Cloth Hall (Sukiennice)

The Cloth Hall, or Sukiennice, divides the Main Market Square in two and has been a place of trade for most of Kraków's history. A Gothic hall was built here under Casimir III the Great before 1358, and in the 15th century it was a busy centre of international commerce, handling goods such as spices, silk, leather and wax. After a fire in 1555 the building was restored between 1556 and 1559 under master Pankracy, and the decorative Renaissance parapet along the roof is attributed to Santi Gucci. A further renovation designed by Tomasz Pryliński was completed in 1879, under Mayor Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz, when the hall was adapted for the new art gallery upstairs.

The hall is still used for trade, and the passage through the ground floor is lined with stalls, so most visitors walk through it whether they plan to or not. It is a convenient place to browse for souvenirs, though it pays to compare prices with shops in the side streets.

Upstairs is the Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art, a branch of the National Museum in Kraków that opened on 7 October 1879. It holds the largest permanent display of Polish painting and sculpture of the period, arranged across four halls from the Enlightenment and Romanticism to Realism, Impressionism and the beginnings of Young Poland. Large canvases dominate: look for Jan Matejko's Prussian Homage, Henryk Siemiradzki's Nero's Torches and Władysław Podkowiński's dramatic Frenzy of Exultations, along with works by Jacek Malczewski, Józef Chełmoński and Leon Wyczółkowski. An hour to ninety minutes is enough for most visitors.

The gallery is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, and closed on Mondays, with last admission twenty minutes before closing. A youth ticket for visitors aged 7 to 26 is offered at a token price, which makes the gallery good value for students, and audio guides can be hired. The branch also has a café and a terrace looking over the square. Accessibility features include threshold-free passages between halls and a lift, though the museum has posted notices about the lift being out of service, so check before you go if you need step-free access.

The Cloth Hall stands at the centre of the square, a few steps from St Mary's Basilica and the entrance to the Rynek Underground museum, which runs beneath the square beside it. Floriańska Street leads north towards St Florian's Gate, and Grodzka Street south towards Wawel.