Wielka Waga na Rynku w Krakowie – interpretacja odkryć i próba rekonstrukcji

Abstract

THE GREAT SCALES IN MAIN MARKET SQUARE IN KRAKOW – AN INTERPRETATION OF THE DISCOVERY AND AN ATTEMPT AT A RECONSTRUCTION

The archaeological survey carried out in the eastern section of Main Market Square (Rynek Główny) in Kraków revealed what has remained of the walls of the building of the Great Scales (Wielka Waga). The Great Scales was an institution set up to weigh heavy commodities and metals, mentioned already in 1302, and originally housed by a wooden structure. The stone and brick building was erected either in the mid-14th century, or at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. The earliest expansion of the building was undertaken in the 15th century and continued in the first half of the 16th century. Its conversion into a Mannerist three-storey structure surrounded by one-storey lean-tos took place in the years 1594–1597. From its origins until the period of the Swedish occupation of the city (1655– 1657) the Great Scales also housed a silver melting shop. Following a minor alteration of the inside of the building in the 18th century, in the years 1786–1787 the Great Scales was thoroughly converted into the place called the kamienica Komisji (Commission house). The building was demolished in 1879.