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Kraków

BASIC FACTS
Established in: 9th century
City rights: 1257
Population: 756 267 (2007, reported by Central Statistical Office)
Number of students: 177 000 (2006/2007, reported by Central Statistical Office)
Unemployment rate: 3,9 % (II 2008)
Average wage: 3300 PLN
Significant employers: Mittal Steel, IBM, General Electric, Capgemini, Motorola, Google, ComArch, Tesco Poland
Official website: www.krakow.pl

TRANSPORT&ACCOMODATION COSTS
Single public transport ticket – 1,25 PLN
Monthly ticket – 47 PLN
Taxi fares – 2-3 PLN
A single room monthly rent – 300-700 PLN
A single room flat rent – 1000 PLN
A double room flat rent – 1500 PLN

HISTORY
In 966 a Sephardi Jewish traveller, Abraham ben Jacob, mentioned Kraków for the first time in its history as a notable commercial centre. In the end of the 10th century the city was an important centre of trade centre within the borders of Piast dynasty Polish state. Until 1596 Kraków was a capital of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Many works of Polish Renaissance art and architecture were created there during 15th and 16th century, including ancient synagogues in Kraków's Jewish quarter of Kazimierz. In 1489, sculptor Veit Stoss finished his work on the High Altar of the St. Mary's Church, followed by a marble sarcophagus for King Casimir IV. In 1520, the most famous church bell in Poland, named Zygmunt after Sigismund I of Poland, was cast by Hans Behem.

Between 1794 and 1918 Kraków was a part of the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the emergence of the Second Polish Republic, Kraków became a major academic and cultural centre of the new state. It became an important cultural centre for Polish Jews and had a strong Zionist youth movement. In 1939, the Nazi German forces turned the town into the capital of the General Government, German colonial authority. The Jewish population was first confined to a ghetto and later sent to concentration camps, including Płaszów and Auschwitz.

Kraków remained relatively undamaged at the end of World War II. After the war, the communist government of the People's Republic of Poland ordered the construction of the country's largest steel mill in the newly-created suburb of Nowa Huta. The new working class, drawn by the industrialization of the city, contributed to its rapid population growth.

Kraków has the longest educational history in Poland. The University of Kraków was founded in 1364 as the second oldest university in central Europe after the University of Prague. In 1818 the first Polish Fine Arts Academy was established there. 1888 is the year of Musical Academy foundation by Edward Żeleński, the Polish composer, father of Tadeusz, legendary writer, arts critic and social activist. World War II has brought tragic events for city's academic life. In an operation called "Sonderaktion Krakau", more than 180 university professors and academics were arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. Right now Kraków has 23 universities and other institutions of higher education.