Rynek krakowski po lokacji – główne kierunki rozwoju bloku śródrynkowego

Abstract

MAIN MARKET SQUARE IN KRAKOW IN THE POST-CHARTER ERA – THE MAJOR DIRECTIONS OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE CENTRALLY LOCATED BLOCK OF THE PLAZA

The paper deals with alterations to the structures in the centrally located block in Main Market Square (Rynek Główny) in Kraków throughout the part of the Middle Ages spanning from 1257 to the middle of the 16th century. Plotted as a consequence of the Town Charter of 1257, the Square was developed with various structures practically forthwith. The plaza was delineated by the blocks of residential buildings, with the earliest stone and brick structures dating back to 1300. The plaza was designed to include the Romanesque Church of St Adalbert. Situated parallel to each other (following the longitudinal pattern), commercial facilities were erected in the second half of the 13th century. Looking from the east, the facilities included the earliest stone and brick stalls, wooden cloth chambers (situated roughly where the Cloth Hall is now located), and bakers’ market benches (the bread benches). As early as around 1300 the stone and brick Town Hall with tower was built in the south-western section of the Square, while in its south-eastern quarter, near the Church of St Adalbert, the wooden Lead Scales was set up. Diff erently specialized markets functioned in the vicinity of the commercial facilities, the oldest ones being the salt market and the fish market, both established in the north-western part of the plaza. Around the middle of the 14th century (probably ca 1358), during the reign of King Casimir III the Great, new stone and brick cloth chambers were erected in the Square, grouped into four quarters divided by an internal passage intersecting a crossing which actually coincided with the earlier passageway. At that time the Lead Scales was replaced with the stone and brick Great Scales, while the oldest stalls were partially pulled down, with their remaining section extended in an eastward direction. The intensity of the construction works peaked in the late 14th and the early 15th centuries, when the Gothic Cloth Hall was given its final basilican shape with a high market hall built atop the Casimir’s chambers. It was roughly at that time that four quarters of stone and brick Rich Stalls were added to the east of the Cloth Hall, where the 13th century stalls had previously been demolished. Wooden bread benches continued in their location to the west of the Cloth Hall (probably in place of the original ones). The stone and brick Small Scales was built to the east of the Rich Stalls, with the Furriers’ House on the top floor. Plotted around the first quarter of the 15th century, the Gothic Town Hall was considerably expanded during that period. The Town Hall was connected with the Smatruz (a market hall for minor traders). Originally built of wood and situated in an unspecifi ed location, from around the middle of the 15th century onwards the Smatruz was a stone and brick structure neighbouring on the Town Hall. The latest facility erected in Main Market Square was the complex of the Iron Stalls built to the east of the Rich Stalls and mentioned in the records dating back to the first half of the 16th century.