St. Adalbert, Veitt Stoss and the trumpet call

In the heart of Krakow #3

What is St. Adalbert’s church doing in the Market Square? How many times an hour can we hear the trumpet call? Why did Veit Stoss leave Nuremberg? For many centuries the Market Square has been the centre of the city’s religious life. Until this day we can admire its two churches. The oldest one - St. Adalbert’s - was erected before the city’s foundation to commemorate the sermons given in Krakow by Poland’s first saint. However, the Market’s best known church is the monumental St. Mary’s Basilica, one of the city’s landmarks and an example of the development of Gothic architecture in Central Europe. Every hour from one of its towers a trumpet call is being played - an example of the city’s intangible heritage. The history of St. Mary’s Basilica is more that just its architecture, it is also the people who made it. The most famous of them was the sculptor from Nuremberg, Veit Stoss, the author of St. Mary’s Altar, one of Krakow’s most valued treasures.