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Cracow
Cracow, the former capital of Poland, was established as the junction of trade routes. Cracow is named after a tribal ruler called Krakus. According to legend, Krakus established a fortified castle on the left bank of the Vistula river. The oldest description of Cracow was written by a traveller and tradesman named Ibrahim Ibn Jakub in 965. A bishopric, Cracow was established in 1000. In 1083, during the reign of the Piast Dynasty, the royal capital was transferred from Gniezno to Cracow. For over five centuries, until the capital was moved to Warsaw in 1596, all Polish Kings were crowned and laid to rest in Kraków.
In 1241 Cracow was destroyed after the Tatar invasion. During the reconstruction a chessboard arrangement of the streets and the main market was traced out. The main market square is the largest existing medieval square in Europe. In 1364 King Casimir the Great founded the University - the first one in Poland, the second in central Europe. Later this university was supported by Queen Jadwiga and King Wladyslaw Jagiello and was named Jagiellonian University after him. The end of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were periods of splendid development of Cracow. It was the capital of one of the largest countries of Europe. The Swedish invasion in the mid-17th centuries started the gradual decline of the city which was completed by the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century. In 1794 the national rising under Tadeusz Kosciuszko began in Cracow. Following the third partition in 1795, Cracow was occupied by Austria. At the beginning of the 19th century the city was a part of the Duchy of Warsaw, and from 1815 became an independent Cracow Republic until 1846 (when it was incorporated again into Austria).
The city regained freedom and independance in 1918. During the Nazi occupation and liberation of the city in 1945 Cracow was saved from destruction. Recently UNESCO recognized the Old City of Cracow as a "world heritage" site.
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