Podgórze

In 1784, the Archduke Joseph II of Austria granted municipal rights to a settlement on the right bank of the Vistula that had existed since the Middle Ages. The new borough assumed the name of Podgórze, a toponym that had at that time been in use for some time. The imperial decision was in one way enforced by the disadvantageous situation following the First Partition of Poland (1772), with Kraków remaining in Poland, and the Vistula being the border river. It must, however, be emphasised that the settlement was most probably laid out in the 16th century, with housing clustered along today’s Brodzińskiego, Staromostowa and Józefińska streets, and around the Podgórze Market Square, that is close to the first bridge that formerly crossed the Vistula. The bridge, situated at the mouth of today’s ul. Gazowa, connected Kraków to the Wieliczka Route, very important for the economy primarily due to the transport of salt.

Podgórze found Austrian rule a period of dynamic development and blossoming industry. Towards the end of the 19th century, it was the 19th largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on a par with Nowy Sącz and the Czech city Olomouc. In this way, Podgórze could not only be a competitor to, but also a partner for Kraków.

With the implementation of the Greater Kraków plan in 1904-1910, which involved including the neighbouring communes into the city, it became evident that it was only a question of time before Podgórze would join the scheme. Thus, after painstaking negotiations, Podgórze became the 22nd district of Kraków in 1915. Not much later, on 31st October 1918, Lieutenant Antoni Stawarz commanded a bravado action ending in the bloodless takeover of Kraków from the hands of the Austrian invaders from the garrison in Kalwaryjska street, today replaced by the premises of the Korona sports club.

Unfortunately, the history of Podgórze is also connected with the extermination of the Jewish residents of Kraków (and its vicinity). In spring 1941, the Nazis turned it into a ghetto: an enclosed, walled Jewish district, which was liquidated in a huge bloodbath two years later.

Listen more about Podgórze district.



The file is a part of the Kraków, the Magical City audioguide, available to download at www.guidebuy.pl or to rent in the InfoKraków tourist information offices.

You will find more audio files attached to the descriptions of: Floriańska, Szeroka, Kanonicza Streets, Main Square, the Wawel castle and cathedral, Schindler's Factory, as well as to the descriptions of Kraków's districts: Kazimierz and Zwierzyniec.