Krapkowice Market Square

In 1806 the house at number 4 on Krapkowice's market square was home to Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother, who was then commanding a French corps in Silesia. It is the oldest surviving house on the square and the best starting point for a walk around this town on the Oder and Osobłoga rivers. The square is small, but it keeps its medieval rectangular layout, and a few steps away stands a Gothic-Renaissance gate tower from which a bugle call sounds every day at noon.

History: a town by the Oder bridge

Krapkowice was granted its town charter between 1280 and 1294 by Duke Bolesław I of Opole. Before that there was a trading and fishing settlement here, and the town grew out of the need to protect the stronghold, the Oder bridge and the trade routes linking Opole with Koźle and Strzelce Opolskie with Głubczyce and on to Opava. The square was laid out as a rectangle with two perpendicular streets leaving each corner. Markets and fairs were held here; the wealthiest merchants lived around the square, while craftsmen had their homes further out.

Until 1722 a wooden town hall stood in the middle of the square, its towers visible on old engravings. The great fire of 16 June 1722 destroyed almost the entire town, and in the rebuilding stone and brick houses replaced wooden ones. Krapkowice escaped major damage in the Second World War, but in the 1970s and 1980s many old houses on the square and in the centre were demolished or rebuilt.

What to see

• The house at Rynek 4 – according to the town's guide, a Baroque house from the mid-17th century with its original façade. After the town fire it was brought back into use in 1787; it had a carriage gate at the front (now replaced by steps), an inner courtyard and two levels of cellars.
• The Upper Gate Tower from the second half of the 14th century, rebuilt around 1580, with an attic of blind arcades and gun loops. It is the town's symbol and houses a gallery, an exhibition on local history and a tourist information point.
• Sections of the town walls on Basztowa Street and in the north-east corner of the old town. The walls are mentioned as early as 1384 and 1418 and had four gates until 1829.

Interesting facts

After Bonaparte's stay, the house at number 4 became the hotel and restaurant "Under the Imperial Black Eagle", renamed "Under the Black Eagle" after the First World War. Today it is used for shops and services. The Upper Gate Tower is not just a monument but a stage: every day at 12:00 the Krapkowice bugle call is played from it, and art exhibitions are shown on its floors.

Tripto tip

The square is a public space, open at all times and free. Start at the Upper Gate Tower, where you can ask for a map and current exhibition hours, then walk across the square to the castle where the Osobłoga flows into the Oder. An hour is enough for the old town; if you want to hear the bugle call, be at the tower just before noon.