Nowy (Żydowski) Square

Today’s Nowy (Żydowski i.e. Jewish) Square has been part of the Jewish town called Libuszhof from the late 16th century onwards. Meir Balaban (1877-1942), historian of the Jews in Kraków, claims that the area was settled after 1500 by Jews displaced from Moravia. This situation continued until the mid-19th century when this neglected and chaotically developed complex of mews and alleyways was remodelled on the basis of regulation plans agreed in the first half of the 19th century, though the square marked out within the area used to be called Nowy (i.e. New) even before 1878. Most of the buildings that surround it today were built in the years 1870-1923.

However, it is not the development standing along its sides that is most characteristic here, but the so-called okrąglak: the round structure built in 1899-1900 as roofed traders stalls. In 1927, the Jewish community adapted a part of it for the ritual slaughterhouse for poultry. The second world war changed the character of the square and the slaughterhouse was closed. Fortunately, the traditional small traders returned here after the second world war.

Beginning in the 1990s, the square – much like the entire district of Kazimierz – completely changed its image. Many snug cafes with furnishing derived from the atmosphere of former Kazimierz developed on the ground floors. The former house of prayer standing on the western side of the square, after the war turned into a carpentry workshop, was renovated and adapted as the Center for Jewish Culture. Every Saturday, the square turns into a flea market, and on Sundays: into a bazaar with second-hand clothing.