00 Wstep Atrakcje turystyczne EN.indd
Transcription
00 Wstep Atrakcje turystyczne EN.indd
Tourist attractions of the Lubelskie Region ww w. lu be lsk ie. pl TOURIST ATTRACTIONS OF THE LUBELSKIE REGION – tourist guide TOURIST ATTRACTIONS OF THE LUBELSKIE REGION WOJEWÓDZTWO LUBELSKIE Editorial co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the framework of Regional Operational Programme of the Lubelskie Region 2007–2013. tourist guide Tabele Introduction of contents Places worth seeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Lublin. Old Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Gates: Krakowska and Grodzka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Dominican Basilica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Lublin Cathedral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 The Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Holy Trinity Chapel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Jews of Lublin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Catholic University of Lublin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Academic district . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Open-Air Village Museum in Lublin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Botanical Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Zemborzyce Reservoir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Zamość. Renaissance city . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Great Market Square and tenement buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Collegiate Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Arsenal and stronghold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Zoological Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Chełm. Cathedral Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Chełm Chalk Tunnels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Church of the Sending Out of the Apostles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Museum of Chełm Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 “Dyrekcja” District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Biała Podlaska. Castle and park complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Museum of Southern Podlasie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 St. Anne’s Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Kazimierz Dolny. Parish Church and Market Square . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Tenement houses and granariese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Castle and fortified tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Summer festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Gorges of Kazimierz Dolny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Biłgoraj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Hrubieszów . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Janowiec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Janów Lubelski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Janów Podlaski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Kock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 Kozłówka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Krasnystaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Kraśnik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Lubartów . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Łuków . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Opole Lubelskie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Puławy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Radzyń Podlaski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Siedliska i Hrebenne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Szczebrzeszyn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Tomaszów Lubelski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Włodawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Wojciechów . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 Wojsławice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 1 Introduction Biographical museums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Romanów. Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Wola Okrzejska. Henryk Sienkiewicz Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Nałęczów. Bolesław Prus Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Stefan Żeromski Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Kazimierz Dolny. Maria and Jerzy Kuncewicz Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Hrubieszów. Fr. Stanisław Staszic Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Lublin. Wincenty Pol Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Other museums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Dęblin. Air Force Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Żmijowiska. “Żmijowiska Gord” Archaeological Open-Air Museum . . 119 Hola. Open-Air Museum of the Heritage of Chełm and Podlasie Regions . 120 Kazimierz Dolny. Muzeum Przyrodnicze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Sanctuaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Kodeń. Sanctuary of Our Lady of Kodeń . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Jabłeczna. St. Onuphrius’ Orthodox Monastery Complex . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Pratulin i Kostomłoty. Sanctuaries of the Blessed Martyrs of Podlasie . . . 129 Leśna Podlaska. Sanctuary of Our Lady of Leśna Podlaska . . . . . . . . . . 131 Wąwolnica. Sanctuary of Our Lady of Kębło . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Krasnobród. Sanctuary of Our Lady of Krasnobród . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Radecznica. Sanctuary of St. Anthony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Piotrawin. Sanctuary of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Górecko Kościelne. Sanctuary of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr . . . 138 Wola Gułowska. Sanctuary of Virgin Mary, the Patron of September Soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140 Defence structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Dęblin Stronghold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144 Forts of the Brest Stronghold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Bunkers of the Molotov Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Museums of martyrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Majdanek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Bełżec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Sobibór . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Rotunda in Zamość . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 National parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Roztocze National Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Polesie National Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Health resorts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Nałęczów . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Krasnobród . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Other attractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Vistula Narrow-Gauge Rail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 White Fleet in Kazimierz Dolny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Goth Village . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Slavic Gord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Studzianka – a Tatar Village . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Land of Chamomile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Land of Honey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Magical Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 The Park of Labyrinths and the Park of Miniatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 ZOOM Natury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 “Dinosaurs” Educational Trail in Krasnobród . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Events calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Tourist information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204 2 Introduction Situated in eastern Poland, bordering with Ukraine and Belarus, the Lublin Region is a worthwhile place to discover and explore. Its varied landscape, along with the rich cultural and natural assets, provide for a memorable and exciting holiday experience. The Lublin Region boasts a clean environment with pristine nature protected within two national parks, 17 landscape parks and 87 nature reserves, and 122 Natura 2000 European protected areas. Adding to this natural wealth is the great cultural heritage of a mosaic of many eastern and western traditions and religions. Some of the most popular historical sites and monuments include the “ideal” Renaissance city of Zamość, the picturesque hotbed of painting and filming Kazimierz Dolny, the Old Town and Castle in Lublin, Cathedral Hill in Chełm, the castle and park complex in Biała Podlaska, the Palace Complex in Puławy, the magnate residence in Kozłówka, the Orthodox monastery in Jabłeczna, the horse stud farm in Janów Podlaski, the health resort park in Nałęczów, etc.