“Following the Traces of European Identity of Kraków – Underground Tourist
Trail in Main Market Square”
The 1978 decision about the inscription of the historical centre of Kraków on the UNESCO
World Cultural and Natural Heritage List confirmed the unique and extraordinary value of the City, and
was of capital import to the increase in its international rank and its development. The inscription
covers the charter town of Kraków within the limits of the Planty City Park established at the site of
former defensive walls, the royal seat at Wawel, and the medieval town of Kazimierz with Stradom.
Kraków applies for the Jean Paul L’Allier Prize for Heritage as the promoter of the unique
“Following the Traces of European Identity of Kraków – Underground Tourist Trail in Main Market
Square” project. The primary goal of this project is to protect and preserve the cultural heritage
discovered in the very centre of the area inscribed on the UNESCO List with the provision of source
and objective knowledge about the Kraków’s past via the visitors’ interactive contact with the past at
an authentic historical site.
The city authorities made the decision about the reconstruction of the devastated surface of
the Main Market Square in 2001. The works started in 2002 with the renovation of pavements and
roadways around the square, while the final agreements concerning the modernisation of the square
itself were reached in 2003. The works were divided into two stages: the first one involved the
renovation of the surface west of the Cloth Hall, and in the subsequent years works started in the
eastern section of the Market Square. The replacement of the ‘floor’ in this part ended in 2006,
whereas the archaeological research lasted much longer but their findings became one of the
impulses for the establishment of an underground tourist trail. The project of the renovation and
replacement of devastated surface provided the history researchers with the exceptional opportunity to
conduct comprehensive, interdisciplinary research that had never before been carried out at such a
broad scale.
The archaeological works on the eastern side of the Main Market Square started in the
summer of 2005 and were planned to last six months, but the scale and rank of discoveries caused
that they lasted 5 years, which should not be a surprise considering the fact that the archaeological
layers of the Market Square tell the thousand-year history of the City. It was decided to present the
findings of this extremely interesting research to the public and establish the world’s unique museum
in the vaults of the Market Square that would combine archaeological objects and multimedia
presentations with the use of the latest technological achievements.
The excavations uncovered the relics of stone commercial stalls from the end of the 13th
century, the Rich Stalls (Kramy Bogate), Small Scale (Mała Waga) and Large Scale (Wielka Waga)
from the 14th century, as well as fragments of hardened surfaces and cobbled streets bordered by
wooden kerbs, and relics of wooden log huts from before the location of Kraków. In the course of the
whole period of excavations early medieval burial grounds were also being unearthed. In addition,
there was found a large group of archaeological objects from the Middle Ages: coins, tiles, slices of
copper, grindstones, ceramic dishes, playing dices, clay horses (toys), rings, tanned leather and other
items of everyday use. One of the most precious findings that is unique at a European scale is an
intact loaf of lead with the stamps of King Władysław the Elbow-high (from the beginning of the 14th
century).
In 2006 the archaeological excavation site was secured by covering it with a reinforced
concrete plate supported on pillars and by laying a surface on it. From 2007 systematic conservation
works were being conducted in the vaults, and the construction and installation executive works were
started in August of 2009 in order to establish the museum tourist trail. They were completed in July of
2010.
On the floor area of 4,000 square metres and more than 4 m underneath the surface of one of
the largest and most beautiful squares of contemporary Europe (the largest market square in the
Middle Ages), there was created a unique archaeological park in terms of exhibition and cognition. The
“Following the Traces of European Identity of Kraków” exhibition is a multimedia spectacle and a
journey through time. The visitors can not only see but also touch history dating back to the City’s
origins. The exhibition displays the Europe’s unparalleled cross-section of the huge, busy medieval
Kraków, and the found objects bear the testimony to the continuity of trade that has been continually
present here for over 800 years.
The exhibition, where the visitors are led around the Cloth Hall via lighted paths, glass ramps
and footbridges suspended over medieval tracts, is divided into four parts:
Part I Archaeological and architectural reserve in the vaults of the Main Market Square
The reserve exhibits relics of the old market buildings, earth structures, historical roads and other
archaeological objects. These, for example, are:
- Oldest trade structures, the so-called Boleslaus’ Stalls (Kramy Bolesławowe) (from the 2nd half of the
13th century), basements of cloth stalls in today’s building of the Cloth Hall (mid 14 th century), the Rich
Stalls (from the 2nd half of the 14th century), the vaults of the Large Scale (display in preparation);
- Relics of pre-charter settlement from the 12th century that was destroyed by the fire during the
Mongol raid in 1241;
- Fragments of cobbled streets (from the end of the 13 th century to the 16th century) with wooden kerbs
and profiled gutters;
- Soil profiles with visible cross-sections of layers illustrating the gradual process of raising the level of
the Market Square;
- Reconstruction of a fragment of a small burial ground from the 11th century.
