Błonia meadows
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The Błonia Meadows are a green area west of Kraków's Old Town , in the Półwsie Zwierzynieckie district in Poland . The meadows have an area of 48 hectares and a circumference of about 3600 m. They represent one of the largest green spaces in the center of a major European city .
history
In 1162 the wealthy aristocrat Jaksa von Miechów donated the meadows between Zwierzyniec in the south and Łobzów in the north to the Norbertan women before his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In 1254 Bishop Jan Prandota received the delegates from Assisi here at the celebration of the canonization of Stanisław ze Szczepanowa . The Norbertan women exchanged the Błonia meadows in 1366 with the city council for a building in the old town on Floriańska Street . This building burned down shortly afterwards, which led to the long-standing process of ownership of the meadows. King Kazimierz the Great assured the citizens that the meadows would not be cultivated, but that the Krakow people would always use them to keep cattle and horses. This privilege was confirmed by Queen Jadwiga at the end of the 14th century .
In the 19th century the meadows were neglected and were often flooded by the Rudawa . Sometimes they were also used for military parades . In 1809 a military parade was held here in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte , organized by Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski and General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski .
In 1834 the Senate of the Republic of Cracow confirmed the privilege of Kazimierz the Great. In 1849, Tsar Nicholas I held a military parade before the invasion of Hungary. On Austrian maps, the meadows were named as an exercise area in the early 20th century .
Between 1903 and 1912 the old Rudawa river bed was filled in. In 1906 the three Kraków sports clubs Wisła Kraków , KS Cracovia and Juvenia Kraków were founded around the Błonia . In 1908, a promenade was opened and the meadows became an urban park, although the last cattle were still grazing in the meadows in the 1970s. After that, the meadows were often used as a space for major events. The 500th anniversary of the Battle of Tannenberg took place here in 1910 and the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Kahlenberg in 1933 .
During the Second World War , Hans Frank wanted to cultivate the Błonia meadows for the German occupation government of the Generalgouvernement , but the architect Hubert Ritter had designed an "East Nuremberg" project in Dębniki , which was expropriated and demolished .
In 1965 the Hotel Cracovia was built on the Błonia.
From 1979 onwards, 1 to 3 million people from the Popes John Paul II (1983, 1987, 1997 and 2002), Benedict XVI. (2006) and Francis (2016) celebrated Catholic masses . Here the Krakow also took part on 2/3. April 2005 in a funeral farewell to the late Pope John Paul II. The Błonia is also called "Papal Meadow" because of these visits by the Pope.
The meadows have been officially protected as a monument since 2000.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Map from the early 20th century
- ↑ Paweł Stachnik: Norymberga wschodu. Niemiecki trwały ślad w Krakowie ( pl ) March 19, 2019. Accessed June 14, 2019.
Coordinates: 50 ° 3 ′ 34.2 ″ N , 19 ° 54 ′ 36.5 ″ E