Krakow

Sister cities

• Fez
• Solothurn
• Gothenburg Municipality
• Rochester
• Pécs
• Lviv
• Vilnius
• Quito
• Nuremberg
• Leipzig
• Florence
• Kyiv

History

The earliest evidence human settlement in Kraków comes from the Stone Age on the present site of the Wawel Hill. Kraków began as a fortified settlement of the Vistulans, a Lechitic tribe, around the 8th century. A legend attributes Kraków's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski. The first written record of the city's name dates back to 965, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial centre controlled by Moravia (876–879), but captured by a Bohemian duke Boleslaus I in 955. In 1038, Kraków became the seat of the Polish government. It was rebuilt practically identically, based on new location act and incorporated in 1257 by the high duke Bolesław V the Chaste who following the example of Wrocław, introduced city rights modelled on the Magdeburg law allowing for tax benefits and new trade privileges for the citizens. In 1335, King Casimir III the Great () declared the two western suburbs to be a new city named after him, Kazimierz (). The defensive walls were erected around the central section of Kazimierz in 1362, and a plot was set aside for the Augustinian order next to Skałka. businesses, and guilds as science and the arts began to flourish. The 15th and 16th centuries were known as Poland's or Golden Age. Later in 1707, the city underwent an outbreak of bubonic plague that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. Already weakened during the 18th century, by the mid-1790s the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had twice been partitioned by its neighbors: Russia, the Habsburg empire and Prussia. From 1796 to 1809, the population of the city rose from 22,000 to 26,000 with an increasing percentage of nobles and officials. Kraków was also an influential centre of Jewish spiritual life, with all its…

Geography

Kraków lies in the southern part of Poland, on the Vistula River, approximately above sea level. The city is located on the border between different physiographic regions: the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland in the north-western parts of the city, the Małopolska Upland in the north-east, the Sandomierz Basin (east) and the Western Beskidian Foothills of the Carpathians (south). There are five nature reserves in Kraków, with a combined area of ca. . Due to their ecological value, these areas are legally protected. but with winter temperatures on average still below freezing, it is perhaps best defined as having a semicontinental climate. In older reference periods it was classified as a warm summer continental climate (Dfb). By classification of Wincenty Okołowicz, it has a warm temperate climate in the centre of continental Europe with the "fusion" of different features. Due to its geographic location, the city may be under marine influence, sometimes Arctic influence, but without direct influence, giving the city variable meteorological conditions over short spaces of time. The city lies in proximity to the Tatra Mountains and there are often occurrences of a foehn wind called halny, causing temperatures to rise rapidly. In relation to Warsaw, temperatures are very similar for most of the year, except that in the colder months southern Poland has a larger daily temperature range, more moderate winds, generally more rainy days and with greater chances of clear skies on average, especially in winter. The higher sun angle also allows for a longer growing season. In addition, for older data there was less sun than the capital of the country, about 30 minutes daily per year, but both have small differences in relative humidity and the direction of the winds is northeast.…

Most-observed species

• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,181
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,880
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,542
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,530
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,013
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,977
• Western Jackdaw

  Coloeus monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,940
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,841

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2025-04-29
  4 km WSW of Bytom, Poland
• M 3 — 2023-10-04
  2 km W of Murcki, Poland
• M 2.7 — 2022-04-23
  4 km NE of ?wierklany Górne, Poland
• M 4.2 — 2022-02-07
  4 km ESE of Katowice, Poland
• M 4.2 — 2020-01-13
  2 km SSW of Orzesze, Poland
• M 2.8 — 2019-10-03
  3 km SE of Paniówki, Poland