… These historical assets are supported by the ever-expanding range of new tourist products, such as family theme parks, themed villages, farmsteads and trails, as well as festivals, fairs and a variety of cultural events, often in the open-air settings of towns and cities like Lublin, Zamość, Kazimierz Dolny, Nałęczów, Zwierzyniec and in other interesting places in the region. The Lesser Poland Gorge of the Vistula River, the Podlasie Gorge of the Bug River, the Powiśle region, Roztocze, Puszcza Solska (a primeval forest), the Janów Lubelski Forests – these provide some outstanding opportunities for hiking, biking, kayaking and horse riding. Facilitating this are marked trails and paths – the Lublin Region is one of Poland's leading regions in terms of the number and length of marked tourist trails that connect the most attractive places of the region. Leisure opportunities in the Lublin Region are further backed by a robust network of hotels, motels, guest houses and agritourism farms, offering their visitors regional delicacies, and also providing them with more and more enticing holiday packages which often tap into local traditions. Useful websites www.lubelskie.pl www.lubelskietravel.pl www.lubelskie.agroturystyka.pl 3 Places worth seeing Chapter 1 4 Places worth seeing A bird’s eye view of the Old Town, photo by P. Maciuk LUBLIN Old Town Developed between the 13th and 16th centuries, it is one of the best-preserved historical urban complexes of this type in Poland. Around the market square and by the Royal Route, which leads to the neighbouring Castle Hill, tenement buildings were erected for the most affluent citizens. Many of them were home to some very prominent figures in Polish history, art and literature (such as Sebastian Fabian Klonowic, Jan Kochanowski, Henryk Wieniawski and Wincenty Pol). In the middle of the market square lies the former city hall. In 1578, it changed its function to become the Crown Tribunal. In the 18th century it acquired its Classicist look that it has now. The historical Lubomelski Tenement House, with its preserved Renaissance polychromes in the cellar, is home to the Fortuna The Fortuna Cellar Multimedia Museum, photo courtesy of the LRTO archive 6 The Old Town – a view of Grodzka St. from the Market Square, photo by P. Maciuk Cellar multimedia museum where you can learn about the city’s history spanning 700 years, including many legends and stories related to Lublin. Exhibited along the Lublin Underground Route, which runs through dungeons and basements under the Old Town, there are maquettes illustrating the city in various periods of its history. Each year, this oldest district of Lublin, along with the adjoining areas of the city centre, hosts annual festivals and other mass cultural events, such as Carnaval Sztuk-Mistrzów (Magicians’ Carnival), the Jagiellonian Fair and the European Festival of Taste. Lublin Tourist and Cultural Information Centre, ul. Jezuicka 1/3, 20-016 Lublin, tel. 81 532 44 12; [email protected], www.lubelskietravel.pl Fortuna Cellar, Rynek 8, 20-112 Lublin, tel. 81 444 55 55, [email protected], www.piwnica.lublin.eu, Lublin Underground Route, Rynek 1 (Trybunał Koronny), 20-112 Lublin, tel. 81 534 65 70, 600 502 930; [email protected], www.tnn.lublin.pl The Crown Tribunal (the former Town Hall) on the Old Town Market Square, photo by P. Maciuk 7 Places worth seeing Gates: Krakowska and Grodzka The Old Town complex ends with Krakowska and Grodzka Gates, within the axis of the Royal Route. They were both built, along with the now gone defensive walls, in 1341 after the Tatar invasion. Krakowska Gate connected the old part of the town with the major suburb leading to Kraków (Krakowskie Przedmieście). Krakowskie Przedmieście is now a pedestrian precinct in the city centre and a central street of Lublin. Despite being reconstructed many times, this structure has preserved its original features of a Gothic Krakowska Gate, photo by S. Turski and Renaissance defensive structure and continues to be Lublin’s best-known landmark. Its distinctive Gothic brick body with a gatehouse is crowned by an octagonal retable with a bulb-shaped dome. The gate passage functions as a street art gallery, with painters and young musicians presenting their works for passers-by. Inside the building is the Lublin History Museum. Grodzka Gate, which connects the Old Town to Castle Hill, exhibits a new Classicist image that it acquired after a reconstruction in the late 18th century, as designed by the King’s architect Domenico Merlini. This monument is home to the “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre, known for its artistic activities and efforts to document and promote the city’s and region’s history. The Dominican Basilica, photo by S. Turski Dominican Basilica One of the oldest and most valuable churches and monasteries in Lublin. Due to its imposing proportions and class, it came to be called the Wawel of Lublin. Dominicans came to Lublin as early as the 13th century, and in the first half of the 14th century Casimir the Great donated the church of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr. In the great fire of Lublin in 1575, the entire complex was destroyed, to be later redeveloped in the Renaissance style. In later years, 11 chapels were built onto the church. Among these, the Renaissance chapels donated by the Firlej and Ossoliński families, and the Baroque chapel, donated by the Tyszkiewicz family, are regarded as particularly valuable. In 1569, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland Lublin History Museum in Krakowska Gate, Pl. Łokietka 3, 20-109 Lublin, [email protected], tel. 81 532 60 01 Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre, ul. Grodzka 21, 20-112 Lublin, tel. 81 532 58 67; [email protected], www.teatrnn.pl Grodzka Gate, photo by P. Maciuk 8 The Interior of the Dominican Basilica, photo by P. Maciuk 9 Places worth seeing and non-Christian religions, and also the annual Saint Hyacinth Fair and the Old Town Christmas Eve, which attract throngs of Lublin’s residents and tourists. Dominican Basilica, ul. Złota 9, 20-121 Lublin, tel. 81 532 89 90; [email protected], www.lublin.dominikanie.pl Lublin Cathedral A painting depicting “The Fire of Lublin”, photo by P. Maciuk and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania signed the Union of Lublin. As per tradition, the oath of ratification of the Union was taken in the Basilica, in the Gothic refectory. A Renaissance crucifix has been preserved to this day as a commemoration of this event. The newest, southern, wing of the monastery houses the H. Ch. Andersen Theatre. Dominicans in Lublin avidly engage in the spiritual and cultural life of the city. The Basilica hosts the Debate of Two Pulpits, a recurring event participated in by representatives of various Christian The Dominican Basilica with the Tyszkiewicz Chapel, photo by P. Maciuk 10 The Cathedral and Trynitarska Tower, photo by P. Maciuk Originally, it was one of the first Baroque churches in Poland, designed on the model of the Church of the Gesù in Rome. The Church of Saint John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, along with the Jesuit Monastery buildings, was constructed as early as at the turn of the 17th century. When the Lublin diocese was established in 1805, the former Jesuit church was designated to serve as a cathedral. Most of the monastic buildings were torn down to leave an expansive courtyard. The Cathedral – interior polychromes, photo by P. Maciuk 11 Places worth seeing A view from the aisle to the high altar, photo by P. Maciuk The famous architect Antonio Corazzi added a Classicist portico with a terrace to the Baroque façade of the church. Also, he transformed the former monastery gate into a lofty bell tower, called the Trinitarian Tower, which presently houses the Archdiocesan Museum of Religious Art. In addition to the sculptures, candelabra and other obsolete items of cult, the museum’s prime attraction is a 40-metre-high observation deck. The Cathedral’s interior is covered with magnificent illusionistic polychromies by Józef Mayer, the court painter of Augustus III of Poland. Of all the valuable furnishings, particularly notable are the Baroque paintings by Franciszek Lekszycki and Szymon Czechowicz, as well as the massive 17th-century high altar (as high as 25 metres!). The treasury and acoustic vestry, with its unique sound properties offered by the special vault design, are adorned with several The crypts of Lublin’s bishops, photo by P. Maciuk 12 illusionistic frescos. These leave the spectator with the most powerful impression of the depth of perspective and the dynamism of the figures they illustrate. Abounding in pieces of sacred art, both rooms are open for sightseeing. Tourists can also see the burial crypts spanning