The Old Town’s market square contains a bit of every architectural style, from Baroque to postwar concrete structures, the cumulative effect of rebuilding after successive fires and the damage caused by Austrian, Prussian and Napoleonic sieges.
The bright yellow town hall dates from the 1710s, though its white tower only dates from 2012. The original collapsed in 1967, and it took over four decades to find the funds and will to rebuild it. You can walk the 223 steps to the top for free city views, or save your feet and take the lift.
The town hall also contains the Old Trades Museum , with reconstructions of an old tavern, a pharmacy and a shop, and a collection of historic scales and balances.
A bugle call sounds from the town hall tower at 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm. Alas, however, this is not the live hejnał of Kraków, but a recording.
