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Krakus
Krakus, Krak or Grakch was a legendary Polish prince, king and founder of Kraków, the ruler of the Lechitic tribe of Vistulans. Krakus is also credited with building Wawel Castle and slaying the Wawel Dragon by feeding it a dead sheep full of sulfur. The latter is how Krak the cobbler became Krakus the prince, and later king. The first recorded mention of Krakus, then spelled ''Grakch'', is in the Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae from 1190. Historian J. Banaszkiewicz attributes Krak's name to a pre-Slavic word "krakula", meaning judge's staff. The same word-root is believed to have been used in Czech and Russian naming conventions. However, historians Cetwiński and Derwich suggest a different etymology, which seems more probable to some, with Krak, meaning simply an oak, a sacred tree, most often associated with the concept of genealogy. Krakus Mound, which exists to this day, was previously believed to contain Krakus' remains. It has been the subject of th ...
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Krakus Mound
Krakus Mound ( pl, kopiec Krakusa), also called the Krak Mound, is a tumulus located in the Podgórze district of Kraków, Poland; thought to be the resting place of Kraków's mythical founder, the legendary King Krakus. It is located on Lasota Hill, approximately south of Kraków's city centre, at an altitude of , with a base diameter of and a height of . Together with nearby Wanda Mound, it is one of Kraków's two prehistoric mounds as well as the oldest man-made structure in Kraków. Nearby are also two other non-prehistoric, man-made mounds, Kościuszko Mound, constructed in 1823, and Piłsudski's Mound, completed in 1937.Kopce w Krakowie
at e-Krakow.com ''(in Polish)'' These four make up Kraków's four memorial mounds.
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Wawel Dragon
The Wawel Dragon ( pl, Smok Wawelski), also known as the Dragon of Wawel Hill, is a famous dragon in Polish legend. According to the earliest account (13th century), a dragon ( gr, holophagus, "one who swallows whole") plagued the capital city of Kraków established by legendary King Krak (or Krakus, Gracchus, etc.). The man-eating monster was being appeased with a weekly ration of cattle, until finally defeated by the king's sons using decoy cows stuffed with sulfur. But the younger prince (" Krak the younger" or "Krak junior") murdered his elder brother to take sole credit, and was banished afterwards. Consequently Princess Wanda had to succeed the kingdom. Later in a 15th-century chronicle, the prince-names were swapped, with the elder as "Krak junior" and the younger as Lech. It also credited the king himself with masterminding the carcasses full of sulfur and other reagents. A yet later chronicler (Marcin Bielski, 1597) credited the stratagem to a cobbler named Skub (Skub ...
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Krakus II
Krakus II ( lat, Gracchus; pl, Krak) was a mythological ruler of Poland. He was the successor of and son of the alleged founder of the City of Kraków, Krakus I, and he was the younger brother of Lech II, according to Wincenty Kadłubek. He ties the family to the national story of the dragon of Wawel. In this, their father Krak sent them to defeat the dragon, which they managed, after an unsuccessful battle, by stuffing the tribute animals with straw which suffocated the dragon. After this, Krak threw himself upon Lech and killed him, though their father pretended that the dragon was responsible. Eventually the story was found out, and Krak II was overthrown and replaced by his daughter Wanda. However, according to Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histor ..., ...
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Podgórze
Podgórze is a district of Kraków, Poland, situated on the right (southern) bank of the Vistula River, at the foot of Lasota Hill. The district was subdivided in 1990 into six new districts, see present-day districts of Kraków for more details. The name Podgórze roughly translates as ''the base of a hill''. Initially a small settlement, in the years following the First Partition of Poland the town's development was promoted by the Austria-Hungary Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor Joseph II who in 1784 granted it the city status, as the Royal Free City of Podgórze. In the following years it was a self-governing administrative unit. After the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 and the takeover of the entire city by the Empire, Podgórze lost its political role of an independent suburb across the river from the Kraków Old Town, Old Town. The administrative reform of 1810 which followed the expansion of the Duchy of Warsaw brought Podgórze together with the rest of the histo ...
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Lech II
Lech II was a legendary ruler of Poland mentioned by 15th century chronicler Jan Długosz. He was the son of the alleged founder of the City of Kraków, Krakus I, and he was the brother of Krakus II. Bibliography * Jan Długosz, Roczniki, czyli kroniki sławnego Królestwa Polskiego, ks 1 - 2, Warszawa 1961, s. 191 - 192. * Aleksander Semkowicz Aleksander Semkowicz (born 7 February 1850 in Lwów, d. 2 April 1923 in Lwów) was a Polish historian, archivist, professor of Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów, correspondent member of Polish Academy of Learning. He was also editor-in-chief of "K ..., Krytyczny rozbiór Dziejów Polski Jana Długosza (do roku 1384), Kraków 1887. {{Poland-noble-stub Legendary Polish monarchs ...
