Okół

Kraków, founded in 1257 by Bolesław the Chaste, covered a square-shaped area with the Market Square in the center. Between Kraków and Wawel there was an independent settlement called Okół. The surrounding area was quite densely built-up with wooden houses and all surrounded by a palisade – it was the Wawel partition. A road called Solna or Wysoka ran through the area of ​​Okół, leading from Silesia and Greater Poland through Krakow – from the Market Square, through Okół, next to Wawel, through Groble in Stradom, and then through Wieliczka to Hungary. A part of this road is today’s Grodzka Street. There was also a road leading from Okół to Wawel – today’s Kanonicza Street. Okół existed as an independent settlement almost until the mid-fourteenth century. In the end, however, the Krakow Council managed to defeat this rival settlement and incorporate it into Krakow. The defensive walls separating the town from Okół were demolished and one urban organism was created. In 1987, during the research work in the basement of the house No. 43 at Grodzka Street, conducted by Waldemar Niewald, the remains of the walls were discovered, which, according to the hypothesis, may be the remains of the Town Hall Okół.