The symbolic dimension of the city – the presence of a dragon in the urban space of Krakow

Abstract

Abstract The paper deals with the issues of the symbolic dimension of a city created from the urban and social subsystems. The city and its landscape are understood here as a system of signs functioning in two distinct orders of reality, yet still dependent on each other, i.e. the material order and the imaginary one. In the paper, we ask questions about the role of the symbol in the contemporary process of creating the specificity of a place. We also speak about the identity of a place, about endowing a place with features of familiarity, about the social need to recognise the symbol. The presence of a dragon, a creature born in the human imagination, in the urban space of Krakow was chosen as an example of the symbolic dimension of the city. Krakow is a historic city, the former capital of Poland, a city rich in diverse symbolic capitals. The dragon is a symbol of Krakow. It is present in the legend about the city’s origins, and is also commonly present in the material space of Krakow. It is part of the city’s identity.