MARIACKI SQUARE

Believe it or not but the present day cozy and nice square used to be a cemetery!

The cemetery was surrounded by a high wall, and it was a place where generations of Kraków residents from the Middle Ages onwards were buried. The termination of this and other church cemeteries followed the decision of the Austrian government at the end of 18th-century to forbid burials within the city. They did so for hygienic reasons and  moved burials further away from densely inhabited areas. In 1803,  the first municipal cemetery, today known as Rakowicki , was opened.

Currently the  Mariacki Square is surrounded but Saint Mary’s Church  Saint Barbara’a Church along with splendid townhouses with lavishly decorated facades .

In the centre of the Square there is a small fountain with a figure made of bronze which is a copy of one of the sculptures from St Mary’s Church made by Veit Stoss. This copy was made in 1958 and is also known under the name of the Student’s Monument.