Błonia Krakowskie
Błonia Krakowskie—also known in German as the *Lange Wiese*—is a historic meadow park of 48 hectares, laid about 700 meters west of Kraków’s Old Town. Its story begins in 1162, when the nobleman Jaksa z Miechowa donated the land between Zwierzyniec and Łobzów to the Norbertine nuns, intending it to be blessed before his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For the next two centuries the meadow belonged to the nuns; in 1366 they exchanged it with the city’s authorities for a manor at Floriańska Street. Long before it became a venue for public life, it was used by peasants from neighboring villages to graze cattle—and until the 19th century it was often flooded by the Rudawa river, turning into swampy ground. Once drained, it could host crowds. In 1809, during Kraków’s incorporation into the Duchy of Warsaw, Napoleon’s troops held salutes there under Prince Józef Poniatowski and General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. …
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