"The Capital of the Polish Kingdom" a Krakow Travel Page by csordila

Krakow, the second largest city in Poland was the capital of the Polish kingdom for nearly 600 years. The people of Krakow are citizens of one of nine cities chosen as European cultural capitals for the year 2000, with a recorded history dating back to 965; central Europe's second oldest university; royal seat for six centuries of Polish kings.
The heart of the city is the Town Square, probably the largest square in Europe. The building of Cloth Hall in the middle of Town Square built as a marketplace by the cloth guild during the middle ages. The part-Renaissance, part-Gothic arcades now house cafes, rows of wooden stands selling souvenirs and crafts, and upstairs, the National Museum's picture gallery.

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The Wawel Royal Castle one of the bestknown renaissance architecture in Europe functioned as the residence of the Polish Kings from the mid-11th to the early 17th century, with the kinds of names that make learning history fun: Boleslaus the Bold, Boleslaus the Chaste, Boleslaus the Squintmouth, Ladislaus the Elbow-High.

During the golden renaissance of Polish culture in the 16th century, Krakow was Europe's most populous kingdom, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, harboring a medley of cultures including Poles, Germans, Lithuanians, Jews, Italians and Hungarians -- a veritable Euro-boomtown.

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