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Kosciol Mariacki (St Mary's Church) was founded in 1222 and destroyed during the mid-century Tatar invasions. The current building, begun in 1355 and completed fifty years later, is one of the finest Gothic structures in the country. The taller of its towers, a late-fifteenth-century addition, is topped by an amazing ensemble of spires, elaborated with a crown and helmet. Legend has it that during one of the early Tatar raids the watchman positioned at the top of this tower saw the invaders approaching and took up his trumpet to raise the alarm; his warning was cut short by a Tatar arrow through the throat. The legend lives on, and every hour on the hour a lone trumpeter plays the sombre hejnal melody, halting abruptly at the precise point the watchman was supposed to have been hit. The national radio station broadcasts the hejnal live at noon every day and Polish writers are still apt to wax lyrical on the symbolism of the trumpet's warning. First impressions of the church are of a cavernous, somewhat gloomy expanse. What little light there is comes from the high windows at each end, the ancient altar window facing the stained glass of the west end, an Art-Nouveau extravaganza by Krakow artist Stanislaw Wyspianski. Walking down the nave, you'll have to pick your way past devotees kneeling in front of the fifteenth-century Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa , with its copy of the venerated image of the Black Madonna. Locals claim that this is actually older than the original. Continuing down the high Gothic nave, under arched stone vaulting enhanced in blue and gold, the walls, like those surrounding the high altar, are decorated with Matejko friezes . Separating the nave from the aisles are a succession of buttressed pillars fronted by Baroque marble altars. The aisles themselves lead off to a number of lavishly ornamented chapels, fifteenth-century additions to the main body of the building. Focal point of the nave is the huge stone crucifix attributed to Veit Stoss, hanging in the archway to the presbytery. The biggest crowds are drawn by the majestic high altar at the far east end. Carved by the Nuremberg master craftsman Veit Stoss (Wit Stwosz, as he's known in Poland) between 1477 and 1489, the huge limewood polyptych is one of the finest examples of late-Gothic art in Europe. The outer sides of the folded polyptych feature illustrations from the life of the Holy Family executed in gilded polychromy. At noon (Sundays and saints' days excluded) the altar is opened to reveal the inner panels, with their reliefs of the Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost; for a good view, arrive at least a quarter of an hour before the opening. These six superb scenes are a fitting backdrop to the central panel - an exquisite Dormition of the Virgin in which the graceful figure of Mary is shown reclining into her final sleep in the arms of the watchful Apostles. Like most of the figures, the Apostles, several of them well over lifesize, are thought to be based on Stoss's contemporaries in Krakow. Certainly there's an uncanny mastery of human detail that leaves you feeling you'd recognize their human counterparts if you met them in the street. Other features of note in the chancel are the Gothic stained-glass windows, the Renaissance tabernacle designed by Giovanni Maria Mosca, and the exuberant early Baroque stalls.
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