Probably every polish citizen knows the famous trumpet call form the tower of St.Mary’s Church in Cracow. The trumpet call can be heard every hour and to many it became a symbol of not only Cracow but an important polish cultural icon. An old legends tells a story of a cracovian guard who by playing the trumpet, signaled the Cracovians of an incoming Tatar attack. However he was killed by an arrow while playing the trumpet and nowadays the melody is also symbollicaly interrupted to resemble his sacrifice.
In the past, almost every city in Poland had its trumpet call, which signaled the beginning of a day, noon and the end, when the city’s gate were being closed. In some of the cities the trumpet call was played every hour, as it is now in Cracow.
In the past Przemyśl also had its own trumpet call. Dr Mieczysław Orłowicz mentions that in his guide “Przewodnik po Przemyślu”. During different periods of time, many people were looking for the melody of that call in archives and libraries, but no trace of it was found. Because of that a different approach was needed. The experts visited the oldest citizens of Przemyśl and asked if they could remember any part of the melody and eventually, after gathering all of the pieces, they created a the new trumpet call of Przemyśl.