The entire medieval old town is among the first sites chosen for the UNESCO's original World Heritage List, inscribed as Cracow's Historic Centre.

It is part of the city's first administrative district which is also named "Stare Miasto", although it covers a wider area than the Old Town itself.

Medieval Kraków was surrounded by a 3 km (1.9 mi) defensive wall complete with 46 towers and seven main entrances leading through them.

[4] The current architectural plan of Stare Miasto – the 13th-century merchants' town – was drawn up in 1257 after the destruction of the city during the Tatar invasions of 1241 followed by raids of 1259 and repelled in 1287.

It leads down Floriańska Street through the Main Square, and up Grodzka to Wawel, the former seat of Polish royalty overlooking the Vistula river.

Numerous remains of a once massive earth embankment encircling Wawel Hill survived till this day.

At Wawel's foot, in the place where now Kanoniczna, Grodzka and other neighboring streets are located, remains of a Vistulan settlement called Okół were found.

This settlement, the beginnings of which can be dated at least back to the early ninth century, was surrounded by an enormous oak palisade and, in the place where now the Straszewska and St. Gertrude's streets run, by one of Vistula's arms.

It is also possible that Okół, Wawel and the Main Market Square were islands separated from the mainland by moats or Vistula's arms.

Under Casimir III the Great the Jagiellonian University, one of Europe's oldest institutions of higher learning, was founded.

Bona Sforza, the second wife of Sigismund I of Poland, asked Bartolommeo Berrecci, Francisco the Florentian, Giovanni Maria Padovano, Santi Gucci and others to do this task.

Under his direction, architect Giovanni Trevano worked in Kraków and redesigned the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in a Baroque style.

During the first half of the 18th century, some outstanding works of art were created by fine architects including Kacper Bażanka and Franciszek Placidi.

The Kościuszko Uprising ended with their defeat, and in 1795 Poland underwent its final partition, after which Kraków became a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Thanks to the efforts of Professor Feliks Radwański, the northern part of the walls were saved, including the Barbican, the Florian Gate and three towers which once marked the starting point of the Royal Road along which a new monarch would parade to the place of his coronation at Wawel Cathedral.

Famous artists such as Jan Matejko and Stanisław Wyspiański worked in the Old Town, which was also the place where numerous political independence movements were born.

Jewish synagogues were devastated, despoiled of ceremonial objects and turned into storehouses for ammunition, firefighting equipment and Nazi general storage sites.

The architectural design of the Old Town has survived many cataclysms of the past and has retained the original form that was established in medieval times.

Today, sellers offer a whole variety of them; apart from poppy-seed, there are also sesame seed, rock salt and even pizza sprinkles.

One can eat them while strolling or in a horse-drawn carriage while cruising around and glancing at yet another symbol of the old city, namely Kraków pigeons.

According to one legend, Henry IV Probus, who tried to take over the Senioral Province during the period of regional disintegration of Poland, attempted to go to Rome with financial offerings in order to gain papal approval for his coronation.

Kraków's palaces, churches, theatres and mansions display great variety of color, architectural details, stained glass, paintings, sculptures, and furnishings.

The most pronounced is the Monument of Adam Mickiewicz situated at the Main Marketplace between the St. Mary's Church and the eastern side of Sukiennice.

The monument of Jozef Dietl on the All Saints’ Square was made by Ksawery Dunikowski in 1938 and erected in honour of the first president of Kraków.

The bust of comedy writer Michał Bałucki made by Tadeusz Błotnicki in 1911 is located behind the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre.

Monument to Unknown Soldiers who fell during the Kraków's liberation in 1945 was made by Karol Muszkiet and Marcin Bukowski in 1945.

Sculpture entitled "Polonia" near the Church of Franciscans presents the mother, holding a baby in her arms, with a weasel and two dogs.

It was cast in bronze in 1900 and erected around 1920 by the newly established Tadeusz Kościuszko Society to celebrate the return of Poland's independence.

New sculpture "Eros Bendato" made by Igor Mitoraj is situated on the Main Market Square, near the Town Hall Tower.

There are plaques dedicated to the oath of Tadeusz Kościuszko in 1794, to Prussian Homage in 1525, and to supporting the renovation of Main Market Square from 1964.