photo: flickr.com
The Kraków ‘hejnał’, a bugle call that is played every hour from the top of St. Mary’s Basilica in the city’s Main Market Square, is one of the city’s most recognisable traits. It is hard to miss when in the city centre, and when the wind blows in the right direction it can be heard outside the old city walls.
The ‘hejnał’ is played a rotating guard of firefighters. At the beginning of 2009, the call’s obligations were passed over from the regional fire department back to the hands of the municipal fire brigade. Even though the regional department played the ‘hejnał’ for 17 years, the tradition of the call reaches back over 700, when the city guard in Kraków would perch atop the tower to see whether there were any marauding armies in the vicinity, or whether any fires had broken out within in the city walls. According to Michał Niezabitowski, diector of the Historical Museum of Kraków, guards have been watching over the city since the 14th century, or even the 13th.
The ‘hejnał’ as we know it today is the result of a legend about the Tatar invasion of Poland and Kraków back in the 13th century. The short break at the end of the tune is a representation of the legend, which states that the guard playing the ‘hejnał’ was shot straight through the neck by one of the advancing Tatar archers. Michał Niezabitowski from the Historical Museum of Kraków: “We don’t know much about the melody that was played, or whether it had a continuation. However, we do know that at the time of the Tatar invasions the guards would have played ‘Bogurodzica’, and not the tune we know today. The ‘hejnał’ tune ends abruptly as a testament to the legend, and we don’t have a manuscript of any missing notes.”
The ‘hejnał’ is such an important melody in Polish culture that it is also broadcast live at noon on Polish Radio One before the news. So if you’re not in the city, you can always tune in and relive the stuff of legend, when the Tatars invaded the city back in the 13th century.
Click on the audio icon to listen to the report by John Beauchamp.