St Mary’s Church stands on one corner of the Market Square (Rynek Glowny), its distinctive silhouette forming a recognisable marker point.

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.

Mariacki Sq. 5
On one corner of the main Market Square

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