New instruments for Krakow trumpeters
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
14.08.2012 09:33
Kraków trumpeters who play the historic hourly bugle call from the tower of St Mary’s Church have been given two new instruments by the city president.
photo - jadwiga/wikicommons
The bugle call is played by seven professional firefighters who work according to a 24-hour shift system and commemorates the trumpeter who, whilst raising the alarm, in the middle of the 13th century, was shot through the throat by a Mongol arrow.
The first written accounts of the Krakow bugle call come from 1392 but it has now become an important part of the city's many tourist attractions.
They have to climb 239 steps to reach the top of the tower from which the bugle call is sounded on the hour, every hour of the day and night.
Each time the bugle call - known as Hejnał mariacki (St Mary's Dawn) in Polish - repeated four times: to north, south, east and west. It consists of a simple melody of open chords, which is cut short in the middle of the final cadence.
After World War II, Polish Radio adopted the bugle call as a prelude to its daily time signal at twelve noon. (mk/pg)