CRACOW, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — In Poland (Kraków), founded in 1000, metropolitan see since 1925. Suffragan dioceses: Częstochowa, Katowice, Kielce, Tarnów. First bishop: Poppon. Since 1844 the bishops have borne the title of prince.
Area: 8,127 sq. km.; inhabitants: 1,250,000, of whom Catholics: 1,241,794; parishes: 307; churches: 650; religious houses: male 63, female 227; educational institutions: male 4, female 21. During the last war 5 churches were destroyed and 30 permanently closed. Pilgrimage centres: Kalwaria Zebrzydowska and Mogila. C. was the capital of Poland until 1596 and from the 14th century the city where Polish kings were crowned. The Academy (University) was founded in 1364. The cathedral of Wawel is mostly 14th-century Gothic, but has elements from the 11th century, 17 chapels in Renaissance and Rococo style. In the Cathedral are tapestries captured by Sobieski at Vienna (1683), sepulchral monuments of the bishops of C., of King Casimir of the Jagiellonians, works by Veit Stoss, Polishized as Wit Stwosz (1450–1533); in the crypts lie the tombs of the kings of Poland. Notable churches: of Our Lady (1226–1397), with the altar, a masterpiece by Wit Stwosz; of St Florian (1184); of St Adalbert, where the Saint preached in 984, rebuilt in 1161; of St Michael the Archangel “na Skalce” (11th century), where St Stanislaus Szczepanowski was martyred; of SS Peter and Paul (14th century). Saints and blessed of the diocese: Bl Bronisława (1205–1259), Bl Salomea (1202–68), St Cunegonda (1224–92), St John Cantius (G. Canzio), professor at the Academy (1397–1472), Bl Szymon z Lipnicy, d. 1482. Eminent bishops: St Stanislaus Szczepanowski (1035–79), whose relics
Cozza, Lorenzo - Title-page of the *Historia polemica*, Rome 1719 - Rome, copy in the National Library.
CRACOW — General view of C. in the time of V. Stoss and N. Copernicus, inserted in the *Chronicon Mundi* of Hartman