Karolina's Kraków: The Main Square

Welcome to Kraków, the city of kings and dragons!

If you pass through St. Florian's Gate, you will find yourself in the Main Square (Rynek Glowny) of Kraków! Here, there are lots of shops and restaurants, just like there have been for hundreds of years. It's also where the Dollmaker had his toy shop (at least in my imagination).

Saint Florian himself, rising up to the heavens...

The Main Square is one of the oldest market squares in all of Europe!

In 1940, the Main Square was renamed Adolf Hitler Platz (Adolf Hitler Place). Many other streets in Kraków were given new names during the German occupation in an attempt to erase Polish language and culture.

Here is St. Mary's Basilica, a Catholic church where the Dollmaker would have gone to pray. It was built all the way back in the 1300s!

The ceiling inside the Basilica looks like a sky full of stars, doesn't it?

Religion was very important to the people of Kraków in the 1930s, which you can see in these photos. The Jewish man on the left is wearing a tallit (prayer shawl) and traditional clothing. The girls on the right are getting ready to go to their First Communion, a special ceremony for young Catholics.

Another one of the Main Square's many sights is the statue of Adam Mickiewicz, a famous Polish poet.

Adam Mickiewicz was so important to the Poles that the Germans destroyed his statue in 1940! It wasn't until 1955 that Adam Mickiewicz was returned to his proper place.

Karolina loves the Main Square! She thinks it's the most beautiful place in the human world. What do you think?