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Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town with Wawel Royal Castle was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, one of the first 12 sites granted the status. The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second-most-important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was reported by Ibrahim Ibn Yakoub, a merchant from Cordoba, as a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 985. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and a ...
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Wawel Castle
The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established on the orders of King Casimir III the Great and enlarged over the centuries into a number of structures around an Italian-styled courtyard. It represents nearly all European architectural styles of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. The castle is part of a fortified architectural complex erected atop a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula River, at an altitude of 228 metres above sea level.Dr. Jan Urban, "Geological foundation of Kraków"retrieved from the Internet Archive, May 21, 2008 The complex consists of numerous buildings of great historical and national importance, including the Wawel Cathedral where Polish monarchs were crowned and buried. Some of Wawel's oldest stone buildings can be traced back to 970 ...
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History Of Kraków
Kraków (Cracow) is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland, with the urban population of 756,441 (2008). Situated on the Vistula river ( pl, Wisła) in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918, and the capital of Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Early history The earliest known settlement on the present site of Kraków was established on Wawel Hill, and dates back to the 4th century. Legend attributes the town's establishment to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a ravenous dragon, Smok Wawelski. Many knights unsuccessfully attempted to oust the dragon by force, but instead, Krakus fed it a poisoned lamb, which killed the dragon. The city was free to flourish. Dragon bones, most likely that of mammoth, are displayed at the entrance of t ...
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Districts Of Kraków
The city of Kraków is divided into 18 administrative districts, each with a degree of autonomy within the municipal government. The Polish name for such a district is ''dzielnica''. The oldest neighborhoods of Kraków were incorporated into the city before the late 18th century. They include the Old Town ('' Stare Miasto''), once contained within the city defensive walls and now encircled by the Planty park; the Wawel, which is the site of the Royal Castle and the Cathedral; Stradom and Kazimierz, the latter originally divided into Christian and Jewish quarters; as well as the ancient town of Kleparz. Major districts added in the 19th and 20th centuries include Podgórze, which until 1915 was a separate town on the southern bank of the Vistula, and Nowa Huta, east of the city centre, built after World War II and incorporated into the city in 1951. Between 1951 and 1973 the city was divided into six districts: Stare Miasto, Zwierzyniec, Kleparz, Grzegórzki, Podgórze and Nowa ...
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Princess Wanda
Princess Wanda (reputedly lived in 8th century Poland) was the daughter of Krakus, legendary founder of Kraków. Upon her father's death, she became queen of the Poles, but committed suicide to avoid an unwanted marriage to a German. Wanda legend first told by Kadłubek The first written record of the legend of Wanda was by the Polish chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek. In this version of the story Wanda ruled Poland after the legendary Polish king Krakus. When her lands were invaded by an " Alamann tyrant", who sought to take advantage of the previous ruler's death, Wanda led her troops out to meet him. Seeing her beauty, the German troops refused to fight and their leader committed suicide. Towards the end of the story Kadłubek states that "the river Vandalus is named after" her and hence the people she ruled over were known as "Vandals". In this version Wanda remained unmarried and had a long life. Later versions of the legend Subsequent versions of the story differ significantl ...
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Vistulans
The Vistulans, or Vistulanians ( pl, Wiślanie), were an early medieval Lechitic tribe inhabiting the western part of modern Lesser Poland."The main tribe inhabiting the reaches of the Upper Vistula and its tributaries was the Vislane (Wislanie) who, by the mid-ninth century were considered by the neighbouring Moravians as "very powerful" The expansionist policy of the Christian Moravian state led to eventual conflict with the pogan Vislane. ending in the defeat of the latter and their annexation to the Great Moravian Empire between Ad 875-879" . n:''Trade and urban development in Poland: an economic geography of Cracow''. Francis W. Carter. P. 46. 1994 op. cit. L. Hajdukiewicz and M. Karaś. ''The Jagiellonian University: Traditions, The Present, The Future''. Cracow. 1978, p. 17. Etymology Their name derives from the hydronym of the river Vistula, meaning "inhabitants of Vistula"; the region is mentioned as ''Uuislane'' by the Bavarian Geographer, ''v Vislè'' and ''v Vislèh'' ...
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Krak
KMPS (910 AM) is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Hesperia, California and broadcasts to the Victor Valley area. It is owned by El Dorado Broadcasters and airs a Regional Mexican radio format with programming from La X 103.1. KMPS's offices and studios are in Hesperia; previously, they were on Hesperia Road in Victorville. The station's transmitter is located near Mesa Linda Street in Oak Hills. KMPS carried Los Angeles Angels baseball games before going silent in 2019. History The station signed on February 1, 1990 as KVVQ; initially, it broadcast middle of the road music and news/talk programming. On February 19, 2001, then-owner Infinity Broadcasting changed the call letters to KRAK; the call sign was formerly used by a well-known 50,000 watt country music station in Sacramento, which is now KHTK. On July 31, 2008, CBS Radio announced plans to sell its mid-size and small market stations (including KRAK) to focus more on major market clusters. However, such a ...
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