Kraków market square
| Rynek Główny | |
 Main Square as seen from the tower of the St. Mary's Basilica, with Cloth Hall in its centre, free-standing Town Hall Tower behind it, and the Adam Mickiewicz Monument in the bottom-left
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| Namesake | Rynek |
|---|---|
| Type | Medieval market square |
| Maintained by | Kraków City Council |
| Location | Stare Miasto, Kraków, Poland |
| Coordinates | 50°3′42″N 19°56′14″E / 50.06167°N 19.93722°ECoordinates: 50°3′42″N 19°56′14″E / 50.06167°N 19.93722°E |
The main square (Polish: Rynek Główny [ˈrɨnɛk ˈɡwuvnɨ]) of the Old Town of Kraków, Lesser Poland, is the principal urban space located at the center of the city. It dates back to the 13th century, and at 3.79 ha (9.4 acres) is one of the largest medieval town squares in Europe. The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) lists the square as the best public space in Europe due to its lively street life, and it was a major factor in the inclusion of Kraków as one of the top off-the-beaten-path destinations in the world in 2016.
The main square is a square space surrounded by historic townhouses (kamienice) and churches. The center of the square is dominated by the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), rebuilt in 1555 in the Renaissance style, topped by a beautiful attic or Polish parapet decorated with carved masks. On one side of the cloth hall is the Town Hall Tower (Wieża ratuszowa), on the other the 10th century Church of St. Adalbert and 1898 Adam Mickiewicz Monument. Rising above the square are the Gothic towers of St. Mary's Basilica (Kościół Mariacki). Kraków Main Square does not have a town hall, because it has not survived to the present day.
The main function of the Market Square was commerce. After the city was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1241, the Main Square was rebuilt in 1257 and its commercial role expanded with the Magdeburg rights location of the city by the prince of Kraków, Bolesław V the Chaste. The Main Square was designed in its current state with each side repeating a pattern of three, evenly spaced streets set at right angles to the square. The exception is Grodzka Street which is much older and connects the Main Square with the Wawel Castle. Originally the square was filled with low market stalls and administrative buildings and had a ring road running around it. It was King Casimir III the Great who built the original Gothic Cloth Hall and the town hall that filled nearly a quarter of the square. Kraków was the capital of the Kingdom of Poland and a member of the Hanseatic League and the city flourished as an important European metropolis.
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Wikipedia