St Mary's Tower
Trail of War
The taller tower of St Mary's Basilica, from which the bugle call (hejnał) sounds every hour. According to legend, a trumpeter warned the city of a Tatar raid in 1241 and was killed by an arrow, which is why the melody breaks off mid-note.
History
The taller tower of St Mary's Basilica, known as the Bugle-call Tower (Hejnalica), is 82 metres high. In the 15th century it was raised and adapted to serve as the city watchtower; in 1478 the carpenter Matias Heringkan topped it with a Gothic spire, and in 1666 a gilded crown 2.4 metres in diameter was hung on the spire. Every hour the Hejnał, one of the symbols of Kraków, rings out from a height of 54 metres. The earliest record of a trumpeter on this tower is found in the city pay registers of 1392. The trumpeter and the watchmen probably kept a lookout for fire or enemy troops, and in the morning and evening his signal opened and closed the city gates, as in many European towns of the time. The melody breaks off in mid-phrase. According to legend, this is because the watchman playing the Hejnał during a Tatar raid in the 13th century was struck by an arrow. That story, however, is a young one: it was invented in the 1920s.
Did you know?
The Hejnał also rang out far from Kraków: at noon on 18 May 1944 it was played by Platoon Sergeant Emil Czech during the fighting at Monte Cassino, as a sign that Polish soldiers had won the battle.