St.Mary`s parish church in Cracow is a silent monument to the culture of burghers of the past. Generations of the Cracovians whose lives were permanently linked with Poland`s former capital have passed the threshold of the church. Built in the Middle Ages , St.Mary`s was Cracow`s first parish church. Here municipal ceremonies were held, here people would pray for the rules and the Fatherland. With the passage of time, it has become the epitome of Cracow`s history and its magnificent artistic culture. The orgin of St .Mary`s Church, situated in the Main Market Square, may be traced as far back as the 13 century. .The oldest reliable record of it in the sources comes from 1224.Archeological excavations have uncovered fragments of Romanesque stone building, most probably of the early 13^th century , under the present church. The original temple was probably destroyed during Tatar invasion in 1241. Late in 13^th century , Cracow burghers launched the extension of the church completed in the early part of the 14^th century. The resulting edifice had two aisles and a nave and was of a hall type.

St.Mary`s was further extended in the latter part of the 14^th century. The slim chancel is earlier -it comes from mid-century .The two- aisled basilican body build by the architect Mikolaj Werner comes from the late 14^th century. The side chapels, designed by Franciszek Wiechon, added in the mid-15 century, are the latest acquisitions. From the architectural viewpoint, St Mary`s church is among the foremost relics of monumental Gothic architecture in Cracow. It houses superb sculptures in addition to its refined, elegant architectural form. The taller church tower has an original spire designed by the carpenter Matias Heringk in 1478. The spire is undoubtedly one of the most magnificent designs for church towers. Since the late 14^th century, an hourly bugle-call has been sounded from the tower. Its melody has remained a tourist atraction to this day. The lower tower has a late-Renaissance spire from the late 16^th century.

The most precious mediaeval monument is the magnificent high altar by the outstanding sculptor Wit Stwosz. The artist came to Cracow from Nuremberg at the invitation of the city`s Town Council. He worked on the altar for St.Mary`s parish church in 1477-1489. The resulting Gothic pentaptych consists of a predella, a retable, two moving and two fixed side wings, and a coping. The main artistic and religious accent of the altar is the monumental scene of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary surrounded by the Apostles. The Assumption features above the Dormition , and the Coronation of the Virgin Mary has been placed on the top of the altar. The huge figures of the Apostles are very realistically carved, and many anatomical datils strike the spectator as naturalistic.Scenes of the life of Christ and Mary, depicted in the panels on thr wings of the pentaptych, are exceedingly precise in the rendering of the tiniest details.Wit Stwosz`s work is undoubtedly highest achievement of late mediaeval decorative wood-carving and figurative sculpture.Dynamism and pathos moderated with lyrical accents are the peculiar qualities of the genius of Wit Stwosz, an artist who worked in the late Middle Ages, on the borderline of two periods, Gothic and Renaissance, and whose work was essentially humanistis. Stwosz also carved a stone crucifix that closes the south aisle of the church.

Another mediaeval relic includes a set of 14^th century stained-glass windows in the apse of the chancel, ranked among the foremost monuments of glass-painting. St.Stanislaus`s triptych of the early 16^th century, allegedly by stanislaw Stwosz, son of Master Wit, is still deeply rooted in the Gothic.

The architecture of the church underwent no major alterations during the Renaissance. The period mainly left traces in the interior decoration which exemplifies the burghers` patronage over a parish church. The bronze plaques of the Salomon family, cast at the workshop of Peter Visher the Elder at Nuremberg, represent the traditional period between Gothic and Renaissance. The Renaissance porch , adjoining St. Paul`s chapel founded by major Pawel Kaufman, comes from the early 16 century. The history of the church was markedly affected by the Boner family who extended their patronage over St John the Baptist chapel. Paintings depicting the history of St Catherine of Alexandria, executed by Hans Suess of Kulmbach in 1514-1515, come from Jan Boner`s foundation.In the chapel, the visitor`s attention is attracted to two bronze plaques, of Seweryn Boner and his wife Zofia nee Betman, cast in the second quarter of the 16^th century at Hans Vischer`s workshop in Nuremberg. The stalls for the town councillors are also due to Jan Boner. Executed in 1516-1521, they are covered with a late Renaissance canopy. A splendid

tabernacle , designed by the outstanding artist Giovanni Maria Padovano, was put up in the mid-16 century. Many elements of the Renaissance furnishings have been irrevocably lost. Beautiful epitaphs and tombstones of for instance, Mikolaj Lesniowolski(d.1593) or family monuments of the patrician families of the Montelupis(early 17^th century) and Cellaris (early 17^th century), have survived to this day.

The interior decoration of St Mary`s bears a marked trace of the Baroque left on it in the 17^th and 18^th century. In that period, the church enjoyed the protection of the burghers, and specially of parish priests, the prelates of the church. The 16^th century acquisitions include syndical stalls(1634) and superb Baroque stalls in the chancel. The latter represent scenes from Mary`s life. The were carved by Fabian Moller in 1635-1637. St Stanislau`s altar closing the northern aisle comes from the latter part of 17^th century.The number of epitaphs also went up. The prevailing material in the interior was black marble, characteristic of the Polish Baroque. Epitaphs

altars and entrances to chapels were wrought in black marble. In the 18^th century, the church was predominantly Baroque , and works of art sponsored by the prelate Jacek Lopacki(d.1761) have in the history of Cracow art. At. That time architect FrancescoPlacidi worked in St Mary`s Church. His design for the Baroque conversion of the interior has not survived. He was also designer of the original porch and numerous epitaphs. His contribution had a decisive influence upon the church interior for almost a century and half. Lopacki commissioned the well-known Venetian painter Giambattista Pittoni to execute paintings for the side altars. The most noteworthy of them is the Annunciation.Pittoni`s canvases are among the best settecento works in Poland.

St Mary`s Church underwent renovation at the close of the 19^th century. Conservation work was supervised by the outstanding architect Tadeusz Stryjenski. In 1889-1891, he removed the Baroque accretions inside the church, restoring its original Gothic character. The redecorated church was covered with Jan Matejko`s polychromes that splendidly harmonized with the mediaeval architecture and even complemented it. Apart from the polychromes, the church acquired stained-glas windows, including the one above the choir, the joint work of the outstanding artists Stanislaw Wyspianski and Jozef Mefoffer. Since the close of the 19^th century, St Mary`s church has remained virtually unchanged, and the restoration carried out at time only preserved the interior as it remains to this day.

The church has been a witness of and participant in, many important events in Poland`s history .During the last war, the building did not suffer destruction, but the altar was plundered and transfered to the Reich. After war , it returned home.

Mention is also due to the liturgical vessels and vestments stored in the church treasury. St Mary`s treasury is famous, including momstrances and reliquaries, come from the Baroque. In addition to liturgical vessels, Gothic chasubles, very rare today, are worthy of note .Donations to the treasury came from wealthy patricians who had them decorated with their trademarks, engraved or embroidered initials or full names of the founders. The goblets, monstrances, candlesticks, reliquaries, and chasubles reflect the city`s artistic preferences since the Middle Ages to the present. Hardly any other church can boast similar riches.

In the past, the church was the pride of the Cracow burghers, one of the city`s glories. Today, St Mary`s is an monument and a cult object; in brief, it is the of Cracow.