Legend of the two towers of St Mary’s

The two towers of St Mary’s are of different height, which everyone can see. The bugle call is played from the taller tower – Hejnalica, while the church bell known as Półzygmunt hangs in the lower tower. There are however no architectural plans that would explain the different heights of the towers. Ask for an explanation and you are likely to hear the following gory legend. Under the reign of King Boleslaus the Modest (Bolesław Wstydliwy, 1243-1279) a decision was made to add two towers to the body of the church standing by the Main Square. Soon two brothers embarked on the task. When the elder realised that his tower was much shorter, he murdered his brother out of envy, and the construction stopped. One version speaks of secret forces that completed the construction of the tower in the name of the murdered brother. Whatever came to pass, the murderer was wracked with remorse: on the day when the church was to be consecrated, he pierced his heart with the same knife he used to kill his brother, and dropped dead from the top of his tower to the ground below.


St Mary's Church in 1930s