A Ravishing Renewal of the Cloth Hall
One of Cracow's most beloved buildings is emerging from a four-year makeover. The Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), which bestrides the Main Market Square, has been largely hidden behind scaffolding since August 2006.
On 24th July, Minister of Culture Bogdan Zdrojewski signed the Act of Renewal, marking the final phase of the painstaking project.
A striking symbol of the power of the city's merchants during the Medieval and Renaissance eras, the Cloth Hall has maintained its mercantile traditions, albeit offering more tourist-oriented trinkets these days, and the stalls moved back into the building this July.
Besides a thorough renovation of the edifice, one of the main aims of the project has been the revitalisation of the Gallery of Polish 19th Century Art. The museum had become somewhat run down during the communist era, and it was crying out for salvation.
Almost 9 million zloty have been spent on resuscitating the gallery. Besides bringing back the romantic feel that visitors would have found 100 years ago, there will be interactive installations combining the old with the new. The grand opening has been pencilled in for the first week of September.