St. Mary’s Basilica – gothic, three nave structure with a facade held into two uneven height towers.
The history of the existing church dates back to the fourteenth century when the erection of a brick church began in the location of a rock temple from the thirteenth century.
In the interior of the church one can admire a splendid gothic cross – ribbed vault and the oldest stained-glass windows in KraKow, renaissance gravestones, baroque altars and unusual polychrome designed by Jan Matejko by the end of the nineteenth century.
It is worth to note the extraordinary wooden altarpiece from the fifteenth century – the work of Wit Stwosz (in English Veit Stoss), the greatest altar of its kind in Europe.
Polyptych comprises of 5 segments: The ark and two pairs of panels out of which, one is movable. Polychromic and gilded sculptures and reliefs in the main part and panels present scenes from the life of Mary and the Son of God.
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