In 1335 King Casimir (Kazimierz in Polish) the Great founded a
city at Krakow's doorstep, near the ancient shrine of Skalka,
and gave it his own name. He also endowed the city of Kazimierz
with immense acreage and trade privileges, and dignified it with
two imposing churches– of St. Katherine's in the west and of
Corpus Christi in the east. The former is famous for its Gothic
high and slender nave with excellent acoustics and for the grand
cloister of the adjacent abbey with fine Gothic and Renaissance
frescos. The 14th-century Gothic church of St. Catherine
(Kosciol Sw. Katarzyny) is a popular venue for concerts of
classical music. The 15th-century Town Hall amid Kazimierz's
Plac Wolnica central square was turned in the 16th century into
a Renaissance edifice which now houses the Museum of
Ethnography. Whatever was its king-founder's intention, the town
of Kazimierz remained dwarfed by the nearby capital city and
became Krakow's part in 1800. The transfer of Krakow Jews to
Kazimierz in 1495 gave rise to its