remained virtually untouched, unharmed.  How could this be?   

Early on in 1939 Krakow peacefully surrendered to Germany.  In turn, the city was named the capital of the newly created Nazi General Government.  The General Government was formed to be the supply base for agricultural products and light industry production supporting Hitler’s war.  Thus, Krakow became an important and protected city in the Nazi war effort.  Plus, Krakow was a beautiful place for the Nazi government to reside and conduct necessary business to keep its armies equipped. 

While the city itself was not brought to ruin, the people suffered under that five-year Nazi occupation, just as they did everywhere else.  People were forced to live under brutal rules, schools were closed, and anyone perceived as capable of causing resistance was sent to work camps, ultimately to death camps. Intellectuals, artists, writers, journalists, and professors were systematically gathered up and sent away.  Only poor, uneducated people were left in the city to labor for the Nazis and follow the rules.   Jews were rounded up and relocated from their homes to a single tiny area known as the Krakow Jewish Ghetto. There they lived as many as 25 to a room, starved, and died of disease.  Later they too were sent to death camps but ironically the educational buildings and museums stood.  We visited the Jagiellonial University where professors were called to a meeting and promised a peek into Germany’s new plans for Polish Education.  One hundred, five professors and 33 lecturers plus several more representatives from other universities filled the meeting hall.  But instead of hearing news on changes to Polish education, they were arrested, and sent to Nazi prison camps 

Quite a sad way to preserve a historic city but it happened.   Krakow was once home to kings and was once the capital of the land.  But Warsaw’s strategic location to trade and defense made it a better capital city choice.  Until 1596, when the capital was moved to Warsaw, Krakow was the center of wealth, government, culture, and the leading center of trade.  By the end of the tenth century, the huge red brick Wawel castle had been built as well as churches, a cathedral, and a basilica.  By 1257, Medieval Krakow had a huge, still one of the largest European market plazas, Rynek Glowny, and a smaller market plaza just on the other side of the long Cloth market.   Stan and I met our bike tour group a couple of days ago there.  The smaller market was where fish, meats and unsavory stuff were traded; everything else was sold and traded at the larger market. 

The plaza is huge, 40,000 square feet, in fact!  And it is a flurry of activity with tourists, children and pigeons. It is lined with cafés, museums, historic landmarks like St. Mary’s Basilica, Church of St. Adalbet, Krzysztofory Palace, pubs, shops, and hotels.  These two squares offer some of the country’s best preserved architectural specimens of the Polish baroque style. 

Also, by the end of the 13^th century, the city (now Old Town) was surrounded by a 1.9-mile defensive wall with 46 towers and seven gates.  Today portions of the wall and the main gate, St. Florian’s Gate, the entry used only by royalty and Krakow Barbican stand much as it did then.  We visited the Barbican yesterday to watch demonstrations of folk-dance by couples dressed in traditional peasant costume.  We watched demonstrations of armored knights in fierce sword and crossbow battle and watched and smelled cabbage and carrots being cooked in an iron kettle over an open fire just as was done in the Middle Ages. 

Visiting the Old Town Krakow is like taking a trip in a time machine.  Many of the streets are cobblestone. Universities, museums, theaters, and great houses that existed prior to WWII are standing and still being used today. In the Middle Ages, Krakow was known for its craftsmen guilds.  Each of the 46 towers in the city wall was protected by one of the guilds. The tower at St. Mary’s Basilica on Rynek Glowny, had a watchman, a bugler. He played the bugle every morning and every night signaling time to open and close the city gates. Played any other time of day signaled approaching danger. Legend says the bugler warned the town when he saw a Mongol army approaching. While he played, saving his city, a Mongol archer shot the bugler in the neck which stopped his tune mid-stream. Today, the firemen’s guild guards the tower, and the bugler is always a fireman. He blows from the tallest window in the tower, on the north, south, east, and west sides every hour of the day. His tune stops abruptly, mid-note to commemorate the watcher who died saving his town long ago. 

There is another interesting legend. Wawel Hill, where the Castle sits, was where the earliest known settlement in the area took place in the 4^th century. Legend says a mythical ruler, Krakus, built the settlement above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski. Knights tried to rid the cave of the dragon, but Krakus cleverly fed it poisoned lamb and killed the dragon. Dragon bones hang just at the entrance to the Wawel Cathedral.   We saw that bone as we entered the cathedral, highly decorated in gold and ebony, with an altar of gold, surrounded by showpiece chapels. No photos were allowed but it was very elaborate and still had wall paintings that have survived since the tenth century. A hall to the left and many steps creaky wooden steps down lead to St. Leonard’s Crypt, containing remains of Polish kings, generals, revolutionaries, and rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To me, it was just a little bit creepy. 

We could not resist seeing the Dragon’s Cave. From the castle grounds, a hundred, thirty-five steps down a spiral staircase led to the cavernous cave 70 feet below. It was a perfect home for a dragon. We could imagine where he or she might have slept. The cave eventually led us outside to the Vistula riverfront. There, a sculpture of the angry dragon lords over the cave’s opening, spewing smoke and orange flames when his angst and ire force him to blast, scaring the children clamoring at his feet.