from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Archaeologists have found there many burial sites of clericals and laymen, with finely preserved liturgical vestments, żupans, kontuszes, dresses and numerous other historical garments. The best-preserved garments are put on exhibition in the crypt under the western aisle. In other crypts, visitors can see the graves of Lublin bishops. The Lublin Cathedral also operates as a Marian sanctuary, a place where the special cult of the image of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, also called Our Lady of the Tears, has thrived since 1949. Right by the altar with this miraculous image, there is the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, with its altar featuring a crucifix called the Tribunal Cross, which once used to grace the courtroom of the Crown Tribunal. Archcathedral Parish, ul. Królewska 10, 20-109 Lublin, tel. 81 532 11 96; www.archikatedra.kuria.lublin.pl, [email protected] Archdiocesan Museum of Religious Art, ul. Królewska 10, tel. 695 475 152 The Castle The first stronghold had already been established here during the reign of the Piast dynasty, around the year 1000. In the 13th century, a Romanesque tower of stone (donjon) was added, and a Gothic castle was erected here, in the 14th century by Casimir the Great. In the years 1823-26, in the days of Congress Poland, the castle was converted into a prison. The prison operated as long as into the Lublin Castle, photo by P. Maciuk 13 Places worth seeing Lublin Castle, photo by J. Opiela-Basińska times of the Occupation of Poland and early communist Poland (until 1954), seeing thousands of Poles tortured and executed. The Castle is administered by the Museum of Lublin, featuring galleries of Polish and Western European paintings, its showpieces being Jan Matejko’s “The Union of Lublin” and Hendrick ter Brugghen’s “Pilate Washing His Hands.” Also, the Museum has an extensive collection of modern Polish paintings, militaria and military art, antique handicrafts and coins, and also ethnographic and archaeological resources. The donjon houses an exhibition devoted to the martyrdom of the Lublin Castle prisoners. Atop the tower, an observation deck has been arranged for visitors. The interior of the Holy Trinity Chapel, photo by P. Maciuk Holy Trinity Chapel In addition to the 13th-century donjon, this 14th-century chapel donated by Casimir the Great is the oldest building of the Lublin Castle. Incorporated into a system of defensive walls, it has two storeys, with the upper one’s walls, abutments and vaults being fully covered with frescos. These frescos, mostly themed around the Old and New Testament, but also featuring the saints and fathers of the Eastern Church, were created in 1418 by Ruthenian painters under the guidance of Master Andrew. They were commissioned by King Władysław Jagiełło, who had himself painted twice on the chapel’s walls. The chapel is a top-class monument Lublin Museum, ul. Zamkowa 9, 20-117 Lublin, tel. 81 532 50 01 – 03; [email protected], www.muzeumlubelskie.pl The Donjon and Chapel on the Lublin Castle bailey, photo by P. Maciuk 14 “Three Men visit Abraham”, photo by P. Maciuk 15 Places worth seeing exhibiting a harmonious marriage of western Gothic architecture and eastern Byzantine-Ruthenian painting. As regards the chapel’s external features that have been preserved, there is a portal on the former gate on the first floor and the top section of the façade, both dating back to when the Castle was reconstructed in the Renaissance style. Lublin Museum, ul. Zamkowa 9, 20-117 Lublin, tel. 81 532 50 01 – 03; [email protected], www.muzeumlubelskie.pl Jews of Lublin In the past, Lublin would be called “The Jerusalem of the Kingdom of Poland.” The first Jewish settlers came here in the 15th century to erect their own town at the foot of the royal castle. Later, they settled in the suburbs of Lublin, including Kalinowszczyzna, Piaski and Wieniawa. Lublin was the leading centre of Judaic (including Hasidic) culture and religion, with the most prominent figures including the zaddiks Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin, also known as the “Seer of Lublin” and Reb Judah Lejb, also known as the “Weeping Zaddik.” Established by Rabbi Yehuda Meir Shapiro, the world-famous Talmudic academy Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva (The Lublin Academy The Ohel (grave) of the Seer of Lublin at the old Jewish cemetery, photo by P. Maciuk 16 Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin, photo by S. Turski of Sages) operated in Lublin in the 1930s. Lately, it has once again become a centre for the Jewish community and for tourist visitors, housing a memorial room, a synagogue and a hotel. In the years 1942-43, the Germans tore down the Jewish town, slaughtering its inhabitants in the extermination camps in Majdanek, Bełżec and Sobibór. A Heritage Trail of the Lublin Jews has been established to help preserve and find the traces of the Jewish community in Lublin. Among the stops on the trail is an old Jewish cemetery in the Kalinowszczyzna District, with matzevas, dating back to the 16th century (!), and the 19th-century ohel of the “Seer of Lublin”, and also the new Jewish cemetery in Walecznych Street, The Memorial Room in the new Jewish cemetery, photo by P. Maciuk 17 Places worth seeing with the Memorial Chamber of the Frenkiel family Foundation, the Chewra Nosim Synagogue on Lubartowska Street and Grodzka Gate, formerly called the Jewish Gate, as it separated the Castle Hill, along with the Jewish district that spread at its foot, from the Old Town. Jewish Community of Warsaw – Lublin, ul. Lubartowska 85, 20-123 Lublin, tel. 81 747 09 92; [email protected], www.lublin.jewish.org.pl Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre,, ul. Grodzka 21, 20-112 Lublin, tel. 81 532 58 67; [email protected], www.teatrnn.pl Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) The best-known university both in Lublin and the region. In 2005, it was named after John Paul II. Cardinal-Priest Karol Wojtyła was associated with this University for almost a quarter of a century – from 1954 to 1978, when he was elected to the papacy, he ran the Ethics Department at the Faculty of Christian Philosophy. In 1982 KUL established the John Paul II Institute to study his thought and works. A monument to the Pope and Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of the Millenium, was placed in the university courtyard a year later (it was masterly crafted by the brilliant sculptor Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz). KUL was founded in 1918, after Poland regained its independence, and has since cherished the maxim of “Deo et Patriae – For God and Students enjoying a break between classes in the University courtyard, photo by P. Maciuk the Fatherland.” The Catholic University of Lublin has a museum devoted to presenting the history of KUL, which spans almost 100 years, and the life of its great patron. Also named after John Paul II is JP II Collegium, a new educational facility, designed by Stanisław Fijałkowski, an acclaimed architect from Warsaw, which lies in close proximity to the University’s building complex on the site of the former Dominican monastery. The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin – Museum of History, al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, tel. 81 445 41 53; [email protected], www.kul.pl The Catholic University of Lublin – the courtyard with a monument to Pope John Paul II and Primate S. Wyszyński, photo by S. Turski Academic district The new building of John Paul II College, photo by P. Maciuk 18 KUL lies in the academic district, so while you’re there, it’s also worth visiting the neighbouring sites and buildings of two other public universities – Maria Curie-Skłodowska University and the 19 Places worth seeing The University Campus, photo by P. Maciuk University of Life Sciences (formerly operating as the Higher School of Agriculture, from 1955 to 1972, and the Agricultural University, from 1972 to 2008). The fine urban layout and the superior architecture of the campus, which has been developed in the spirit of modernism and post-modernism for nearly 70 years, has been achieved through the contests of the Polish Association of Architecture (SARP), organised since as early as 1947 and 1948. The most credit for creating the academic district in Lublin is due to Czesław Gawdzik and Tadeusz Witkowski, who applied the rules of modern and functional urban planning proclaimed by the father of modernism, Le Corbusier, during the 4th World Congress of Architects in 1933. The academic district is divided by Sowińskiego Street into two zones with The UMCS Main Library, photo by P. Maciuk 20 The “Chatka Żaka” Academic Centre of Culture, photo by P. Maciuk different functions. One is intended for broadly defined study and teaching facilities, and the other is designated for socialising and service venues. The former, located on the eastern escarpment, features the buildings of the Rector’s Office, individual faculties and the library. In the latter zone, located on the western escarpment, there are dorms, an assistant lecturer’s hotel, cultural and sporting centres and a park (which was originally intended as an academic botanical garden). In addition to the two mentioned architects, major contributors to developing the academic district also included Krystyna Tołłoczko-Różycka (who designed the “Chatka Żaka” Academic Centre of The University Campus with UMCS and UP buildings, photo by P. Maciuk 21 Places worth seeing Culture in Radziszewskiego Street), Stanisław Fijałkowski (who designed, among other things, the building complex housing the Rector’s Office and the faculties of Economics and Law of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Sowińskiego Street). With five public and several private universities, Lublin ranks as the fifth largest academic centre in Poland, and its campus district is recognised as one of the best across Poland. Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) Museum, ul. Radziszewskiego 11, 20031 Lublin, tel. 81 537 58 31; [email protected] An elegant gate in the estate section, photo by P. Maciuk The new UMCS IT Faculty building, photo by Piotr Maciuk Open-Air Village Museum in Lublin It is situated in a very scenic, hilly area of the Sławinek District, in the Czechówka River valley. Covering an area of a few dozen hectares, there is a section devoted to old architecture found in the geographical and cultural areas of the region, including the Lublin Upland, Roztocze, Powiśle, Southern Podlasie and Polesie Lubelskie, and the Bug River region. Also, there is a section of estate buildings, with a grand 18th-century manor house from The entrance to the Lublin Open-Air Village Museum, photo by P. Maciuk 22 Żyrzyn and a small-town section, with a reproduced paved market square featuring a town hall from the nearby Głusk and many more buildings from provincial towns across the region. The Museum’s identifying features include an early 20th-century tower windmill from Zygmuntowo near Puławy, which continues to mill cereals into flour, and an 18th-century Uniate church from the borderland village of Tarnoszyn. This beautiful three-domed building, restored by the joint efforts of the Museum and the believers of the Lublin Parish of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, is intended both as a museum and a place of the Julian-calendar-based cult of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Situated in the small-town section, a 17th-century wooden church from the nearby village of Matczyn, also has this dual function. It is attended to by the priests of the Roman-Catholic Parish from the Sławinek District. The manor house in Żyrzyn, photo by K. Wasilczyk 23 Places worth seeing A demonstration of field works in the open-air village park, photo by P. Maciuk The Open-Air Village Museum in Lublin is a perfect place to go for a walk and, at the same time, a journey in time. Many of the Museum’s exhibits, including in particular those in the newest small-town section, feature meticulously reproduced interiors to make them feel as if they were in the interwar period of the 1920s. In addition, from spring to autumn, the Museum plays host to a variety of events, including demonstrations of life and work on a farm, meetings with masters in dying trades and professions, and outdoor events, such as church fairs, horse fairs and other fairs that bring back the memories of the past. Open-Air Village Museum in Lublin, al. Warszawska 96, 20-824 Lublin, tel.: 81 533 85 13, 533 31 37; [email protected], www.skansen.lublin.pl At the Lublin Open-Air Village Museum, photo by G. Jaworski 24 Afternoon at the Lublin Botanical Garden, photo by P. Maciuk Botanical Garden Located in the Sławinek District, close to the Open-Air Village Museum, there is another place at least as nice for going for a walk to as the Museum – it is the Botanical Garden of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. It stretches on the former property of the Kościuszko family, with some of the older garden layouts, including the linden and ash alley, designed personally by Tadeusz Kościuszko, who would come here to visit his uncle, Jan Nepomucen, and test his engineering and garden-landscaping knowledge he gained during his studies in Paris. One of the Garden’s landmarks is a replica of the 1720 manor house of the Kościuszko family, with its interiors open for visitors. The Kościuszko Manor House, photo courtesy of the UMCS BG archive 25 Places worth seeing A sightseeing group in the Botanical Garden in Lublin, photo courtesy of the UMCS BG An arboretum in the Botanical Garden in Lublin, photo courtesy of the UMCS BG Situated nearby is a manor-styled garden, called the Palace Garden, set up in the place where Tadeusz Kościuszko put up earthworks in 1790 for defence against the Austrians. There are many more such historical curiosities involving the Botanical Garden. For example, when a mineral spring was found in the vicinity of the Kościuszko family’s manor house, which was sometime around 1820, Sławinek became a health resort for almost a hundred years. The Wagner family, the then proprietors of Sławinek, established here a suburban bathhouse for the residents of Lublin. In 1860, following the fashion of the more reputable Nałęczów, the bathhouse became a baths facility intended for health resort visitors from across the Lublin Governorate and the Kingdom of Poland. Nowadays, the remnants of the past glory of this health resort can be found in the Swiss Chalet, whose basement houses the “Baba Jaga” café, a popular venue among the Garden visitors. Stretching over almost 22 hectares on a high (40 metres) bank slope of the Czechówka River, cut by several scenic loess ravines, the area of the Botanical Garden has been divided into a dozen or so theme sections, including the Arboretum, the Alpine Garden, Polish Flora, and the Flora of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. There are also some more exotic sections, including Biblical Plants and Tropical and Subtropical Plants. In total, the Garden has a collection of over 1600 tree and shrub species, 3300 species of herbaceous plants and 1600 species of greenhouse plants. Colourful carpets of crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths and tulips (several hundred species) are a major attraction in spring, whereas colour- and variety-rich lines of roses are the highlight of summer. Enthusiasts of exotica can go to the greenhouses to see hundreds of species and varieties of the Mediterranean Region, Africa, both Americas, Australia and New Zealand. UMCS Botanical Garden, ul. Sławinkowska 3, 20-810 Lublin, tel. 81 743 49 00, 743 49 45; [email protected], www.garden.umcs.lublin.pl An old lane from the times of the Kościuszkos, photo by P. Maciuk 26 Blooming peonies, photo BG UMCS archive 27 Places worth seeing The “Słoneczny Wrotków” Centre, photo by P. Maciuk Zemborzyce Reservoir Situated on the southern edge of the city, surrounded by forests, Zemborzyce Reservoir is the favourite place for many Lublin residents to go on a pleasure trip or engage in active pastimes. Created in the Bystrzyca River valley, Zemborzyce Reservoir has an area of approx. 280 hectares and a varied shoreline of more than 13 kilometres. Laid out around it there is a bicycle trail that goes along the Bystrzyca River towards the centre of Lublin. The Bystrzyca River and the Zemborzyce Reservoir are also often used for kayaking trips. Situated by the Reservoir are a couple of recreation centres, including the “Słoneczny Wrotków” centre, with its swimming and recreational pools, wading pools for children, and a big tube slide. On the sandy beach, there is also a fun playground, made in the format of a “Treasure Island”, featuring Cyclists near the Reservoir, photo by P. Maciuk 28 By the Zemborzycki Reservoir, photo by P. Maciuk a model of a ship and a lighthouse, and a pirates’ village. Those who prefer active leisure can use a ropes course and rent water equipment from a local rental. In the close vicinity there is the “Reland” Water Sports Centre with one of Poland’s most exciting water ski lifts. It has been the venue of national and international water skiing and wakeboarding competitions. The western side of the Reservoir features lodging and F&B facilities which were established earlier, with a camping site in the “Marina” centre, a marina, and sailing and kayaking enthusiasts clubs. Słoneczny Wrotków Recreation Centre, ul. Osmolicka 1, 20-523 Lublin, tel. 81 466 51 70, 744 06 59; [email protected], www.mosir.lublin.pl/ wrotkow. MOSiR „Bystrzyca”, ul. Krężnicka 6, www.mosir.lublin.pl/zalew. “Reland” Sports and Recreation Centre, ul. Żeglarska 5A, tel. 81 745 63 43, 605 232 325; [email protected], www.nartywodne.pl. Marina – Funsail Centre (water equipment rental, cruises, kayaking