page_title: Districts of Kraków
section_title: Stare Miasto
hierarchical_section_title: Districts of Kraków / Stare Miasto
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Zamek na Wawelu w Krakowie English: The Wawel Castle in Kraków
context_page_description: The city of Kraków is divided into 18 administrative districts, each with a degree of autonomy within the municipal government. The Polish name for such a district is dzielnica.
  The oldest neighborhoods of Kraków were incorporated into the city before the late 18th century. They include the Old Town, once contained within the city defensive walls and now encircled by the Planty park; the Wawel, which is the site of the Royal Castle and the Cathedral; Stradom and Kazimierz, the latter originally divided into Christian and Jewish quarters; as well as the ancient town of Kleparz.
  Major districts added in the 19th and 20th centuries include Podgórze, which until 1915 was a separate town on the southern bank of the Vistula, and Nowa Huta, east of the city centre, built after World War II and incorporated into the city in 1951. Between 1951 and 1973 the city was divided into six districts: Stare Miasto, Zwierzyniec, Kleparz, Grzegórzki, Podgórze and Nowa Huta. From 1973 until the introduction of the present division in 1991 there were four districts: Śródmieście, Podgórze, Krowodrza and Nowa Huta.
context_section_description: Stare Miasto, meaning "Old Town", is Kraków's Administrative District No. 1. It consists of the historic Kraków Old Town itself, as well as the Wawel castle hill, the former largely Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, and a number of other neighbourhoods surrounding the old town: Nowe Miasto ("New Town"), Nowy Świat ("New World"), Kleparz, Okół, Piasek, Stradom and Warszawskie (partly in Prądnik Czerwony). Kraków's historic centre, covering the Old Town, Wawel and Kazimierz, was entered on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1978.
  Kraków has the most prominent example of an old town in the country, because for many centuries, Kraków was the royal capital of Poland, until Sigismund III Vasa relocated the court to Warsaw in 1596.
  Medieval Kraków was surrounded by a 1.9 mile (3 km) defensive wall complete with 46 towers and seven main entrances leading through them. The fortifications around the Old Town were erected over the course of two centuries. The current architectural plan of Stare Miasto—the 13th-century merchants' town—was drawn up following the Tatar invasions of 1259 and 1287. It features the centrally located Rynek Główny, or Main Square, the largest medieval town square of any European city. There is a number of historic landmarks in its vicinity, such as St. Mary's Basilica (Kościół Mariacki), Church of St. Wojciech (St. Adalbert's), Church of St. Barbara, as well as other national treasures. At the center of the plaza, surrounded by kamienice (row houses) and noble residences, stands the Renaissance cloth hall Sukiennice (currently housing gift shops, restaurants and merchant stalls) with the National Gallery of Art upstairs. It is flanked by the Town Hall Tower (Wieża ratuszowa).
  The whole district is bisected by the Royal Road, the coronation route traversed by the Kings of Poland. The Route begins at St. Florian's Church outside the northern flank of the old city walls in the medieval suburb of Kleparz; passes the Barbican of Kraków (Barbakan) built in 1499, and enters Stare Miasto through the Florian Gate. It leads down Floriańska Street through the Main Square, and up Grodzka to Wawel, the former seat of Polish royalty overlooking the Vistula river.
  In the 19th century most of the Old Town fortifications were demolished. The moat encircling the walls was filled in and turned into a green belt known as Planty Park.
caption: Wawel castle
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