Step into the Sukiennice, the Cloth Hall, and look up. In the passage that crosses the building's short side, an iron knife hangs from a chain. Hardly anyone notices it.

1What the legend says

Tradition links it to the towers of St Mary's, which you've just seen: it would be the weapon the jealous brother used to kill the other before throwing himself from the top. It was supposedly hung here, in the busiest spot in town, as a warning.

2What history says

The explanation given by the city is more down to earth: the knife is an old symbol of Magdeburg law, which governed the city from its founding charter of 1257, and reminded traders that thieves had an ear cut off. That was the year Duke Bolesław the Chaste promised to build stone stalls here for the cloth trade. Casimir the Great later put up a great Gothic hall; after a fire in 1555 it was rebuilt with the Renaissance parapet of carved masks designed by Santi Gucci, and the neo-Gothic arcades date from 1875-1879.

3The enchanted pigeons

Another legend tells how Duke Henry IV Probus, who ruled Kraków from 1288 to 1290 and dreamed of a crown, turned to a witch who changed his knights into pigeons. The pigeons pecked pebbles from a church that turned into gold, but the duke squandered it on the road to Rome and was never crowned. That, they say, is why the pigeons of the Rynek never leave.

A market knife, an invented murder and pigeons with a noble past.

4What to look for

  • The knife hanging on its chain from the vault.
  • The masks on the parapet, grotesque faces carved in stone.
  • The pigeons of the Rynek, stars of the Henry Probus legend.
Iron knife hanging from a chain under the vault of the Cloth Hall
The knife in the Cloth Hall passage, with a pigeon perched on top.

Documented

The 1257 charter, the rebuilding after the 1555 fire and the rule of Henry IV Probus in Kraków (1288-1290) are documented; the knife is interpreted as a symbol of Magdeburg law.

Oral tradition

The knife as the weapon of the tower murder and the knights turned into pigeons belong to popular tradition.

Sources and credits

City of Kraków, 'Sukiennice' entry (krakow.pl); Polish Wikipedia, 'Sukiennice w Krakowie'; National Museum in Kraków, Sukiennice branch (mnk.pl).

Photos:

  • The Cloth Hall, an arcaded Renaissance market hall on the Rynek Główny: Igor123121, CC BY 4.0.
  • Iron knife hanging from a chain under the vault of the Cloth Hall: Zygmunt Put Zetpe0202, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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