Wawel - Beginnings – Up To The Mid-11th-century

Beginnings – Up To The Mid-11th-century

Archeological studies point to the earliest settlement dating back to the Middle Paleolithic era, c. 100,000 years BC. It owed its rapid development to its location at the crossing of a number of key trading routes. Wawel is believed to be one of the strongholds of the Vistulan tribe which formed a nation at the turn of the 8th and 9th century AD. Its legendary rulers Krakus and Princess Wanda, who are said to have lived in the 7th and 8th centuries, are mentioned by the 13th century chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek. In the 10th century the Vistulans’ lands and Kraków became a part of the emerging state of Poland.

In 1000 the Kraków diocese was established followed by the construction of a Cathedral – the residence of the bishop. However, as a result of an ongoing conflict with the Holy Roman Empire, construction did not begin until the signing of the Peace of Bautzen, in 1018. Only minor fragments remain of the original cathedral (which is sometimes called ‘chrobrowska’ after Bolesław I the Brave) and despite extensive archeological work it has proved impossible to reconstruct its exterior. Until the 1980 relicts of St. Gereon’s Church were identified with the first cathedral but this theory, advanced by Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz, has been disproved by recent research. There are also inconsistencies in the dating of the destruction of the original cathedral. Some sources place this at the time of the invasion of Bretislaus I of Bohemia in the 1040s or during a fire in the 1080s.

As well as the cathedral, the hill was also the site of other buildings. The earliest evidence of wooden structures dates back to the ninth century, with the earliest stone buildings dating back to the tenth and eleventh century. From this period originated the remains of such buildings as:

• The Rotunda of the Blessed Virgin Mary – probably from the turn of the tenth and eleventh century
• Church B – the earliest parts originate from the tenth century
• Church of St. Gereon – probably the palace chapel
• Church of St. George – subsequently rebuilt
• Church of St. Michael
• 24 pillar Room – possibly the ducal mansion
• Quadrangle construction from the turn of the tenth and eleventh century of unknown use; possibly ducal granary or tomb
• Keep (kype) – protective and residential tower