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262 DESTYLERN1A „POLMOS" W KRAKOWIE S.A.

... and of course distillery, already in the late fifteenth century, as confiimed in a tome

kept in the Jagiellonian University Library, written by Stefan Falimirz and published in 1534 (O ziołach i mocy yich, Herbs and their powers). Barrels and demijohns of aqua vitae, "water of life," called okowita in Poland and Lithuania, travelled on barges to

Gdańsk and in traders' wagons to Prague, Nuremberg, Yilnius and Kiev. These con-

vcyances were a tasty morsel for bands of highwaymen. Income from distilling was an important iłem in the budget of the royal court, and honoured members of the Cracow distillers' guild enjoyed many privileges. According to a record from 1786, 35 distillers in Cracow were engaged in making spirits. The term wódka was coming into generał use at that time.

The nineteenth century was a period of rapid growth in the spirits industry in Galicia, the Austrian-occupied sector of partitioned Poland. In 1835, 4,900 smali dis-tilleries were operating there. A tax was imposed on them the following year, and their numbers dropped to 1,900. They specialised in making flavoured liquors. A famous one of the time was Edward Urban's Distillery of Flavored Liquors, Rosoglios, Li-queurs and Rum, founded in 1877. It was located in the center of Cracow at 1 Wislna Street. M.A. Urbach entered the fray in 1899 by opening a brandy distillery. Piotr Porzycki and many others followed suit.

After the First World'War there were eleven distilleries in Cracow, including the famous Krakus and Baczewski enterprises. In 1931 the Polmos Cracow Distillery was formed, resting on their tradition.

The city of Cracow

"The historical and architectural centrę of Cracow which took shape during the course of almost a thousand years, is one of the most noteworthy artistic and cultural complexes in Europę" said UNESCO experts in their decision to enter the city on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Cracow, along with Prague, Vienna and Budapest, shaped the political and cultural life of Central Europę through long centuries. One of the main centres of dynastie rule was the Capital of the budding Polish State, and it filled that role up to the begin-ning of the seventeenth century. Around Wawel Castle - the residence of kings, the sitc of their coronations, and their place of etemal rest - a thriving town grew. The func-tionality of its thirtcenth-century urban plan can be seen in the fact that it still works today: now as then, cultural, administrative and commercial life is focused around Cracow’s 40,000-square-meter town square, the largest one in Europę.

Cracow’s golden age was in the sixteenth century, during the reign of the last kings of the Jagiellonian dynasty. A community of illustrious scholars and scientists was grouped around the Jagiellonian University, founded in 1364 (Nicolaus Copemi-cus studied there). They formed a centre of humanist thought which exerted a signifi-cant impact on the Europę of their day. The castle on Wawel Hill took on a Renais-