Cloth Hall (Sukiennice)

The Cloth Hall in Kraków (Sukiennice, say "soo-kyeh-NEE-tseh") is the long Renaissance market hall standing in the middle of the Main Market Square – one of Europe's largest medieval town squares and the centerpiece of Kraków's UNESCO-listed Old Town. Traders have worked under its roof for over 700 years, and upstairs the National Museum runs a superb gallery of 19th-century Polish painting. Walking through the hall is free; the gallery is one of the best-value museum hours in the city.

Where it is and how to get there

The Cloth Hall sits at Rynek Główny 3, in the very center of the Old Town. From Kraków Główny railway station it is a 10–15 minute walk through the Planty park and along Floriańska Street. Trains from John Paul II Kraków-Balice Airport run to the main station, so you can reach the square without a car. The Old Town is a restricted traffic zone; drivers should park outside the Planty ring.

History: seven centuries of trade

When Kraków received its town charter in 1257, Duke Bolesław the Chaste promised to build stone cloth stalls – two rows of booths with a passage between them. The passage was roofed around 1300, and before 1358 King Casimir the Great replaced it with a Gothic hall. After a fire in 1555, it was rebuilt in 1556–1559 in Renaissance style, gaining its famous parapet decorated with carved grotesque masks designed by Santi Gucci.

The building got its present look during a renovation in 1875–1879 by architect Tomasz Pryliński, with input from painter Jan Matejko: neo-Gothic arcades, wooden stalls on the ground floor and museum halls upstairs. In 1879 the city founded the National Museum, and painter Henryk Siemiradzki donated his huge canvas Nero's Torches, which started its collection. The gallery was closed for a full modernization from 2006 and reopened in 2010. The Old Town, including the Cloth Hall, was among the very first sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978.

Things to see in the Cloth Hall

The ground-floor market. A long vaulted arcade lined with wooden stalls under painted coats of arms of Polish towns. Expect amber and other jewelry, crafts and souvenirs. The historic Noworolski café is on the ground floor, and since 2010 the building has housed the entrance to the Rynek Underground museum beneath the square (separate ticket).

The Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art. Run by the National Museum in Kraków, it fills four skylit halls arranged chronologically:

• Bacciarelli Room – the Enlightenment: court portraits and 18th-century history painting.
• Michałowski Room – Romanticism and the "age of uprisings," when Poland had been partitioned by its neighbors.
• Siemiradzki Room – academic art, dominated by Nero's Torches (1876), plus works by Jan Matejko.
• Chełmoński Room – Realism, Impressionism and Symbolism, including Józef Chełmoński's galloping Four-in-Hand (1881) and Władysław Podkowiński's notorious Frenzy of Exultations (1894).

A terrace with a café beside the gallery looks out over the square and St. Mary's Basilica.

Tickets and opening hours (as of October 2026)

The gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am–6 pm, and closed on Mondays. Last admission is 20 minutes before closing. Prices in Polish złoty (PLN):

• standard 35 PLN, reduced 25 PLN, family 70 PLN;
• students and school pupils 1 PLN;
• children under 7 free;
• audio guide 12 PLN.

The National Museum advertises free Tuesdays for permanent exhibitions in its branches, but the Cloth Hall price list does not mention it, so do not count on free entry without checking. Labels in the gallery are bilingual, Polish and English.

Is it worth visiting? Tips for your visit

Yes – even if you are not a museum person, the gallery gives a vivid crash course in Polish history through art, and it is rarely crowded compared with the market below.

• Time needed: 15–30 minutes for the market hall; 1–1.5 hours for the gallery.
• Best time: right after opening or late afternoon; the ground floor gets packed in summer.
• Accessibility: an elevator with Braille buttons serves the gallery and terrace, rooms are step-free and a gentle ramp leads to the terrace. The museum has posted a notice that the elevator was out of order, so wheelchair users should call ahead.
• Shopping: compare amber prices between stalls and ask for a certificate of authenticity for expensive pieces.

Nearby

St. Mary's Basilica with Veit Stoss's carved altarpiece, the Town Hall Tower and the Rynek Underground are steps away. Behind St. Mary's lies the quieter Little Market Square, and Grodzka Street takes you to Wawel Castle in about 15 minutes.