Uwarunkowania rozwoju architektury kazimierskiego Miasta Żydowskiego w Krakowie w latach 1495 - 1815

The architecture and urbanism of the Jewish City evolved in relation to the social, economic, and political situation of Casimir’s Jews. Depending on the state of relations between the Jews and the king, aristocracy, nobility, and burghers of Cracow, possibilities of development in the field of urbanism and especially architecture changed. Of great importance for the spatial development of the Jewish City were events occurring initially on the outskirts of PolishLithuanian Commonwealth (Cossack uprisings), and then directly in Cracow and Casimir (The Swedish Deluge, partitions of the state). Therefore, the spatial development of the Jewish City for the entire period of its existence influenced the political position of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth and, after the partitions, foreign rulers (Russia, Prussia, Austria) as well. Thanks to the influence of Jewish intangible culture and non-cultural factors, architecture and urbanism have their own distinctive and recognizable features; the statement mentioned above assumed as a main working research hypothesis. These features prove the existence of the Jewish architecture and urbanism as a part of the tangible Jewish culture in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, and later on its territory divided between foreign invaders in the years 1495-1815. The question of Jewish architecture and urbanism as essential elements of tangible culture, and the complex relationship between them and intangible culture, is raised relatively rarely in literature. Moreover, there is a relatively low number of comprehensive publications that discuss these complex relationships between culture and architecture and urbanism. The main aim of this interdisciplinary research is the verification of the hypothesis assumed above on the basis of archival sources, including photographic documentation and selected paintings, and their analysis. It is taken into consideration that the proof of existence of the original Jewish architecture and urbanism is possible by demonstrating the influence of the intangible Jewish culture and non-cultural factors on the space of the Casimiriensis Jewish City, inhabited in this period only by the Jews. Revealing this influence is, at the same time, the main theoretical – cognitive goal of the research.