trips), ul. Krężnicka 6, tel. 81 444 84 44, 660 007 660; [email protected], [email protected]. The Zemborzycki Reservoir, photo by P. Maciuk 29 Places worth seeing The Zamość Museum – exhibits in the historic interior of an Armenian tenement, photo by P. Maciuk The Renaissance town of Zamość – a UNESCO monument, photo by J. Gorlach ZAMOŚĆ Renaissance city Zamość – the only place in the Lublin Region that is inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List – is a popular destination for tourists both from Poland and abroad. Each year in summer, the city becomes an important cultural centre, hosting major outdoor events, such as the Hetman Fair, the Zamość Film Festival, the Zamość Harlequin Culture Festival – the “arte, cultura, musica e…”, the Eurofolk International Folk Festival and the International Jazz Vocalist Meetings. Zamość – the Old Town, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 30 Zamość is a an “ideal town,” built in accordance with the Renaissance treatises by the Italian architect Bernardo Morando for Chancellor Jan Zamoyski. In the second half of the 16th century, these two great people, an outstanding architect and a patron of the arts and an intellectual, completed their lifework – a unique city that combines beauty with functionality (like the ideal human organism). Zamość Tourist and Historical Information Centre, Rynek Wielki 13, 22400, Zamość, tel. 84 639 22 92; [email protected], www.turystyka.zamosc.pl Great Market Square and tenement buildings The Great Market Square is both imposing (100 x 100 m) and impressive, with gorgeous tenement houses featuring vaulted arcades on the ground floor level and lush attics adorning the top storeys. The Great Market Square with the Town Hall and Armenian tenements, photo by S. Turski 31 Places worth seeing The northern frontage of the Square comprises a complex of several tenement buildings (the so-called Armenian tenements, which are currently home to the Museum of Zamość) and the Town Hall, with its lofty (51 m) tower and distinctive, elegant stairs that were added in the second half of the 18th century. Through the cellars of the Town Hall’s outbuildings runs an underground route. Moreover, to the south and north of the main square lie two smaller market squares called the Salt Market Square Armenian tenements and the Town Hall and the Water Market Square. at the Market Square, photo by P. Maciuk Near the magnate’s palace, which is accessible from the Great Market Square via the centrally located Grodzka Street, there are three imposing edifices of the Zamoyski Academy, the Arsenal and the Collegiate Church with the mausoleum of the Zamoyski family. Museum of Zamość, ul. Ormiańska 30, [email protected], www.muzeum-zamojskie.pl, tel. 84 638 64 94 Zamość Town Hall Underground Route, Rynek Wielki 13, tel. 84 639 22 92; [email protected], www.turystyka.zamosc.pl Collegiate Church The Lord’s Resurrection and St. Thomas the Apostle Collegiate Church (a cathedral since 1992) was erected at the turn of the 17th century in the late Renaissance style. For Zamość and the Zamoyski family entail, this temple played a similar role to that which the Wawel Cathedral did for Kraków and Poland at large. Adding to the elaborate ornamentations, including the stucco decoration of the vaults, are the magnificent fittings and works of art, with a cycle of early-17th-century paintings by Jan Kasiński, a 32 The gravestone of Hetman Jan Zamoyski at the Zamość Cathedral, photo by S. Turski The interior of Zamość Cathedral, photo by P. Maciuk disciple of Tommaso Dolabella, among other things. These paintings, depicting scenes from the life of St. Thomas, are credited to Domenico Tintoretto, the great master of Venice. The Zamość Collegiate Church had him paint representations of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the high altar (1602–1614). The altar was later transferred to a church in Tarnogród. Another masterpiece of European religious art is the 1650 “Annunciation” painting by the master of Florence – Carlo Dolci. The cathedral contains the Zamoyski family’s mausoleum – the crypts under the church are the resting place of all the principal heirs (Ordynats) of the family. They are commemorated by the Zamoyski Family Chapel (also known as the Ordynacka Chapel), which features an epitaph plaque of Jan Sariusz Zamoyski, the founder of Zamość and the entail, and a gravestone of the 14th Ordynat – Tomasz Stanis (the Chapel contains their portraits by Wojciech Gerson). By the cathedral stands a Baroque bell tower, offering a panoramic view of Zamość. The tower contains three bells: Jan (from 1662, one of the largest in Poland with a weight of 4300 kg and a diameter of 200 cm), Tomasz (from 1721, 1200 kg) and Wawrzyniec (from 1715, 170 kg). 33 Places worth seeing On the eastern side of the Cathedral, in the so-called Infułatka (a historical home of the mitred prelates of the Collegiate chapter), there is the Sacral Museum, with its extensive collection of robes, holy books and paraments from the period between the 16th and the 20th centuries. Sacral Museum of Zamość Cathedral, ul. Kolegiacka 1 A, 22-400 Zamość, tel. 84 639 26 14, 516 281 035; www.katedra.zamojskolubaczowska.pl Arsenal and stronghold The Eastern curtain wall of the Zamość stronghold, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive The “Arsenal” Museum of Fortifications and Weapons, photo by P. Rogalski Zamość was surrounded by an advanced system of fortifications, with seven bastions and three gates, including the Lubelska, Szczebrzeska and Lwowska Gates (New Lubelska Gate and New Lwowska Gate were added in the 19th century). The Zamość stronghold successfully warded off the attacks by the Cossack and Tatar armies during the Chmielnicki Uprising, as well as by the Swedes during their invasion of Poland known as the Deluge. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that the bulk of defensive walls were torn down. The stronghold’s history is illustrated by the exhibition in the Arsenal Museum of Fortifications and Weapons, to be found in the historical building of the Arsenal, dating back to the first half of the 17th century, the powder magazine and in the modern, underground facilities located within the partially reconstructed Bastion III with a curtain wall connecting the bastion to Szczebrzeska Gate. Enthusiasts of fortifications should explore the underground Bastion VII – the Cavalier Tourist Route, which runs along casemates, poterns and ramps. Atop the cavalier there is a terrace affording a view of the city and the stronghold’s foreground. Arsenal Museum of Fortifications and Weapons, Zamoyski Museum Branch, ul. Zamkowa 2, tel. (0 84) 638 40 76; www.muzeum-zamojskie.pl Bastion VII Tourist Route – Cavalier, ul. W. Łukasińskiego 2-6, tel. 84 639 30 18; www.nadszaniec.zamosc.pl Zoological Garden The Bastion VII-Cavalier Tourist Route, photo by S. Turski 34 The only zoological garden in east-central Poland, it has undergone some major modernisation lately, receiving new state-of-the-art pavilions and enclosures to become a major tourist attraction of the Lublin Region. Established as early as in 1919 and originally was a small garden adjoining a school. Currently, the Zoo in Zamość extends over an area of over 9 ha and has about 250 animal species from all around the world on show. Particularly worthwhile is the big-cat pavilion, where in addition to lions, an Amur tiger and Sri Lankan leopards, there are finely arranged fish tanks and terrariums with an extensive collection of fish, reptiles and amphibians. Visitors will also be impressed by the giraffe house, with its imposing inhabitants from the African savannah, and the monkey house with a wide variety of gibbons, 35 Places worth seeing A jungle cat at the Zamość Zoo, photo by M. Tereszczuk colobuses, capuchins, guenons, macaques and other monkey species, as well as lemurs. Part of the large pavilion is occupied by the butterfly house, with a tropical forest section. Orchids, bromeliae, lianas, ivies and nearly 200 other plant species grow here to make up the natural environment of colourful butterflies, such as the Brazilian Menelaus Blue Morpho and the iridescent African moon moth. These and many other species from the amazing world of insects can be admired every year from April to the end of September. The equally colourful hummingbirds, on the other hand, are on show all year long. Located in the central part of the garden, there is a mini-zoo – home to young ponies, goats and sheep. In the vicinity, there is also a colourful playground, a small ropes course called Zoolandia and a café. Stefan Miler Zoological Garden, ul. Szczebrzeska 12, 22-400 Zamość, tel. 84 639 34 79, 639 34 70, www.zoo.zamosc.pl An enclosure with aquariums and terrariums, photo courtesy of the Zoo archive 36 The Nativity of the Virgin Mary Basilica, photo by K. Dromlewski CHEŁM Cathedral Hill The origins of Chełm date back to the Early Middle Ages (8th–10th centuries). Back then, it was one of the localities in the area of Cherven Towns (also known as “Czerwień Towns” or “Red Cities”) that guarded the south-eastern frontiers of the lands of Lendians and, starting from the 10th century, of the Polans. In the first half of the 13th century, Chełm became capital of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia, and Prince Danylo Romanovich granted the town a city charter and built an Orthodox Church cathedral. Won back by Casimir the Great, Chełm was permanently incorporated into Poland – as Chełm Land – by Jadwiga of Poland. It was relocated by King Władysław Jagiełło and granted with Magdeburg rights in 1392. Uściługska Gate – the oldest building on the Cathedral Hill, photo by K. Dromlewski 37 Places worth seeing View from the Bell tower on the Cathedral Hill, photo by M. Wiercioch Cathedral Hill, also known as Chełm Hill or Castle Hill, features the 18th-19th-century complex of the Basilica of the Nativity of Virgin Mary (the former Uniate Cathedral). This grand Baroque temple was designed by Paweł Antoni Fontana and the interiors were decorated and fitted by the Lviv sculptor and woodcarver Michał Filewicz, and the Vilnius painter Franciszek Smuglewicz. Many of the fittings were damaged after the Conversion of Chełm Eparchy, when the Cathedral was converted into a Russian Orthodox Church. In 1915 the greatly revered painting of the Chełm Virgin Mary was taken from the high altar and moved to Russia. Currently, it belongs to the collection of the National Museum in Lutsk (the Chełm Basilica has a replica of the painting made in the interwar period). The complex of cathedral buildings still features, among other things, the preserved Uściługska Gate (built in 1616), the Basilian Monastery (built in 1639-40) and the Uniate Bishops Palace (built in 1711-30). The most monumental structure is the cathedral’s bell tower, made in the 1870s, with its three huge bells, including Maria (1939, weighing about 2.2 t), Stanisław (1946, 3 t), and Julian (1946, 1.2 t). Atop the bell tower there is an observation deck, and the ground floor contains the Mausoleum of the Victims of Nazi and Stalinist Terror. Also, a high embankment can be seen in the north-western part of Cathedral Hill. Also called High Hill (Wysoka Górka), this is a relic of an Early Mediaeval hill fort. Archaeologists have found here traces of wooden and earthwork fortifications that date back to the 8th–12th centuries, as well as slightly later remnants of the 13th-century brick-stone palace of Prince Daniel of Galicia and the 14th-century tower house built by Casimir the Great. A castellan’s castle was also erected next to the tower house. However, it did not survive the mid-17th-century invasion of the Tatars and Cossacks. A sightseeing group in the Chalk Tunnels in Chełm, photo by S. Turski Chełm Chalk Tunnels Chełm is famous for its world-unique underground chalk mines, which have been worked by burghers since the 16th century. Researchers estimate that the labyrinth of multi-storey corridors might be as long as 40 kilometres! Tourists can enter a trail that is 2 kilometres long and up to 12 metres deep. This underground labyrinth runs beneath the very centre of Chełm, via several large chambers (halls), which are the products of various tunnels connected in an unplanned fashion as a result of mining activities. One of these chambers, under Chełm’s market square, is the abode of the Bieluch Ghost. This ruler of the chalk Parish of the Nativity of Virgin Mary, ul. Lubelska 2, 22-100 Chełm, tel. 82 565 24 75; [email protected], www.bazylika.net.pl 38 The chalk tunnels, photo by P. Maciuk 39 Places worth seeing underground, associated with the white bear from Chełm’s coat of arms, occasionally appears to tourists. Interesting things to see on the trail also include the Old-Town well and some mining and archaeological exhibitions. Chełm Chalk Tunnels, ul. Lubelska 55a, tel. 82 565 25 30, 692 170 208; [email protected], www.podziemiakredowe.pl Church of the Sending Out of the Apostles One of the most beautiful churches in the region, designed by the famous architect Paweł Antoni Fontana, and erected in the years 1753-63. It was donated by local landowners, including the Wolski family from Uher and the Rzewuski family from Sielec. This late-Baroque temple with an octagonal nave, an elliptical bypass and a row of chapels, represents a perfect combination of central and longitudinal plans (being the court architect of the manor of the Sanguszko magnates, Fontana designed similar churches in Włodawa and Lubartów). The massive western façade is adorned in its corners with tall towers. Standing in front of the church are the statues of Joseph Calasanz and the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy. The church was built by Tomasz Rezler, and the interior decorations are credited to some of the greatest craftsmen of their times, including the sculptor and woodcarver Michał Filewicz and the painters Szymon Czechowicz and Józef Mayer. A parochial museum operates above the vestries. It holds an interesting collection of robes, vessels and precious reliquaries. It is interesting to note that the church is standing in the place of the former Roman-Catholic cathedral, built here in 1417 by King Władysław Jagiełło as a votive offering in return for winning the Battle of Grunwald. The original church had served as a cathedral until 1490, when the seat of the bishopric was moved to Krasnystaw. The Sending Out the Disciples’ Church – polychromes on the vault, photo by K. Dromlewski 40 The Sending Out the Disciples’ Church, photo by K. Dromlewski Adjoining the church is a big complex of post-Piarist monastery buildings dating back to the first half of the 18th century. The Piarists were present in Chełm between 1667 and 1864. They ran a parish, a school for the sons of nobles (following Warsaw and Kraków, it was the third college to have been established in Poland at that time), a library and a hospital for the poor. The post-monastic buildings are currently occupied by the parish and the Museum of Chełm Land. Parish of the Sending Out of the Apostles, ul. Lubelska 55, 22-100 Chełm, tel. 82 565 56 40; [email protected], www.rozeslanie.pl Museum of Chełm Land It is based in the building of the former Piarist monastery and college at 55 Lubelska Street. This building is now home to the Contemporary Art Department of the Museum of Chełm Land. Its collection is based on the achievements of the famous Galeria An exhibition entitled “For beauty is to inspire delight”, photo by G. Zabłocki 41 Places worth seeing headmaster of the local Stefan Czarniecki Middle School, and the first civilian Commissioner of Chełm after Poland regained independence in 1918. A year later, he established a museum based on salvaged collections from the Orthodox Church and Archaeological Museum that had been founded and wound up by the authorities of the Russian partition. Wiktor Ambroziewicz Museum of Chełm Land, ul. Lubelska 55-57, 22-100 Chełm, tel. 82 565 26 93; [email protected], www.muzeum.chelm.pl “Dyrekcja” District Gallery 72 at the Museum of the Chełm Land, photo by G. Zabłocki 72 (Gallery 72). Founded in 1972 by Kajetan Sosnowski, a leading avant-garde artist of post-war Poland, and later managed – for nearly 30 years – by Bożena Kowalska, PhD, Gallery 72 hosted almost 200 exhibitions and accumulated an impressive collection of contemporary Polish and international art, including mostly works of abstract and metaphoric art. The neighbouring building at 57 Lubelska Street contains the History and Nature Departments, and the building at 56a Lubelska Street contains the Archaeology and Ethnography Departments. The Non-contemporary Art Department, with its extensive collection of handicraft and sacred Roman-Catholic, Greek-Orthodox Church and Orthodox Church art, is located in the former Uniate Church at ul. Św. Mikołaja 4. The unique collection of valuable archives and museum items was accumulated by Wiktor Grzegorz Ambroziewicz, the founder of the Museum of Chełm Land, and its first curator. He was An ethnographic exhibition at the Museum of the Chełm Land, photo by G. Zabłocki 42 Built in the interwar period, it is a uniform development (in terms of both urban design and architecture) established for the Eastern Division of the State Railway that operated in Chełm at the time. However, the top authorities, including Chief of State Józef Piłsudski himself, decided to relocate the Division from Chełm to Radom. Devised between 1926 and 1929 by the Polish Architecture Institute in Warsaw, the development plan included an area of a few dozen hectares, situated east of Chełm Hill and located within the Starostwo-Obłonie Government property. Supervised by Adam Kuncewicz and Adam Paprocki, this design was showcased, among other events, at the exhibition hosted by the Union of Polish Cities and at the Congress of Urban Planners in Vienna, which brought it great