Sródmiejskie place targowe Krakowa w fotografii ze zbiorów Muzeum Krakowa

Abstrakt

KRAKÓW’S INNER CITY MARKET SQUARES IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE MUSEUM OF KRAKÓW

The market traditions in Kraków reach back to the period before the city’s establishment under Magdeburg law (1257). The earliest, very scarce information on the functioning of market places appeared in chronicle sources, whereas in the subsequent centuries picturesque descriptions there of could be found in memoirs. Market squares were immortalized by painters, and from the middle middle of the 19th century onward, also by photographers. The photos they produced are kept in the holdings of the Museum of Kraków, constituting a highly valuable source for the study of the history of market trade and everyday life in Kraków. Especially the materials illustrating the Main Market Square enable us not only to nd out what a typical market used to look like, but also how it changed over the years. Particularly valuable are the situational photographs showing its everyday functioning. A lot of attention was also paid to recording the market participants – the vendors and the buyers, as well as the stalls and the goods they offered. It is fascinating to trace the evolution of the photographers’ attitude to markets as a theme. In the early photographs market squares were represented merely as insignicant background, whereas over time they were upgraded to become the central object of the photographers’ interest.