Main Market Square
The Main Market Square is of Krakow's showcase, gathering what is most characteristic and most recognisable.
The main city square was laid out during Krakow's founding in the Magdeburg Law in 1257. It was created at the intersection of ancient trade routes, on a square the side of which is slightly more than 200 m Since its founding, it has served as the centre of social and political life, and has also been the backdrop for great historical events. The Main Market Square is of Krakow's showcase, gathering what is most characteristic and most recognisable: The Cloth Hall, St. Mary's Church, the Town Hall Tower, the monument to the Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz, pigeons, florists and the bugle call played consistently for centuries every hour from the tower of St. Mary's...
From the Market Square – the largest mediaeval town square in Europe – propagate perpendicular streets, laid out in the 13th century, when Krakow received its municipal rights. Along with intersecting cross streets, they form a distinctive, regular chessboard layout. The trained eye will notice, however, disturbances in this order – traces of the vibrant life here before. The oldest and the subsequent history of the city can be understood thanks to the underground exhibition organised under the Main Market Square in the form of an archaeological reserve in a multimedia setting.