Krakow’s Hungarian past

Among the Academy of Heritoge Open Lectures we invite to the lecture by Áron Petneki.

Outside the historic borders of the former Kingdom of Hungary, there is no other city but Krakow that could boast so many Hungarian monuments and traces – with the exception, perhaps, of Vienna. Over the centuries, links between the Royal Capital City of Krakow  and Hungary were established not only by dynastic unions or important historical figures, but craftsmen, merchants, artists, poets, religious dignitaries, monks, soldiers, townsman and noblemen from both countries. In short, the people of Krakow who stayed in the country of St. Stephen’s crown and the Hungarians who lived by the Wawel Hill.

Political and social encounters, often quite violent, flourished between Krakow and Hungary (e.g. Hungarian military aid received by Vladislaus the Short, or occupation of Krakow by the army of George II Rákóczi in 1657). So did trade– not only “węgrzyn” [Hungarian wine], but also salt, copper, lead, and – in the Middle Ages – horses. Krakow-Hungarian ecclesiastical links were also quite vibrant, from  the cult of common saints (Stanislaus, Vladislaus, Kinga, etc.) to monastic cooperation (Order of St. Paul the First Hermit, the Bernardines and Jesuits).

Admission free