The volume, edited by Eduard Mühle, collects fourteen studies of Polish researchers interested in history of the two most important cities in present-day southern Poland: Breslau/Wrocław and Cracow/Kraków. The editor, a German historian from Münster, became closely acquainted with the subject matter and the environment of Polish scholars during his tenure as the director of the German Historical Institute in Warsaw.

The presented book shows the results of the newest research of historians, art and architecture historians, and archaeologists on a number of important aspects pertaining to these cities and the life of their citizens from the Middle Ages until the early modern period.

Cracow and Wrocław had similar history. Established as strongholds in the tribal period, they subsequently became centers of state power of the Piast dynasty, and both received the Magdeburg Law early in the second half of the thirteenth century. The population of the cities in the past was almost alike: Wrocław had between thirteen and fifteen thousand inhabitants in the fourteenth century, and grew to approximately thirty thousand by the middle of the sixteenth century; Cracow grew from twelve to thirty thousand in the same period. Finally, both cities were located along the major trade route linking Frankfurt and Leipzig with L'viv and Kiev.

In the thirteenth century the German-speaking population dominated both cities. However, since Cracow became the capital of the Polish Kingdom in 1320, it experienced the Polonization of its inhabitants. Wrocław on the other hand, passed under the rule of the Kings of Bohemia in 1335, and the town preserved its German character.

The first article, by Marek Słoń, investigates why only one municipality remained in Breslau, whereas other cities had on average three or four. In the second contribution, Jerzy Piekalski analyzes the formation of the public and private space in Wrocław in the thirteenth century. In this context, he particularly concentrates on the process of demarcating building plots after granting a city charter. Similar concerns also inspired Paweł Konczewski's article: his study of the fate of individual building parcels in Wrocław leads him to determine that the network of building plots was not completed until the end of the fourteenth and into the fifteenth century. Also related to this theme is the submission by Małgorzata Chorowska and Czesław Lasota, which explores the architectural shape of the houses at the Wrocław market, examining individual structures from their creation until the sixteenth century.

Mateusz Goliński enriches these articles with economic and social data. Drawing on the municipal financial books, he shows dynamics of changes in ownership of houses and living conditions of the elites between 1345 and 1420. In the subsequent essay, Chorowska builds on Goliński's subject. She provides information about the splendor of the bourgeois elite residences of Wrocław, which had emulated, or even competed with, residences of knights and princes. Similar tendencies, like the desire for luxury that manifested status and prestige, are also found in the contribution of Jerzy Piekalski and Krzysztof Wachowski, which describes the latest archaeological discoveries at the Wrocław market.

Wrocław's prosperity was mostly based on the existence of long-distance trade. In his study, Grzegorz Myśliwski not only concentrates this relationship, but also examines the ties between the patricians of Wrocław and Cracow, and other cities in the so-called Little Poland. In his second text of the volume, Mateusz Goliński challenges Myśliwski's argument from the perspective of Cracow and social history based on his investigation of contacts between Cracow and Wrocław's elites, migration, and personal relationships.

Waldemar Komorowski's paper strictly concerns Cracow. He shows the topographic, urban, and architectural development of the city during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. On a similar note, Sławomir Dryja, who leads his team of researchers, describes the development of building layouts in the Cracow market, where he shows the location and the shape of the structures related to trade. In addition to Dryja et al., Marek M. Łukacz also takes on the problem of Cracow's market. His discussion, however, draws on recent excavations and describes the development and distribution of residential area around the city's market.

In the penultimate essay, Waldemar Komorowski discusses the patrician mansions in Cracow. He examines several of these houses along with their furnishings to convey the manifestation of wealth, luxury, and privileged lifestyle among the late medieval urban elite. In the final article of the volume, Jakub Wysmułek examined wills, donations to the church, and pious behavior of townspeople in the fourteenth century to chart the religious dimension of life among the prominent burghers.