Part II Virtual and physical reconstructions of the architectural and urban space of the
Kraków’s Market Square
The goal of this part of exhibition is to clearly present the results of scientific research with the help of
multimedia presentations and installations (holograms, scanners, laser projections, 3D visualisations,
etc.), and to attempt to take the visitors to medieval Kraków with the use of acoustic effects. The stone
relics of buildings feature physical reconstructions, for example, of trade goods storehouse,
merchant’s counter, etc., and thematic showcases with objects unearthed during the archaeological
research. In the central part of the display one can see a mock-up of medieval Kraków.
Part III Kraków’s trade from the 13th to the 18th century
The far-reaching trade of Kraków, with special emphasis given to the role of City as a place of transit
trade in lead, salt and cloth in the 14th to 16th centuries, is the main subject of Part III of the exhibition
presented mostly on touch screens in the attractive form of an interactive digital map that uses the
latest techniques of computer graphics.
Part IV Forum Polonorum – Kraków’s Market Square in the history of the Polish nation
The so-called time capsule were installed in the basement of the Cloth Hall to show feature films
concerning various aspects of life in the Market Square in the European and local dimensions, namely:
- Ingresses and triumphs. Market Square as a part of Via Regia;
- In the service of Homeland. Market Square as a place of important patriotic events;
- Homages. Market Square as a place of important political events;
- Justice. Market Square as a place of justice administration;
- Fun and picnics. Market Square as a place of fun.
In addition, the tourist trail in the vaults of the Market Square is completed by films illustrating
the origins of Kraków, transformations of the urban planning complex of the Kraków’s Main Market
Square from the Great Location in 1257 to the present, and invoking the past architecture of the City.
Another important element of the exhibition includes computer reconstructions of non-existent
or reconstructed market buildings, and computer animations thematically related to them with the use
of 3D reconstructions and digital models, as well as mock-ups. In this way the following items are
presented: churches, administration and judiciary buildings (Town Hall, Notary’s House), trade
buildings (Stalls, Cloth Hall, Small Scale and Large Scale), residential buildings, roads and channels,
etc.
The underground museum in figures includes: 700 archaeological objects, 500 electronic
representations of historical objects, 8 animated films, 5 documentaries, 7 mannequins and mock-ups,
600 3D digital reconstructions, 30 multimedia posts, 25 showcases, 64 digital cameras, 25 plasma
screens, 13 LCD screens, 104 players, 160 signal converters, 27 multimedia projectors, 37 touch
screens, 190 steps – projection screen, 3 metres – steam screen, 98 loudspeakers, 28,000 m of
cables, 5 holograms, and 150 audio books.
The execution of the City’s “Following the Trades of European Identity of Kraków – Tourist
Trail in the Vaults of Main Market Square” project cost about PLN 52 million, where PLN 36 million
came from the budget of the City of Kraków and PLN 16 million was provided by external resources
(including resources from the European Union). The investor was a city unit: Public Utility and
Transportation Infrastructure Administrator (Zarząd Infrastruktury Komunalnej i Transportu). The
concept of the tourist trail was prepared by the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków which later
became its operator. The official launch of the exhibition by the Mayor of the City of Kraków took place
on the 24th of September 2010. On this day Kraków inhabitants and tourists visiting the City in great
numbers could visit the exhibition till 2 AM. From the 24th of September 2010 to the end of August
2011 the Underground Market Square was visited by over 385,000 people, and it still enjoys unabated
interest which can be evidenced by reservations made several weeks in advance.
Preserved underground, the remains of the oldest secular buildings of Kraków – together with
medieval cobbled streets, uncovered walls of the Small Scale and the whole row of the Rich Stalls, a
kind of shopping centre where medieval merchants would sell luxury goods like expensive fabrics,
gold and jewellery – became the basis of imagination-stirring presentation.
The Kraków’s Market Square is a unique place saturated in materials, symbolical and
aesthetic values. Marked out in mid 13the century, it became the main public space of the City and for
centuries has invariably remained the heart of Kraków till the present day. The idea of a tourist trail in
its vaults was subordinated to the primary goal of protecting the unearthed objects of material and
immaterial culture that form such a vital part of the common and universal heritage considered both in
the Polish and supra-regional context. The exhibition in the vaults of the Main Market Square offers
source knowledge about the City’s past, having social, upbringing, educational and patriotic
dimensions. The comprehensive archaeological, anthropological, geological and other research
conducted in the course of excavations contributed to the expansion of knowledge about the history
and changes of life of the Kraków’s society. At the same time, the exhibition provides the visitors with
the opportunity of having a creative, independent and interactive contact with the past at an authentic
historical site.
The execution of the “Following the Traces of European Identity of Kraków – Tourist Trail in
the Vaults of Main Market Square” project that imparts the universal values of the historical centre of
Kraków and present cultural heritage fully deserves recognition at an international arena.