The Wawel Cathedral can be considered the most renowned and greatest Polish temple, but on a local scale it is the St. Mary’s Basilica that has always been Kraków’s top church. It’s the city’s main parish church. The cathedral was connected to the authority of the monarch and the bishop, while the St. Mary’s Church was the townsfolk’s temple – everything that went on there, all the architectural changes and other investments, were relying on the common citizens’ money.
The St. Mary’s Basilica is a monumental Gothic building (It represents so called Kraków Gothic with some unique characteristics). It incorporates many side-chapels – a thorough tour of the church takes a couple of hours. Below we’ll just try to focus on a few curiosities that make this place so special.
The church’s placement in respect to the Main Square’s frontage is a bit off – its axis is skewed. Technically speaking it’s not situated on the Main Market Square at all, but rather on St. Mary’s Square. Nevertheless this displacement looks strange to many tourists, but there’s a perfect explanation for it – the church, in its original, Romanesque form, was here before Kraków’s location in 1257 when the Market Square was charted. Thus the irregularity is a testament to the building’s pre-location origin.
The two uneven towers are probably the most prominent features of the basilica. One of the explanations of this phenomenon is the famous legend of two brothers – the builders of the towers. At first the older brother, more skilled in craftsmanship, mentored the younger. However, once he finished his tower first, he was overcame with pride and jealousy, slowly convincing himself that he cannot allow anyone, not even his own kin, to surpass his work. Blinded by fiendish conviction the builder grabbed a knife and killed his sibling. The burden of the crime proved too heavy for him to shoulder and soon he stabbed himself with the very same knife or – according to the other version of the legend – he jumped off the top of his tower. To commemorate these tragic events the lower tower was left unfinished and the knife – the legendary murder weapon – placed on display at Sukiennice.
Another one of Kraków’s curiosities is the Hejnał Mariacki – a trumpet call played at every full hour of every day from the top of the higher tower – Hejnalica (the hejnał tower). Hejnał has a striking characteristic of ending abruptly, unfinished, halfway through a note. There’s another legend explaining why it is so: during the Tatar invasion in 1241, while a guard was sounding the alarm using his trumpet to warn the people of the imminent danger, one of the invaders managed to sneak into the city, make his way near St. Mary’s Church and shot the trumpeter dead with an arrow. Of course the guard was unable to finish the melody and thus it remains since then.
The Veit Stoss altarpiece or so called St. Mary’s Altar – the main altar of the St. Mary’s Basilica is considered the most valuable piece of art in Kraków or even in Poland. It’s the most iconic Gothic altar in all of Europe and possibly also the biggest of its kind. Usually the moment that attracts the greatest number of tourists is the altar’s ceremonial opening which happens every day (except for Sunday) at 11:50. After the pentaptych’s wings spread the main scene can be seen – it’s full of emotion and dynamics, dazzling colors and shapes, flush with gold. It depicts the dormition of the Virgin Mary in the arms of St. James the Elder accompanied by all 12 of the Apostles. The altar piece was commissioned and paid for by Kraków’s townsfolk between 1477 and 1489. Its creator, Veit Stoss from Nuremberg, received an enormous payment equal to the city’s two-year budget. He authors one more work found at St. Mary’s Church – a stone crucifix, one of the so called “speaking” crucifixes of Kraków.
By the side entrance (the one dedicated for tourists’ use) an unusual remnant of the medieval church justice system can be seen – iron shackles used to chain by the neck people who violated the 6th commandment, were rude or seek conflict.
During the season it is possible to climb Hejnalica tower to see the trumpet playing hejnalista in action and admire the marvelous panorama of Kraków.