Kraków - Wawel

A legend attributes Kraków's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski. The first written record dates to 965, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial center captured by a Bohemian duke Boleslaus I in 955. The first ruler of Poland, Mieszko I, took Kraków from the Bohemians.

In 1038, Kraków became the seat of the Polish government. By the end of the 10th century, the city was a center of trade. Brick buildings were constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle. The city was sacked and burned during the Mongol invasion of 1241. It was rebuilt and incorporated in 1257 by Bolesław V the Chaste who introduced city rights. In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols. The third attack in 1287 was repelled thanks in part to the newly built fortifications.

The city rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III founded the University of Kraków, the second oldest university in central Europe. But after Casimir´s death in 1370 the campus did not get completed.

As the capital of the Kingdom of Poland and a member of the Hanseatic League, the city attracted craftsmen from abroad, guilds as science and the arts began to flourish. The 15th and 16th centuries are known as Poland's "Złoty Wiek" (Golden Age).

After childless King Sigismund II had died in 1572, the Polish throne passed to Henry III of France and then to other foreign-based rulers in rapid succession, causing a decline in the city's importance that was worsened by pillaging during the Swedish invasion and by an outbreak of bubonic plague that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. In 1596, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa moved the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Kraków to Warsaw.
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The Wawel Hill has been the seat of secular and ecclesiastical power since the early Middle Ages. Mieszko I the first historical ruler and creator of the Polish state, chose the hill as the site of one of his residences. His baptism in 966 brought Poland into the orbit of Western culture. The bishopric of Krakow was established in 1000 and the first cathedral on Wawel Hill was built.

Wawel experienced its golden age from the 14th through the 16th centuries under the last Piast kings and the Jagiellon dynasty. The Jagiellonian kings Alexander I, Sigismund I, and Sigismund II transformed the now too small medieval castle into a fine Renaissance palace.

Wawel’s significance began to wane when Sigismund III Vasa moved his court to Warsaw in 1609–1611. It remained a royal residence and the cathedral continued to be the site of the coronations and burials of Poland’s kings. The years brought a slow but steady decline. The castle was sacked and looted during the Swedish Deluge. The final blow came in the 18th century with the partitions of Poland; in 1796 the castle was converted into barracks for the Austrian army.

A restoration was undertaken in the early years of the 20th century and when Poland regained her independence, the castle was converted into a residential museum.

The Wawel Cathedral is to the left.