Krakow's Sukiennice (The Cloth Hall)

No tourist should omit visiting the Cloth Hall – inside its long corridor are hidden colourful stalls with innumerable souvenirs. Here one can buy Krakovian folk costumes, jewellery, amber and other artistically crafted objects. The Cloth Hall from its very beginning i.e. from the medieval times was a market hall. In the 16th century it gained its Renaissance form, its loggia, and the attic with mascarons. Finally in the 19th century the neo-gothic arcades were added thus giving the building its present appearance which has now become one of the identifying marks of Krakόw. On the first floor in the Nineteenth Century Polish Art Gallery one can admire such paintings as Hołd Pruski (The Prussian Homage) by Jan Matejko, Pochodnie Nerona (Nero's Torches) by Henryk Siemiradzki or Szał (Frenzy) by Władysław Podkowiński.