Kraków’s Hejnał: Why the Bugle Call from St Mary’s Stops Mid-Note

Po polsku: Zabytki Krakowa: 10 najważniejszych miejsc

Stand on Kraków’s Main Square at the full hour and you’ll hear it: a trumpet melody from the top of St Mary’s Basilica. Then, suddenly, it stops in the middle of a note. Visitors look at each other, wondering if something went wrong. Nothing did. It has been played like this for centuries, and here’s why.

The legend of the trumpeter

In the 13th century, Kraków was attacked by Tatar raiders. A watchman on the tower of St Mary’s saw them coming and started to play the alarm on his trumpet, waking the city. Before he could finish, a Tatar arrow hit him in the throat, and the melody broke off.

The city was warned in time, and since then the hejnał always stops at the exact moment the trumpeter was hit. Historians say the „broken” ending was probably added much later, but nobody in Kraków minds. It’s one of those legends the whole city keeps alive, every hour, day and night.

How it works today

• The hejnał is played every hour, 24 hours a day, from the taller tower of St Mary’s Basilica.
• The trumpeter plays it four times, through windows facing four directions. Stay a moment after the first one and look up: you may see the trumpet in the window, and sometimes the trumpeter waves.
• The trumpeters are members of the Kraków fire brigade.
• Every day at noon the hejnał is broadcast live on Polish Radio, a tradition going back to the 1920s.

Why are the two towers different?

Look at St Mary’s and you’ll notice the two towers are not the same height. Another legend explains it. Two brothers were building them, each one his own tower. The younger one was faster, and the older brother, consumed by jealousy, killed him with a knife. Full of guilt, he confessed and threw himself from his tower.

The knife is said to still hang in the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in the middle of the square, as a warning. Walk through the hall and look for it above the passage.

Climbing the tower

In season you can climb the bugle tower (Hejnalica) yourself, about 240 steps, with a small group and a ticket. From the top you see the whole Main Square from above. Tickets sell out quickly in summer, so come early. Inside the basilica, don’t miss the huge wooden altarpiece by Veit Stoss (Wit Stwosz), one of the great treasures of Gothic art. It is opened every day just before noon.

More Kraków guides: Kraków & Małopolska in English.

Łukasz, Niezwykła Małopolska