The world's arguably oldest shopping
mall has been in business in the middle of Krakow's
central Grand Square (Rynek Glowny)
for 700 years. Circa 1300 a roof was put over two rows of
stalls to form the first Sukiennice building
–
Cloth Hall – where the textile trade
used to go on. It was extended into an imposing Gothic
structure 108 meter long and eight meter wide in the second
half of the 14th century.
The Sukiennice is one of Cracow's most distinctive buildings. It is best approached from Florianska street - down the Royal Way. On arriving at the square the Cloth Hall appears to ripple away before you. It is like some great sleigh that has come to a triumphant halt in the middle of the Rynek. And if the roads were to part wide enough, one can imagine the entire thing gliding off gracefully into the unknown.
The Cloth Hall, as its name suggests, was once a main focus of
Cracow's trade. Merchants would meet here and discuss the state of
business, whilst inside a lively bartering went on. During its heyday,
some five hundred years ago, a rich traffic came in from the East -
spices, silk, leather, wax - and Cracow itself exported textiles, lead
and of course salt from the mines at Wieliczka. Cracow, then a Royal
Capital, was amongst the most magnificent cities in Europe. But this
was not to last. The passing of the golden age was hastened by wars and
political ineptitude. And by the time that restoration was touted for
the Cloth Hall in 1870, much of the Old Town
was decrepit. Yet a change in political fortunes for the Galicians
ushered in a kind of renaissance - the renovation of the Cloth Hall was
one of the master-strokes of this era.
The Cloth Hall has played host to many distinguished guests over the
centuries and it is still used to entertain monarchs and dignitaries to
this day. Both Prince Charles and Emperor Hirohito of Japan were
welcomed here in 2002. In times gone by balls were held there, most
famously after Prince Jozef Poniatowski liberated the city from the Austrians
in 1809. And the mercantile traditions of the hall also live on. Today
it may be slippers and one or two more tourist-oriented items that are
on sale, but its wooden stalls maintain the hum of business as it was in
earlier times.
[ http://www.local-life.com/krakow/articles/clothhall-krakow-sukiennice]
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