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Dragon, Kings and Castle
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 Every city has its story, and Krakow's
commences in the 7th century with a hero and a dragon: when Krak (the
hero) poisoned the dragon (which was terrorizing the people), the
happily liberated town took his name. That story - immortalized by the
fire-belching look-alike which stands to one
side of Wawel Castle - imaginatively stretches the truth. In reality,
this
area has been settled since the Stone Ages, long before Krak showed up.
Regardless, imagination continued to play a role in Krakow, which grew
from a crossroads trading town into the intellectual and cultural
center of Poland.
 Krakow's first big break came when the first
Polish dynasty relocated
here. Somewhere around the 1030's, the Piast king moved the capital to
Krakow,
and from then until the late 1500's, Krakow flourished. Initially a
typical
fortified town with castle included, Krakow built and built again until
it
could lay claim in the 1300's as one of the most beautiful and
cosmopolitan
of European cities. One Polish king in particular pushed Krakow beyond
the
progressive pale: Kazimierz established Poland's first university here
in
1364, he created a eponymously-named second town where the
newly-welcomed
Jews settled, he straightened out the legal system, and in his spare
time
built a few more architectural gems.
But alas, Krakow suffered a fate similar to Poland itself. Its decline
began when Poland formally teamed up with Lithuania in 1569. The
Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, was a bit too far from Krakow, and the
capital again relocated to the more conveniently placed Warsaw. This
blow was deepened by the Black Plague and the Swedish invasions in the
17th century; both wiped out a fair portion of the population and the
city itself.
 Down, but not out, Krakow revived in the 19th
century. Unlike the rest of
partitioned-Poland, Krakow initially retained pseudo-independence as a
'free
city' (from 1815-46), and even when it lost that, its Austrian masters
proved
rather lenient. Said leniency provided fertile ground for counter
movements:
Krakow nurtured the Polish culture and its rebellious adherents until
Poland
regained independence in 1918.
 That short-lived independence ended in 1939, and
Krakow once more became the capital of (pseudo) Poland under the
guidance of Hans Frank. The oft-told events which followed (which are
respectfully acknowledged, but not included here) stripped the city of
its cultural and intellectual elite, leaving
it fair game for the communism which followed. After the war, the
communists attempted to finish what the Nazis began by industrializing
the region.
The smoke-belching, acid-rain producing Nowa Huta steelworks proved a
failure in this regard, but unfortunately left their polluting taint
across Krakow. But, that time passed, and Krakow has again emerged to
become a center of artistic, cultural, and intellectual life in Europe.
TangoHouse
Bed & Breakfast, Szpitalna 4 Street, 32-024 Krakow
tel: +48 12 429 31 14 -
email:tangohouse@gmail.com
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