fame. The plan provided for the construction of the Division’s buildings (for over 700 employees) as well as a range of commercial and residential buildings (for over 600 families), and parks and squares. Consequently, already in 1931, the Chełm City Council adopted a development plan for a new district, which came to be called Nowe Miasto (New Town). The Dyrekcja District – some of the pre-War residential buildings, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 43 Places worth seeing While the city failed to implement the entire plan before World War II broke out, it had managed to complete a substantial portion of the district, which was to accommodate nearly 50,000 residents. A total of 22 streets were marked out, along with a major road, named after Marshal Józef Piłsudski, which connected the train station to the newly erected building of the Eastern Division of the State Railway. In the vicinity of Chełm Hill, the so-called “Upper Division” District came to being. It was a complex of over 30 multi-family, red-tiled buildings, whose architectural form and Baroque Revival decorations harked back to the traditional Polish manor houses. Further down, the so-called “Lower Division” District, with much larger, multi-storey and multi-family buildings, was established and, after World War II, further developed. It is interesting to note the history of the main building which was to house the Eastern Division of the State Railway. Eventually, however, the Division would not be relocated to Chełm (following World War II, it was located in Lublin). During the Nazi occupation of Poland, this monumental, five-storey and H-shaped office building, with a capacity of more than 350 rooms, became the headquarters of the German authorities, including the offices of Arbeitsamt. Also, for several days in July 1944, the Polish Committee of National Liberation worked there (to later relocate to Lublin). By autumn 1945, the building also contained the Officer Candidate School of Artillery of the Polish Armed Forces. Currently, it is the headquarters of the District Office and branches of the Voivodeship and Voivodeship Governor’s offices. Chełm Tourist Information Centre, ul. Lubelska 63, 22-100 Chełm, tel. 82 565 36 67; [email protected], www.itchelm.pl One of the residential manor houses in the Dyrekcja District, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 44 The Radziwiłł Family Castle & Park complex in Biała Podlaska, photo courtesy of the TIC archive BIAŁA PODLASKA Castle and park complex Established in the latter half of the 14th century, Biała Podlaska was a major centre for the property of the magnate family of Radziwiłł. Part of their castle complex has been preserved and can now be visited in a beautifully restored park. This fortified castle complex of a five-pointed star plan, with bastions protected by a moat and an earthwork, is a prime example of the “old Netherlands school” of defence and residential construction from the 17th and 18th centuries. Although the Baroque palace of the Radziwiłł family has not survived, the preserved annexes, the triumphal-arch gate connected through a connecting passage (called the “neck”) with the high, multi-storey watchtower, and other park structures, all give a great testimony to the magnificence and grandeur of this magnate residence. Located near the town centre, the park is the favourite place, for both locals and tourists, to go for a walk to. Among other things, the castle-complex buildings contain the Museum of Southern Podlasie, the Podlaska Gallery and the Municipal Public Library, with its Colourful Library and the Multicentre, all being places of entertainment, education and the promotion of various fields of science. The former several-hectare castle courtyard and the nearby Italian gardens have been restored. At the park’s centre lies a square with a multi-level fountain, separating the geometrically demarcated sections lined with box trees. While walking through the park, you 45 Places worth seeing Kraszewski, the greatest student in the Academy’s history. The building has been reconstructed in the Classicist style and is now home to the J. I. Kraszewski General Secondary School. Tourist and Cultural Information Centre, ul. Warszawska 11, 21-500 Biała Podlaska, tel. 83 341 67 20; [email protected], www.cit.bckbialapodlaska.pl Museum of Southern Podlasie Based in several buildings of the Radziwiłł family’s castle complex, this Museum is famous primarily for its collection of Russian icons, which is one of the largest in Poland. The collection comprises over 1600 icons painted using the traditional tempera technique, as well as some metal icons dating from the 17th to the early 20th centuries. Many of these monuments had been seized from smugglers by the eastern-border guard. Biała Podlaska – the entrance gate to the Radziwiłł Family Castle complex, photo by T. Żaczek will also notice remnants of the old arcaded fencing wall that has been discovered by archaeologists. The renovated park buildings include the St. Josephat’s castle chapel from 1629 and the eastern tower, a remnant of a castle wing that no longer exists. It is also a good idea to come here for a walk in the evening, as the area is colourfully illuminated. In the vicinity of the castle complex, in ul. Warszawska, there is the building of the former Academy of Biała Podlaska from 1628, and next to it stands a bench-like monument devoted to Ignacy The Museum of Southern Podlasie – an icon exhibition, photo by T. Żaczek The Italian Gardens at the Radziwiłłowski Park, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 46 The Art Department of the Museum of Southern Podlasie can also boast a fine collection of paintings, drawings and other pieces of graphic art, the central theme of which is “Horses, horsemen and horse-drawn vehicles in the Polish painting of the 19th and 20th centuries.” Visitors can admire the works of some prominent authors there, including Piotr Michałowski and Alfred Wierusz Kowalski, and also Juliusz, Wojciech and Jerzy Kossak. Adding to the collection are works from the latter half of the 20th century by artists who have participated in open-air painting events, which have been held for almost a quarter of a century in the nearby Janów Lubelski, a place famous for its Arabian stud farm. Another worthwhile place in the Museum is the Ethnography Department, with Poland’s largest collection of paintings, watercolours and drawings of the acclaimed folk artist – Bazyli Albiczuk 47 Places worth seeing from Dąbrowica Mała, who is primarily famous for its series of amazingly colourful paintings depicting rural gardens. Museum of Southern Podlasie, ul. Warszawska 12, 21-500 Biała Podlaska, tel. 83 341 67 57; [email protected], www.muzeumbiala.pl St. Anne’s Church Situated across the castle complex, it is the most treasured church in Biała Podlaska, and it has a very interesting history, too. This church was erected in the years 1597-1602 on the foundations of the pulled-down building of a Polish Brethren church. It was built by Mikołaj Krzysztof “the Orphan” Radziwiłł, an ardent Catholic and a Holy Land pilgrim. Initially a Calvinist, at some point he converted to Catholicism and started adapting Protestant churches donated by his father into Catholic churches. Biała Podlaska – St. Anne’s Church, photo by T. Żaczek Across the Radziwiłł Chapel, there is the Rosary Chapel, with its precious 17th-century image of Our Lady of the Snows (Our Lady of the Rosary) and a piece depicting the torment of the Blessed Martyrs of Podlasie. The church complex comprises a brick fencing with a bell tower, a gate and an 18th-century brick rectory. Also, there is a finely restored wooden manor house – a vicariate dating back to the early 19th century. Near the church complex there is a curious monument to Biała Podlaska’s patron, St. Michael the Archangel, who is standing on a dragon. Made in 1981 to the design of Stanisław Ulatowski, this sculpture is a straightforward reference to Biała Podlaska’s coat of arms, which the city adopted in 1670 on the initiative of Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł, who helped to rebuild it following the Swedish Deluge. The Vault of the Radziwiłł Chapel at St. Anne’s Church, photo by T. Żaczek A few dozen years later, the subsequent owners of the city, including Katarzyna Sobieska, the sister of King of Poland Jan III Sobieski, and Anna and Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, added a chapel to the church. The chapel served as a family mausoleum. In the mausoleum, they deposited a box with the heart of their great ancestor. The Radziwiłł Chapel of Saint John Cantus is now the most interesting part of the church, which, as a result of reconstructions, has lost many of its original features. The stucco decorations and polychromies, in particular on the chapel’s vault, abound in symbols that combine the heavenly realms of God and Saints with the figure and life of the chapel’s patron – Michał “the Orphan” Radziwiłł. 