The city of

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 ...

uses a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

, a

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

, official colors, a flag, and a

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...

as its official symbols. Additionally, a number of semi-official and unofficial symbols of the city are also used. Image:Flag of Krakow.svg, Flag of Kraków Image:Banner of Kraków.svg, Banner of Kraków Image:POL Kraków COA.svg, Coat of Arms of Kraków Image:Seal of Krakow.png, Seal of Kraków

Official symbols

The current official symbols of Kraków are described by the Ordinance of the Kraków City Council no. CXXIII/1150/02 adopted on October 9, 2002. However, they are all based on symbols which have been in use since much earlier, some of them dating back to the 16th century.

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms displays a red brick wall with three towers in a blue

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

. Each tower, the middle one taller and wider than the other two, is topped with a

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

with three

crenel An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...

s and has a black vertical

loophole A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow ver ...

and a black window. In the wall there is a gate with a pair of open golden doors with

fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...

-shaped metalwork and a raised golden grate. Inside the gate there is the White Eagle with a golden

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for foo ...

and

talons A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tarsus ...

. The escutcheon has a typically

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

shape and is topped with a golden

Crown of Bolesław I the Brave The Crown of Bolesław I the Brave (in Polish ''korona Chrobrego'', also known in Latin as the ''corona privilegiata'') was the coronation crown of the Polish monarchs. History The exact origins of the Polish crown are unknown. According ...

with fleurs-de-lis, closed with a globus cruciger (an orb with a cross). The crowned White Eagle, which is also used in the coat of arms of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, and the crown above the escutcheon symbolize the fact that Kraków was the Polish capital and seat of

Polish kings Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16th ...

from ca. 1040 until 1596. The coat of arms with the brick wall, the three towers, the open gate and the eagle dates back to the 16th century. The actual colors and shapes, however, changed with time. The current design, adopted in 2002, uses shapes of the escutcheon and the eagle based on those found on Renaissance seals, signets and other artifacts, but other shapes, including

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and Neo-Classical, were also used in past. The

Free City of Kraków Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

, a

city state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

which existed between 1815 and 1846 used the Kraków coat of arms as its state symbol. The

Grand Duchy of Kraków The Grand Duchy of Kraków (german: Großherzogtum Krakau; pl, Wielkie Księstwo Krakowskie) was created after the incorporation of the Free City of Cracow into Austria on November 16, 1846. From 1846 to 1918 the title, Grand Duke of Kraków, w ...

created after the Free City's annexation by the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

, used the White Eagle with the Kraków coat as an

inescutcheon In heraldry, an escutcheon () is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an achievement of arms. The word can be used in two related senses. In the first sense, an escutcheon is the shield upon which a coat of arms is displayed. In the s ...

but without the eagle inside the gate.

Seal

The seal is round and consists of the coat of arms surrounded by an inscription with the city's official name: ''Stołeczne Królewskie Miasto Kraków'', or "Royal Capital City of Kraków".

Colours and flag

The official colors of Kraków are white and blue. The flag consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the top one white and the bottom one blue. The flag proportions are 5:8. The white-and-blue bicolor was adopted as the flag of the

in 1815. It is almost identical with the civil

flag of San Marino The state and war flag of San Marino is formed by two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and light blue with the national coat of arms superimposed in the center; the coat of arms has a shield (featuring three towers on three peaks) with a c ...

, the only difference being the shade of blue.

Banner

The banner consists of a white

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltatori ...

in a blue field with the coat of arms superimposed in the center. The banner proportions are 5:8. It is attached to a pole topped with a miniature of the crown used for coronations of Polish kings.

Use of official symbols

The use of the city's official symbols is regulated by the Ordinance no. 167/2004 signed by the Mayor of Kraków on February 6, 2004. Both the banner and the seal exist in only two official specimens. One set of the banner and seal is used by the Mayor (''Prezydent Miasta Krakowa'') and the other – by the President of the City Council (''Przewodniczący Rady Miasta Krakowa''). The banner is only used on special occasions. Similarly, the seal is only impressed upon particularly important documents. The coat of arms should be displayed outside and may be also displayed indoors by organs of the City of Kraków, the city administration and the city's one-person joint-stock companies. The flag is the most "democratic" of the official symbols as it may be used virtually by anyone, especially on special occasions.

Other symbols

Since the use of most of Kraków's official symbols is legally restricted, many semiofficial and unofficial symbols are also used. The Kraków logo, which includes the city's

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

name, ''Cracovia'', is used by the city authorities for Kraków's promotion. Another popular symbol of the city is a stylized crowned letter K based on that found on old city seals and, most famously, on the door to the

Wawel Cathedral The Wawel Cathedral ( pl, Katedra Wawelska), formally titled the Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus, is a Roman Catholic cathedral situated on Wawel Hill in Kraków, Poland. Nearly 1000 years old, it is part of the ...

. Images of the city's

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

s, Saint Stanislaus and

Saint Florian Florian ( la, Florianus; 250 – 304 AD) was a Christian holy man, and the patron saint of Linz, Austria; chimney sweeps; soapmakers, and firefighters. His feast day is 4 May. Florian is also the patron saint of Upper Austria, jointly with Le ...

, may be also used as its symbols, particularly in religious contexts. '' Hejnał mariacki'', the famous trumpet call made every hour from the taller tower of St Mary's Church, may be considered an audible symbol of Kraków. Other unofficial symbols of Kraków include a variety of objects popularly associated with the city, such as: * the

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 ...

; * the Lajkonik; * certain landmark buildings, especially the

Wawel 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 o ...

, St Mary's Church, the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) and the Barbican; * mascarons from the Sukiennice attic; * the

krakowiak The Krakowiak or Cracovienne is a fast, syncopated Polish folk dance in duple time from the region of Kraków and Lesser Poland. The folk outfit worn for the dance has become the national costume of Poland, most notably, the rogatywka peaked hat ...

folk costume; * ''

obwarzanek krakowski An ' (, plural: ' ; also spelled ') is a braided ring-shaped bread that is boiled and sprinkled with salt and sesame or poppy seeds before being baked. It has a white, sweetish, moist and chewy crumb underneath a crunchy golden-brown crust. Tr ...

'', a traditional ring-shaped bread.

References

External links

Krakow4u.pl
– photographs of the Sukiennice mascarons __NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Symbols of Krakow Kraków

Saltire flags