A walk that makes you fall in love with Krakow! The streets of the Old Town and Kazimierz

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The Old Town in Krakow (Polish: Stare Miasto w Krakowie) is the central historical part of Krakow. Old Krakow was the capital of the Kingdom of Poland from 1038 to 1596. In 1978, the historic center of Krakow, including the Old Town, was one of the first to be included in the list of World Heritage Sites, and in 1994, in accordance with the decree of President Lech Walesa, it was declared a Monument of the History of Poland. The Old Town is part of the territory of the First Stare Miasto. In accordance with the decree of the President of Poland declaring the historic center of Krakow a historical monument, in addition to the Old Town, it included the Wawel, Stradom, Podgórze, Kazimierz, Nowy Świat and Piasek settlements.
Once a separate city, Kazimierz, located south of Wawel, was home to Krakow's Jews for centuries. Today, it is one of the largest tourist attractions in Krakow. The city of Kazimierz was founded in the 14th century by King Casimir the Great to protect the southern borders of the royal city and the then capital of Poland. Its main artery was Krakowska Street, part of the trade route connecting Krakow with Hungary. Soon, monumental churches were built in the city, including the main parish church of Corpus Christi, located next to the market (today's Wolnica Square). The town hall (currently the Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum) and shopping arcades were also built on the market. Kazimierz developed quickly and was considered the second most important city in Poland in the Middle Ages. Its splendor was ended by the Swedish raid in 1655-1657. Finally, in 1800, the city lost its independence and became a district of Krakow. The history of Krakow's Kazimierz is a centuries-old story about the proximity of Christianity and Judaism. Towards the end of the 15th century, an autonomous walled city for Jews resettled from Krakow (“oppidum iudaeorum”) was founded here. Its center was today’s Szeroka Street. Numerous synagogues, Jewish schools, educational institutions and institutions were built around it. For centuries, it was one of the most important Jewish cultural and spiritual centers in Europe. In the 16th century, the famous scholar and rector of the Talmudic Academy, Moshe Isserles, known as Remu, worked here. Today, Jews from all over the world make pilgrimages to his grave, shrouded in the legend of miracles that occurred. The following century, in the attic of the synagogue at 22 Szeroka Street, the learned Rabbi Nathan Spira studied Kabbalah by the light of a small candle. In 1633, the candle went out and the famous Kabbalist died, allegedly from exhaustion. In the 19th century, after being annexed to Krakow, Kazimierz became a centre of Orthodox Judaism and a pilgrimage destination for Jews from all over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1822, the walls surrounding the Jewish quarter were torn down and Jews were allowed to settle throughout Kazimierz. In the 1930s, they constituted a quarter of Krakow's population. As a result of World War II, the city's Jewish community was virtually destroyed. The quarter, devastated after the war, began to revive after the political changes in Poland in 1989. Its atmosphere today is created by galleries and workshops, restaurants, pubs and clubs, hostels and hotels, as well as a popular antique market on Nowa Square. Traces of ancient history are contained in ancient walls, streets and alleys, synagogues and cemeteries, churches, as well as historical monuments that are constantly being discovered. Their memory is preserved by the cultural organizations and associations operating here, as well as the reviving Jewish community.