Błonia

Błonia Park is a vast meadow with an area of 48 hectares directly adjacent to the historic centre of the city of Kraków, Poland.

The history of the park began in 1162, when a wealthy nobleman Jaksa z Miechowa – founder of the Polish branch of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre – donated the land between Zwierzyniec and Łobzów to Norbertine Nuns. His intention was to receive a blessing prior to his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For the next two centuries the meadow belonged to nuns, who in 1366 exchanged it with the city's authorities for a manor at Florianska Street. The meadow was used by peasants from neighboring villages to graze their cattle.

Until the 19th century Błonia Park was largely neglected, and often flooded by the Rudawa river in the spring turning it into wetland with small islands, probably contributing to the spread of epidemics.