SQUARE OF SAINT MARY MAGDALENE

Today’s Square of Saint Mary Magdalene is believed to have been the central square and also the market place of the former Okół Settlement

Okół Settlement was an urban settlement located between  present Krakow’s Main Market Square and Wawel Hill  already in the Middle Ages.  The first traces of  the settlement, dated on the basis of finds, date back to the 8th and 9th centuries.

The square  was  replaced by a church devoted to the Saint Mary Magdalene , mentioned for the first time in the first quarter of 14 c, when it was demolished in 1811  the square  came back to its  shape from the past.

Currently there is a column of Peter Skarga, Jesuit priest , in the central part of the square,  which  reminds us that it was on his initiative that the St Peter and Paul Church was built here at the turn of 16/17c.

The Church was the very first example of  a baroque sacral architecture in Krakow and its facade was modelled on the  Roman Jesuit church  Il Jesu.

Neighbouring is the Romanesque church of St Andrew which was built in the 11c and is a pearl of Romanesque sacral architecture in Kraków.

The Square is absolutely amazing fulfilled with history, legends, tradition  and therefore worth to  visit!