Market Hall in Kraków

The Market Hall at aleja Daszyńskiego 3 is a modernist commercial building from 1936-1940, erected in Grzegórzki as a municipal hall for selling food. In July 2024 the whole complex of buildings was entered in the heritage register.

Why a hall in Grzegórzki

The hall was meant to replace municipal stalls and butchers' booths with a building that met sanitary requirements. At the end of the 1920s the Kraków City Council decided to build three halls: by the Kleparz Market, in Podgórze and on the former Augustinian land, at the junction of Grzegórzecka street and aleja Daszyńskiego. The architects Edward Kreisler and Czesław Boratyński had earlier travelled to Bohemia and Germany to see what such halls looked like. In the end only this, the largest one, was built. It was to be the “pantry” of the city centre, Kazimierz, and the Półwsie Zwierzynieckie and Zwierzyniec districts, and a market square had operated on this site earlier.

Designed by Juliusz Dumnicki

The design was made by Juliusz Dumnicki, and the first plans were drawn up in 1936. After official trips to Katowice, Chorzów, Warsaw and Gdynia, the architect abandoned his original idea of a flat building with long bands of windows. He designed a low building on an elongated plan, with a basilica layout, with a taller transverse wing at the rear. The structure is reinforced concrete, and the heritage register defines the style as modernist. The hall was planned to have 36 stalls.

Construction in the shadow of war

Construction began in 1937 and was carried out by the Kraków firm “Spójnia Budowlana Mączyński i Ska”, specialising in reinforced concrete structures. It did not manage to finish before the outbreak of the Second World War, so the Germans completed the work in 1940. The hall was opened on 17 August 1940, the day on which the Germans demolished the Mickiewicz monument on the Main Market Square. In the 1990s the space of the hall was divided by a floor, which created an additional storey.

Practical information

• Address: aleja Ignacego Daszyńskiego 3, Grzegórzki district; the hall adjoins Grzegórzecka street.
• This is a historic building, viewed mainly from the outside and from the street side. Check its current use and opening hours before your visit.
• Nearby are, among others, the Old Synagogue (about 0.7 km), the Main Market Square and the Planty Park (about 1 km).