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Home - City Guide - Cracow - History | ||
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History History 9th C The Wislanie (a Slavonic tribe) inhabit a fortified town on the Wawel 1000 Cracow's bishopric is founded 1025 Boleslaw the Brave crowned as the first King of Poland mid-11th C Wawel becomes the residence of the Polish kings 1241 A trumpeter is shot by an arrow while warning of the Tartar raid; a Cracow raftsman kills the Tartar Khan 1257 Cracow receives its charter and the Old Town's streets are laid out 13th C The Salt-Works Castle is built in Wieliczka 1333-70 Reign of King Kazimierz Wielki (the Great) 1335 Charter for the Town of Kazimierz is granted 1364 King Kazimierz III the Great (1333-70) founds the Cracow Academy; Council of Monarchs 1491-95 Copernicus studies at Jagiellonian University 1495 Jews moved to Kazimierz ghetto 1501-06 Reign of King Alexander 1504-36 Wawel Castle assumes its present shape 1506-48 Reign of King Sigismund I the Old 1548-72 Reign of King Sigismund II Augustus 1569 Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania unite as the Republic of Two Nations 1572 King Sigismund II August dies heirless - end of Jagiellonian dynasty; beginning of Polish Baroque period 1609 King Sigismund III Wasa leaves to take up residence in Warsaw 1655-58 Swedes invade Poland and pillage Cracow 1683 Jan Sobieski breaks Turks siege of Vienna 1703-21 Swedes at war with Poland again 1772 First partition of Poland 1776 Austrian occupation of Cracow 1794 General Tadeusz Kosciuszko incites revolution 1795 After the third partition of Poland, Wawel is used as an Austrian barracks for almost a century 1815-46 The region enjoys limited autonomy as a free city - the Republic of Cracow 1846 Cracow is incorporated into Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia 1868 Galicia is granted autonomy within the empire 1905 Austrian army departs from Wawel Castle 6 Sep 1939 Nazis invade the city 1940 Planning for Auschwitz concentration camp begins Mar 1941 Nazis relocate Jews to ghetto in Podgorze district Jun 1942 Mass deportations to concentration camps begin Nov 1942 Labour camp is set up in Plaszow 14 Mar 1943 All of those still in the ghetto are murdered or transported to camps 1945 Auschwitz is abandoned as Soviet Army approaches 1981 Solidarity movement begins; martial law is imposed 1989 Free elections mark the end of the communist regime 1999 Poland joins NATO 2000 Cracow is one of the nine European Cities of Culture |