Budynek Małej Wagi na Rynku krakowskim – próba rekonstrukcji

Abstract

THE BUILDING OF THE SMALL SCALES IN MAIN MARKET SQUARE IN KRAKOW – AN ATTEMPT AT A RECONSTRUCTION

In 2005 the relics of the walls of the Small Scales (Mała Waga) were discovered underneath the surface of Main Market Square (Rynek Główny) in Kraków. Situated in the plaza’s eastern section, the Small Scales was not only a building, but also an institution having at its disposal the devices for weighing light commodities in loads of anything below 1 cetnar (Polish hundredweight), wax, or pepper and other spices (as well as such goods as soap, fat, tar, alum, sulphur, or resin, collectively referred to as the ponderabilia). The brick and stone building of the Small Scales was probably constructed in the years 1391–1405, or ca 1405. It was a large structure based on an orthogonal plan, with the Scales on the bottom storey and the Furriers’ House (Smatruz Kuśnierski) on the top storey, and expanded by the bay window units adjacent to the longer elevations. Mentioned in modern written accounts, the cellars presumably date back to the late 15th or the early 16th century. In the 16th century the building was rebuilt, shaped into a structure with a Mannerist attic patterned after the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice); the last phase of the works was concluded in the years 1594–1595. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the exterior of the Small Scales did not undergo any significant alterations, while the inside was further divided into smaller rooms. For some time in the 18th century the Small Scales and a part of its southern extension housed a city tavern called the Skałka. The building of the Small Scales was demolished in 1801.