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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.
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