A thousand years in one place
Kraków was the capital of Poland for five hundred years, and then for two hundred years a city that remembered it had been. What you see in the streets today is the result of a handful of dates that changed everything. Here they are.
- 965
First mention
The Arab merchant Ibrahim ibn Yaqub describes Kraków as an important trading stronghold on the road to Prague. The town already existed long before: people lived on Wawel Hill in the Stone Age.
- 1000
The bishopric
At the Congress of Gniezno the bishopric of Kraków is founded. The first cathedral rises on Wawel.
- 1038
The capital
Casimir the Restorer moves the seat of the rulers to Kraków. The city will be the capital for the next five and a half centuries.
- 1241
The Tatars
The Mongol invasion destroys the city. According to legend this is when the trumpeter dies whose hejnał breaks off to this day.
- 1257
The charter
Bolesław the Chaste grants Kraków Magdeburg law and lays out the Market Square, 200 by 200 metres, the largest in Europe. The street plan of that day still exists.
- 1364
The university
Casimir the Great founds the Kraków Academy, the second in Central Europe after Prague. The same year, at Wierzynek's feast, the emperor and five kings are his guests.
- 1386
The Jagiellonians
The marriage of Jadwiga and Jagiełło in Wawel Cathedral unites Poland with Lithuania. The golden age begins: Kraków becomes one of the most important cities in Europe.
- 1495
Jews in Kazimierz
King John Albert moves Kraków's Jews to the neighbouring town of Kazimierz. For the next 450 years it will be one of the centres of Jewish life in Europe.
- 1596
The court leaves
Sigismund III Vasa moves the court to Warsaw. Kraków formally remains the capital, the place of royal coronations and funerals, but power is now elsewhere.
- 1655
The Deluge
The Swedes capture and plunder the city. Kraków, no longer the capital, sinks into a crisis lasting a century and a half.
- 1794
Kościuszko
On the Market Square Tadeusz Kościuszko takes his oath and begins the uprising. A year later Poland disappears from the map and Kraków comes under Austrian rule.
- 1815
The Free City
The Congress of Vienna creates the Republic of Kraków, a tiny independent state. It lasts 31 years; in that time the Planty and the Kościuszko Mound are created.
- 1850
The great fire
Fire destroys a large part of the Old Town, including the Dominican and Franciscan churches. The rebuilding gives the city its present appearance.
- 1867
Autonomy
Galicia gains autonomy. Kraków, under Austrian rule, becomes the Polish capital of culture: Matejko, Wyspiański and Malczewski work here, and Young Poland is born.
- 1918
Independence
On 31 October Kraków is the first Polish city to free itself from the partitioning power, twelve days before Warsaw.
- 1939
Occupation
The Germans make Kraków the capital of the General Government. University professors are deported to camps, Jews confined to the ghetto in Podgórze, and in 1943 the ghetto is liquidated. The city survives without destruction.
- 1949
Nowa Huta
The communist authorities build a workers' city with a steelworks next to Kraków. It is meant as a counterweight to intellectual Kraków; it will become a centre of resistance.
- 1978
The year of miracles
The Old Town is placed on the first UNESCO World Heritage list, and the Archbishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyła, becomes pope.
- 2000
Capital of culture
Kraków is European Capital of Culture. Twenty years begin in which it becomes one of the most visited cities in Europe.
- 2016
World Youth Day
Pope Francis and more than two million young people from all over the world come to Kraków. The largest event in the city's history.
If you want to see this history with your own eyes, start with the Royal Route in the walking app: from the Barbican to Wawel, the way the kings rode. Walking app
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