Krakow on a lighter note: main square and more

inside gothic church in main square.  main altar was very elaborate and had a sculpted altarpiece with about 9 scenes from the life of the virgin, done in the 1400's, took 12 years to do. was made of beautiful oak and linden wood. was very pretty.

brick and stone tower from town hall. town hall was
unfortunately demolished in 1820 to make more room in the square and only the tower remains. first clock in tower dated 1524

view of gothic basilica. Bazylika Mariacka  with double spires, gothic tower 1478 and smaller renaissance tower 1590

Renaissance stone framework  holding the torah in the Remuh synagogue, which is the smallest of about 6 in the city and one of only two which are still in use. it was under restoration when we visited. it only had about 6 pews in it. Synagogue was built in 1558 

cemetery attached to remuh synagogue, in use from 1551-1800. the curved roofs you can see over some of the graves were added to protect the graves. the nazis destroyed the cemetery but it has been restored and they think there still may be many more graves underground.

pretty baroque architecture leading to main piazza

baroque theatre built in late 1800's

city walls and gate

Barbican for defense, late 15th century, used to be surrounded by a moat

mariacka church

pretty building on main square

lovely outside  colonnade of the "Sukiennice", market for merchants, now used as tourist shops inside. Colonade was added to building much later around 1800's.

outside of Sukiennice built in 1555 and was for merchant trading. you can see the arches under which was the colonnade (above photo)

Krakow's main square called  Rynek Główny dates back to the 13th century. It is huge, 40,000 m2 and is the biggest medieval square in Europe. It at least two churches in it, they may have been a third, the town tower, the merchant building and many other lovely buildings which are now shops or restaurants. there is only one statue of a Polish romantic poet from the 1800's. Very pretty to stroll around in.