Kraków Old Town

關於

Old Town (Polish: Stare Miasto) is the oldest, historic part of the city of Kraków within the Planty Park, Poland.

It is one of the most famous old areas in Poland today and was the centre of Poland's political life from 1038 until King Sigismund III Vasa relocated his court to Warsaw in 1596.

The entire medieval old town is among the first sites chosen for the UNESCO's original World Heritage List, as part of the Historic Centre of Kraków. The old town is also one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (Pomnik historii) chosen in the first round, as designated 16 September 1994, and tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland.

The Old Town is known in Polish as Stare Miasto. It is part of the city's first administrative district which is also named "Stare Miasto", although it covers a wider area than the Old Town itself.

Medieval Kraków was surrounded by a 3 km (1.9 mi) defensive wall complete with 46 towers and seven main entrances leading through them. The fortifications around the Old Town were erected over the course of two centuries. The current architectural plan of Stare Miasto – the 13th-century merchants' town – was drawn up in 1257 after the destruction of the city during the Tatar invasions of 1241 followed by raids of 1259 and repelled in 1287. The district features the centrally located Main Market Square (Rynek Główny), the largest medieval town square of any European city. There is a number of historic landmarks in its vicinity, such as St. Mary's Basilica (Kościół Mariacki), Church of St. Wojciech (St. Adalbert's), Church of St. Barbara, as well as other national treasures. At the centre of the plaza, surrounded by kamienice (tenement houses) and noble residences, stands the Renaissance cloth hall Sukiennice (currently housing gift shops, restaurants and merchant stalls) with the National Gallery of Art upstairs. It is flanked by the Town Hall Tower (Wieża ratuszowa).

內容改寫自 Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。照片來自 Wikimedia Commons.