If one of the women who applied for a job had been appointed, it would have meant the end of a tradition of men-only trumpeters that stretches back over seven centuries.
Three women were among the more than 30 candidates who wanted to try their hand at sounding the bugle from the top of the tower of the city’s St Mary’s Church.
The best of the hopefuls have made it into the next stage of a recruitment process held by the Kraków fire brigade, but none of them are women.
“We picked six candidates with the highest level of ability in playing the bugle,” said Bartłomiej Rosiek from the Kraków fire brigade.
A traditional bugle call is played every hour on the hour and is repeated four times, out of the north, south, east and west-facing windows of the church tower.
The tune, in homage to a legend, consists of a simple melody of open chords which is cut short in the middle of the final cadence.
The legend has it that an 11th century trumpeter in Kraków was shot through the throat with an arrow while raising an alarm warning of a Mongol invasion.
The first written accounts of the Kraków bugle call come from 1392.
(pk)
Source: IAR