Cracow [antikvár]

From time immemorial people came, attracted by the site itself a group of hiUs and limestone rocks along the winding River Vistula. On the Wawel hill, contemporary archaeologists have unearthed remnants of workshops where palaeolithic men made their flint artefacts. Later on, with the passage of the ages from neolithic times up to the Iron Age the settlements multipUed and expanded until, in the 2nd century A. D., they became something of an industrial centre. The banks of the river scintillated with the lights of fires from foundries and forges. The first written reference to Cracow comes from Ibrahim ibn Yacub, a merchant and traveller, who wrote about the town of "Karoko" and said that its trade "reaches out to the Russians and Constantinople".Ibrahim noted this fact in 965. Soon after, the first Polish ruler, Duke Mieszko of the House of Piast, a beUever in a strong central authority and an outstanding politician, was successful in integrating his dukedom into the pattern of Christianity. This was an achievement of paramount importance, since in this way Mieszko avoided the "conversion" of his people by the fire and sword of the German emperor, and introduced his kingdom into the sphere of modern culture and European diplomatic exchanges.The star of Cracow rose in the 11th century. It became the capital of the state and the scene of royal struggles for power. First Romanesque, then early Gothic architecture prevailed in the casde, while the traders' and craftsmen's settlements round it expanded in spite of frequent Tartar raids, and finally coalesced into a real town. In the middle of the 13th century Cracow received a town charter modelled on the law of Magdeburg.