C R A 



312 



CRA 



Cracow. CRACOW, Cracovia, Carrodunum, the ancient capi- 

 ~""Y"""^ tal of Poland, is now a town of Austria, and the capital 

 of West Gallicia. It is situated on an extensive plain 

 upon the Vistula, near its confluence with the small river 

 Rudowa. The city and the suburbs occupy a large 

 tract of ground, but the houses are thinly scattered, and 

 contain few inhabitants. Many of the streets are wide 

 and handsome, and the great square, which contains se- 

 veral well-built houses, is very spacious ; but, in conse- 

 quence of the devastations which this city experienced 

 from the Swedes at the beginning of the last century, 

 and more recently from the Russians, it has the appear- 

 ance of a magnificent capital in ruins. The number of 

 uninhabited houses, the effects of cannon, grape, and 

 musket shot on the walls, and the marks of ruined 

 grandeur which everywhere appear, form a striking 

 contrast with the splendour and beauty of the church- 

 es, which seem to have escaped the general ruin. The 

 lofty brick walls with which Venceslaus surrounded 

 the town, are defended by round and square towers 

 of the most ridiculous shapes, and in the old style of 

 fortification. 



The principal public buildings are the palace or ci- 

 tadel, the university, the cathedral church, the palace 

 of Casimir the Great, the observatory, the botanical 

 garden, the library, and the hospital. 



The palace or citadel, which was built by Ladislaus 

 Jaghellon, and was the residence of the Polish king, is 

 situated on the summit of a rock towards the southern 

 part of the town near the Vistula, and is encircled with 

 brick walls and old turrets. The greater part of it was 

 destroyed by Charles XII. after the battle of Clissow. 

 The few rooms which remain are very large and mag- 

 nificent, but without furniture. The apartments are 

 principally remarkable from their commanding an ex- 

 tensive view of the surrounding country. Two large 

 barrows are particularly visible, and are supposed to 

 be the sepulchres of Cracus, duke of Poland, and his 

 daughter Venda. The fortress of Landskron, situated 

 upon a rock, is also visible from the palace. 



The university of Cracow was founded and endowed 

 in 1 342 by Casimir the Great, and was completed by 

 Ladislaus Jaghellon. In 1 778, the number of students 

 was 600. The library presented nothing remarkable 

 but a Turkish book found among the spoils of the bat- 

 tle of Chotzim, and presented by John Sobieski. 



The cathedral, which is a fine building, contains an 

 immense number of monuments erected to the memory 

 of the Polish kings. A number of bones, which the 

 vulgar believe to have belonged to giants, are suspend- 

 ed from the roof of the cathedral. The sepulchres of 

 the kings of Poland are not remarkable for their mag- 

 nificence. Some of them are without inscriptions, and 

 in general the figure of the king is carved in marble, of 

 very common workmanship. The mausoleum of John 

 Sobieski, and the tomb of S. Stanislaus are particularly 

 interesting. The cloister of the Franciscans is deser- 

 ving of notice, and the wainscoating of the choir, which 

 is incrusted with mother-of-pearl, is reckoned a piece of 

 beautiful workmanship. 



The palace of Casimir the Great, which is an old 

 ruined structure, is in the neighbourhood of Cracow. 

 " In the inner court," says Mr Coxe, " are the remains 

 of a corridore, with pillars of the Doric order ; and up- 

 on a side wall, I observed the white eagle of Poland 

 carved in stone, and around it an inscription so much 

 defaced that I could only make out Ann. Dom. 

 M.CCCLXVII, which answers to the aera of Casimir, 

 who died in 1370. Several marble eolumns were scat- 



Crane. 



tered around, which shewed the ancient magnificence Cracow 

 of the building. The greater part of the fabric was 

 evidently of later date than the reign of Casimir, and 

 probably constructed by succeeding sovereigns upon 

 the foundation of the ancient palace ; perhaps by Ste- 

 phen Bathori, from the inscription, Stephanus Dei 

 gratia, which I traced ; and also by Sigismund III. as 

 I discovered his cypher, with the wheat sheaf, the arms 

 of Gustavus Vasa, from whom he was lineally descend- 

 ed." In the garden is a barrow, which is said to be the 

 tomb of Esther the Turk, who was Casimir's mistress. 

 Casimir made this palace his principal residence. 



The most interesting objects in the vicinity of Cra- 

 cow, are the chateau and park of Pulawy, belonging to 

 the Princess Czartoriska, and the salt mines of Wielitz- 

 ka. The mines, which are only an hour and a half's 

 ride from the town, are 743 feet deep, 1115 feet broad, 

 and 6691 long. Visitors descend upon a number of 

 seats made of girth attached to a large rope. At the 

 end of 2^ minutes they reach the first stage, and the 

 other three stages are descended by wooden ladders, or 

 by steps cut out of the salt. The guides point out as 

 the greatest curiosity several small chapels formed out. 

 of the rock salt. One of these is 30 feet long, and 25 

 broad, and the altar, the crucifix, the ornaments of the 

 church, and the statues of several saints, are all formed 

 out of the salt. Several of the excavations are of an 

 enormous size, and have their flat roofs supported either 

 with beams of timber or pillars of salt. Guettard in- 

 forms us, that the uppermost stratum is sand, the se- 

 cond clay occasionally mixed with sand and gravel, and 

 containing marine petrifactions, the third calcareous 

 stone, and the rest salt. These mines have been wrought 

 for more than 600 years, and before the partition of 

 Poland, the profits which belonged to the king amount- 

 ed to L.97,222 sterling annually. These mines are ex- 

 cavated in a ridge of hills at the northern extremity of 

 the chain which joins the Carpathian mountains. 



The population of Cracow in the 14th and 15th cen- 

 turies was about 80,000. In 1778, when Mr Coxe vi- 

 sited it, the town contained 1 6,000 inhabitants, but it 

 appears from very recent accounts, that its population 

 is now 24,000. East Long. 1 9° 56' 0", North Lat. 50° 

 3' 52". See Coxe's Travels in Poland, &c. vol. i. p. 

 124 — 153, 5th edit Briese ubcr Schlesicn, Krakau, 

 Wicliczka, im Jahr 1791 von J. F. Zollner, Berlin, 

 1792, 8vo; and Mem. Acad. Par. 1762. (» 



CRAM BE, a genus of plants of the class Tetradytta- 

 mia, and order Siliculosa. See Botany, p. 260. 



CRAMP. See Medicine. 



CRANE, in mechanics, is a most useful machine for 

 raising and lowering heavy bodies and large weights, 

 and removing them from one situation to another with- 

 in the sweep of its arm, which revolves upon a center. 

 Cranes are most commonly applied on quays and wharfs 

 for loading and unloading vessels, also to ware-houses, 

 and in the erection of massy buildings, such as bridges 

 and locks, and to many other purposes. The parts of 

 a crane are denominated the post or upright, which is 

 either immovable or turns upon pivots, according to 

 the construction ; the gib, an arm extending from the 

 upper part of the post ; and the slay, which is intended 

 as a support to the gib, and is fixed in a diagonal di- 

 rection from the gib to the bottom of the post. These, 

 with the mechanical combination of wheels, pulleys, 

 and levers to give the requisite power for raising the 

 weights, complete the crane. 



The most simple form of the crane, is that common- 

 ly used in stone and timber wharfs for unloading yes- 



