Kraków Cloth Hall
The Kraków Cloth Hall (, ), in Lesser Poland, dates to the Renaissance and is one of the city's most recognizable icons. It is the central feature of the main market square in the Kraków Old Town (the historic center of Kraków), which since 1978 has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site). History It was once a major centre of international trade. Travelling merchants met there to discuss business and to barter. During its golden age in the 15th century, the hall was the source of a variety of exotic imports from the east – spices, silk, leather and wax – while Kraków itself exported textiles, lead, and salt from the Wieliczka Salt Mine. In the immediate vicinity of the hall, the Great Weigh House and the Small Weigh House existed until the 19th century. Other, similar cloth halls have existed in other Polish as well as other European cities such as in Ypres, Belgium; Braunschweig, and in Leeds, England. Kraków was Poland's capital city and was among the largest cities in Europe already from before the time of the Renaissance. However, its decline started with the move of the capital to Warsaw at the end of the