St Mary's Tower,
Also known as the Watch Tower, Wake, Alarm or Bugle Tower, it is the only tower in the world at which a bugle has been played every hour for six hundred years for the entire world to hear. To see and to hear these wonders one must climb 239 steps, to a floor 54 m above ground level. The trumpeter takes just two and a half minutes to ascend the tower but visitors do not need to hurry. At the top they will be heartily greeted by bugle players - members of the fire service, perhaps the last magicians of Krakow...
A bugle from St Mary's Tower,
A bugle which firemen play...
Bugles have always been played from Krakow towers and gates to announce the beginning and the end of the day. Travellers had to stay outside the city walls if they were caught by night near Krakow and wait until the gates were opened at sunrise.
What were the tunes played from the city's towers and the Royal Castle of Wawel? We will never know. It is only known that the tradition of the bugle call began in the late 14th Century, when Krakow saw the influx of Hungarians, and queen Jawiga, the future wife of king Jagiello was about to ascend the throne. It came here and stayed to resound in Krakow's skies forever. It was probably first played by Hungarians, and later, when the guards of the Wawel and St Mary's were changed, was taken over by the Poles.
Here is St Mary's Tower,
Where city guard strolls
Humbly we look at the sight,
Rejoicing our souls
The higher tower of the Basilica of the Ascension of the Holy Virgin Mary has pierced the sky of Krakow for more than 600 years. It is 81 m tall, topped with a late-Gothic spire and a golden crown. A tiny room 54 m above the level of the Main Square houses literally "the Highest Post" in Poland: the highest meaning the most important one. Indeed it is traditionally believed that all former Polish lands may be seen from here - the white peaks of the Tatras in the south, the smokestacks of Silesia to the west, the towers of Lvov churches in the east and a dark blue line in the north - yes, it is the Baltic sea!
St Mary's Tower is open for visitors from 3 May until 30 August:
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday 9 am-11.30 am and 1 pm-5.30 pm.
Tickets available at the ticket office of St Mary's Church.
