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The two towers of unequal height give the outside of the church an idiosyncratic air, this asymmetry prompting feelings of friendliness and comfort. The building looks welcoming.

The interior of the church is highly decorated in bright colours, reds, blues, greens and gold, with the choir stalls backed by low-relief carvings of intricate detail.

For many, the most astonishing part of the church will be the High Altar, made by Wit Stwosz between 1477 and 1489. The altar screen is like a large cabinet with huge doors which can be opened out. Both the outside and inside of the altar screen are wonderfully carved and decorated, showing scenes from the lives of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The figures are life-like, the detail fantastic and the whole effect vigorous.

The huge outer doors are opened at midday so it is worth visiting the church a little before that so you can witness both the outer and inner decoration as well as the ceremony when the doors are open.

Every hour the bugle call (hejnal) is sounded from the taller of the two towers. According to legend this is to commemorate a bugler who saved the city from the threat of a Tartar invasion in the mid-13th Century. A Tartar arrow shot the bugler before he could finish, however, he had already played enough for the citizens to be alerted.

Today the henjal is stopped at the note on which the bugler was shot. And like St. Mary’s Church it soon becomes an easily identifiable and rather affecting symbol of the city itself.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1881 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1879 Above the colonnaded arcades of the ground floor of the Sukiennice is a branch of the National Museum housing 19th and early 20th Century paintings by Polish artists.

Historical and romantic subjects are housed alongside symbolist paintings. Huge canvases such as 'Nero's Torches' by Henryk Siemiradzki and 'Four-in-Hand' - a wonderful study of power and speed - by Jozef Chelmonski dominate and impress with their artistry and scope.

The gallery is not large so it doesn't take long to look around, however, the quality of the art displayed creates an interesting and evocative exhibition.

Well worth a visit, a small gallery that will linger long in the memory.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1879