Zinar Castle

A showpiece of the city, a pearl of Renaissance architecture, Krakow's oldest "shopping center" - the Cloth Hall is one of the most important historical buildings in Krakow.

The Cloth Hall was one of the most important institutions of the city - trade was concentrated there. The first Cloth Hall, which was built in the 13th century, when Krakow was granted city rights, were two rows of stone stalls creating a street in the middle of the Market Square. Both ends were locked with a grate at night to keep thieves away. The brick, roofed Cloth Hall was built in the 14th century - their traces in the form of pointed arches on the sides are still visible today. Trade in the Sukiennice was an important source of the town's income - according to the royal privilege, visiting cloth merchants could sell their goods only in this place.

No wonder that when the building was consumed by a fire in 1555, its reconstruction was vigorously started . The best architects, artists and craftsmen worked on it, including many Italians who came to Poland after Queen Bona (the wife of King Sigismund I the Old from Italy). At that time, the renovated Cloth Hall gained, among others, a long attic with a decorative frieze and mascarons - grotesque, stylized human heads designed by the outstanding Italian sculptor Santi Gucci. The main hall is divided into two floors. The floor obtained in this way was allocated to the second hall, known as the smatruz. It was intended for trade in various small goods, and the name (from German schmettern) comes from the clamor and noise made by the vendors selling here. Stairs with loggias, located on the shorter sides of the building (designed by Jan Maria Padovano) led to the smatruza.

Over the years, the Cloth Hall, which was not renovated and renovated, lost its splendor. At the end of the 19th century, a dilapidated building, "glued" from the outside with wooden shacks, did not resemble the Renaissance pearl of Krakow in any way. A major renovation was necessary. The building we see today is its effect: the huts were demolished, arcades were added, and a gallery of Polish paintings was arranged in the former smatruza. However, trade has not disappeared from here - the ground-floor hall is still filled with stalls, which today, instead of cloth, put up souvenirs for sale.