We know exactly where and how many new trees will be planted in Kraków’s Main Square. There won’t be a revolution, but there may be pockets of shade and new green accents in the Old Town’s skyline. Where else could new trees be planted in the Old Town?
After several years of planning, design, and consultations with preservation authorities, on September 2, 2026, the Kraków Municipal Greenery Authority announced a bid for work related to planting new trees in the Main Market Square. The city estimates the value of the work at over 2.8 million zlotys, and the work is scheduled to be completed within 580 days of the contract being signed. Bids are scheduled to be opened as early as September 17 of this year, so it can be assumed that the new trees on Kraków’s Main Square will appear by spring 2028 at the latest. Thanks to the release of the tender documentation, we know exactly what form the greening of Kraków’s Main Square will take.
New plantings are planned, among other places, near the Town Hall Tower
Photo: Zygmunt Put © CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons
30 new trees in Kraków’s Main Market Square
In the first phase, the work will cover the eastern and southern parts of Kraków’s Main Square. The new trees will surround St. Adalbert’s Church, located in the southern part of the square. A total of 10 trees will be planted around the Romanesque building —3 “Monument” oaks and 7 “Brabant” silver lindens. Two “Greenspire” small-leaved linden trees will also be planted next to the existing solitary tree between the Adam Mickiewicz monument and the fountain.
In a second phase, trees are planned to be planted around the Town Hall Tower, near the northwest corner of the Cloth Hall. The city plans to plant as many as 12 field maples there, which, under the right conditions, can reach a height of over 15 meters. In the final stage, the rows of trees along the northern and western sides of the Market Square will be supplemented, where the city plans to plant six black locust trees.
To carry out the project, it will also be necessary to remove a dozen or so trees currently growing in the Main Market Square. Due to their poor condition, four trees near St. Adalbert’s Church and nine black locust trees growing near the Town Hall Tower have been designated for removal. Once they are replaced with new trees, the rows will be denser, providing residents with more shade. The largest trees currently growing on the market square will be preserved. The new trees will be planted in special planters equipped with anti-compression boxes, which will allow the root systems to grow freely while protecting the historic relics beneath the market square’s paving from damage. Additional work will also be required to protect utility lines during the planting process; plans also include the construction of new openings in the wall surrounding St. Adalbert’s Church.
The landscape architecture design was prepared by a team of specialists from the Kraków University of Technology, consisting of Prof. Andrzej Kadłuczka, Wojciech Bobek, Prof. Agata Zachariasz, Katarzyna Fabijanowska, Marek Bogdanowicz, Agnieszka Greniuk, Prof. Zbigniew Myczkowski, Prof. Urszula Forczek-Brataniec, Paulina Koppel, Dominik Przygodzki, and Klaudia Stala.
In the past, greenery was an essential element of Kraków’s Main Market Square
© NAC
Trees take time
It all began with the Participatory Budgeting project “Let’s Plant Trees in the Main Market Square!”, which received over 20,000 votes from Kraków residents in 2022. Greening Kraków’s Main Square is no easy undertaking, primarily due to the historic nature of the site, its various functions, and even the presence of an underground museum beneath the square’s paving slabs; consequently, the pace of work since then has not been impressive.
In September 2023 , as part of a green space pilot project, a dozen or so planters with trees appeared on the Kraków Market Square. The initiative was far from ideal (the planters did not contain deciduous trees, but rather... pines), but the result achieved was to acclimate residents and tourists to the prospect of new greenery in the heart of Kraków’s Old Town. The media discussion, as well as additional questions raised by, among others, the project’s initiator Krzysztof Kwarciak (from the “Ulepszamy Kraków” association), certainly helped during the subsequent stages of the work.
Numerous trees have been growing near Kraków’s Main Market Square since at least the 19th century
© NAC
These stages proceeded just as laboriously, but with the involvement of specialists—after the Małopolska Provincial Conservator of Monuments gave preliminary approval to the project in January 2024 and developed a set of recommendations for introducing new trees in the market square, a team from the Kraków University of Technology, led by Wojciech Bobek, began the design work. Three task forces set out to examine the criteria governing the selection of greenery within Kraków’s Old Town, to develop compositional guidelines, and to address conservation considerations related to the various forms of protection for this space.
Why do we need trees in Kraków’s Market Square?
When implementing greening projects in public spaces—both contemporary and historic—one must ask what the actual purpose of these efforts is. In the Participatory Budgeting project“Let’s Plant Trees in the Main Market Square!”, we read: “The plantings will provide some shade and ensure that on warm days, the square will no longer be a concrete frying pan, which becomes one of the hottest places in the city,” as well as “Implementing this project will increase the amount of shade, contribute to improving the microclimate in the Market Square, and enhance the attractiveness of the city’s central hub.”
Until the 1960s, the Main Market Square in Kraków was full of trees
© NAC
Will the “Green Main Market Square” project turn Kraków’s Main Market Square into a green oasis? Plans call for planting 30 new trees, but 13 existing trees will be cut down. The net result is positive, but not impressive, as the square will gain a total of 17 trees. It is therefore worth warning supporters of this change in advance, while also reassuring those who oppose it— there will be no revolution. The conditions in Kraków’s Main Market Square will not change drastically, but in a few or a dozen or so years, when the trees mature, small “oases of coolness” will emerge. The area around the Town Hall Tower holds particular potential; thanks to its proximity to the Cloth Hall and the existing plantings, it is already arguably the most pleasant and shaded part of Kraków’s market square. Of course, one would like Kraków’s Main Square to stop being a “giant frying pan” — but this change cannot take place without far-reaching intervention in the current form of the historic market square, which is, after all—and for good reason—protected by all the tools for historic preservation available under the Polish legal system.
Changes are coming to St. Mary Magdalene Square
Photo: Zygmunt Put © CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons
If not in the market square, then where?
There’s no denying that the Main Market Square is one of the “hottest” heat islands in Kraków —after all, its nearly entirely paved surface covers as much as 4 hectares, and shade can essentially only be found among the buildings surrounding the market square and in the aisles of the Cloth Hall. It also features a superbly preserved historic city layout, whose integrity was guaranteed by its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List as early as 1978. If planting a large number of trees—which would realistically change the conditions on the Main Market Square—is not an option, then perhaps there is a chance for more greenery in other locations within the Old Town?
Some hope is offered by the consultation process regarding the future design of St. Mary Magdalene Square on Grodzka Street, led by A2P2 Architecture & Planning on behalf of the City of Kraków. Today, this small square, located across from the Baroque Church of Saints Peter and Paul, is entirely paved and lacks any shade other than that provided by the buildings surrounding it. Currently, the square’s surface has been arranged in a way that recreates the layout of the foundations of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, which was demolished in 1818. In the center of the square stands a stone fountain, built in 1996 according to a design by Józef Białasik and Michał Szymański, as well as a monument to Piotr Skarga by Czesław Dźwigaj from 2001.
The consultations concluded on April 24, 2026, and their results will be used to draft the guidelines for a design competition for the new layout of St. Mary Magdalene Square in Kraków.