48 St. Anne’s Parish, ul. Warszawska 3A, 21-500 Biała Podlaska, tel. 83 343 51 84 KAZIMIERZ DOLNY Parish Church and Market Square Founded in the mid-14th century by King Casimir the Great, Kazimierz Dolny is one of the oldest towns in the Lublin Region. It features a castle and a fortified tower, both dating back to the Middle Ages, which used to guard the Vistula crossing. Both structures, now well-preserved ruins, in addition to the Parish Church, the Great Market Square and the Reformati monastery, make up the main viewing corridor of the town. The corridor runs parallel to the Vistula River bed, with a very scenic gorge. The paved Market Square, with its roofed wells on wooden poles, is surrounded by 49 Places worth seeing Letni dzień w Kazimierzu Dolnym, fot. P. Maciuk The parish church seen from the Square Market, photo by A. Pietruszka the frontages of small tenement houses, with the Parish Church towering over it. The Parish Church of Bartholomew the Apostle and John the Baptist was erected between the 16th and 18th centuries on the walls of a Gothic temple (as reflected in the lofty body of the building and the late-Gothic portal of the main entrance). Jakub Balin, an architect, gave the church a Renaissance appearance, with richly ornamented gables and vaults, all in the vein of the Lublin Renaissance. An example of this style is one of the several chapels founded by the Górski family in 1625. Built to the design of Jan Wolff and Adam Wójtowicz, both acclaimed architects, this square-plan chapel is capped by a tall, stucco-adorned dome. The interior of the parish church, photo by P. Maciuk 50 The Parish Church contains many valuable fixtures, including the stone baptismal font, designed by Santi Gucci in 1587, elaborately ornamented late-Renaissance altars and an organ from 1620, which is now the oldest working musical instrument in Poland. Each year during the tourist season, the Parish Church hosts the Summer Organ Concerts. Roman-Catholic Parish Church of Bartholomew the Apostle and John the Baptist, ul. Zamkowa 6, 24-120 Lublin, www.kazimierz-fara.pl, tel. 81 881 08 70 Tenement houses and granaries The most affluent merchants erected sumptuous tenement houses. The most exquisite ones include those built by Mikołaj and Krzysztof Przybyła on the Market Square and by Bartłomiej Celej in Senatorska Street (this tenement house is now home to the Vistula The tenements of Mikołaj and Krzysztof Przybyła, photo by S. Turski 51 Places worth seeing them in a state of ruin. The best-preserved granaries can be found in Puławska Street (the former Przedmieście Bochotnickie). These were granaries of Mikołaj Przybyła, later owned by the Ulanowski family (dating back to 1591), and Krzysztof Przybyła, later became the property of Feuerstein (dating back to 1600, redeveloped in the 19th century). Both are administered by the Vistula Museum. The former contains the Natural Museum, with its interesting geological and natural exhibition presenting the environment of the Lesser Poland Gorge on the Vistula River. As for the Granaries in Krakowska Street (Przedmieście Krakowskie), the only fully preserved building is the granary of Kobiałka from 1636. This imposing building, with its loggia in the front and a tall gable with Mannerist ornamentation, used to form part of a complex of several similar granaries situated near the crossing from Kazimierz Dolny to Janowiec. Other granaries, however, are no longer there. The granary’s building has been re-adapted and now operates as a hotel of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK). The Celejowska tenement, now housing the Vistula Museum, photo by S. Turski Museum). Of particular note is the lavish ornamentation of the building, including figural and plant carvings, that almost entirely cover the façades and the tall attics at the top of the buildings. This ornamentation exemplifies the works of the local architects, who transformed the Renaissance and Mannerist patterns. The gables of the Parish Church became a blueprint for many granaries in Kazimierz Dolny, in which affluent merchants stored their cereals before they were floated down the Vistula River to Gdańsk. Vessels and rafts moored there along the entire three-kilometre shoreline of the town, from Przedmieście Bochotnickie to Krakowskie Przedmieście (near the quarries). There used to be over 60 granaries here. Now, only a dozen or so are left, some of The Natural Museum in the former granary, photo by S. Turski 52 Vistula Museum – the Celejowska Tenement Branch, ul. Senatorska 11, 24-120 Kazimierz Dolny, tel. 81 881 01 04; [email protected], www.mnkd.pl Natural Museum (Mikołaj Przybyła’s Granary), ul. Puławska 54, tel. 81 881 03 26; [email protected], www.mnkd.pl Castle and fortified tower The stone castle and fortified tower – two of the most prominent structures in Kazimierz Dolny – are nowadays a major attraction of the town. These will take you on a trip back in time to the Middle Ages, when the town was being founded. Erected in the 13th century, the fortified tower had a double function. It was used The fortified tower in Kazimierz, photo by P. Maciuk 53 Places worth seeing Kazimierz Dolny – the castle ruins seen from the tower, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive both as a watchtower and a lighthouse for the vessels that were entering the port in Kazimierz Dolny. Founded in the middle of the 14th century by Casimir the Great, the castle was the seat of the castellany. Following a period of invasions and wars in the 17th century, the castle sustained serious damage, and during the period of partitions, some of the precarious walls were deliberately destroyed. Currently, the well-preserved ruins of both the castle and the fortified tower are available for sightseeing. Situated on a hill, they also afford some excellent views onto the town and the scenic gorge of the Vistula River. Nearby, there is another popular vantage point and a very prominent feature of Kazimierz Dolny’s landscape – the Hill of the Three Crosses. The first crosses were placed there in 1708 to commemorate the victims of plague that at the time decimated the people of Kazimierz Dolny and neighbouring settlements. Castle Complex (managed by the Tourist Information Centre) in Kazimierz Dolny, ul. 81 881 07 09; [email protected], www.zabytkikazimierzdolny.pl Summer festivals For at least two centuries, Kazimierz Dolny has been the go-to place for many open-air painters. More recently, it has also become the leading tourist destination in the Lublin Region. Each year, between 1 and 1.2 million tourists come to this small town, which has a population of only 4000. Also, for almost half a century, Kazimierz has hosted Poland’s most famous folk festival – the Festival of Folk Bands and Singers. Each year in June, both market squares of this town witness some authentic rural music, both instrumental and vocal. The Festival also features fringe events, including a unique fair of folk arts and crafts. 54 The Two Riversides Film & Art Festival, photo by A. Koziara July, in turn, is when cinema enthusiasts come to Kazimierz Dolny (and Janowiec, which lies on the other bank of the Vistula) for the “Two Riversides” Film and Art Festival. Screened for an entire week is a plethora of films from selected catalogues of many international and Polish festivals. The Festival also features retrospections of old films and presentations of the works of independent authors. The screenings take place either in tents or, in the evenings, in the open. Fringe events include meetings with people from the film industry, concerts, exhibitions, theatre performances, street events and other indoor and outdoor artistic activities within Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec and the neighbouring places, such as Męćmierz. Festival of Folk Bands and Singers (organised by the Voivodeship Cultural Centre, Lublin), www.wok.lublin.pl TWO RIVERSIDES Film and Art Festival (organised by the TWO RIVERSIDES Association, Kazimierz Dolny, Warsaw), www.dwabrzegi.pl Gorges of Kazimierz Dolny These are a major tourist attraction of the town and its surroundings (within the Kazimierz Dolny Landscape Park). They are formed by the continuous erosion of the loess soil caused by rain and thaw water. Often, the erosion results from human activity as well. The most scenic gorges are accessible via popular tourist trails and routes. Situated a few kilometres from the town centre, in the Doły suburb, Korzeniowy Dół is a sunken lane, cut by people in a loess slope to establish a road to the fields. The gorge, which is regarded a natural monument, comprises an around 600-metre-long educational trail. What is unique about it is the several-metre-high, almost vertical cliffs, from which grow out wiggly, protruding roots 55 Places worth seeing Some nice gorges can also be found in the close vicinity of Kazimierz Dolny, between Bochotnica, Parchatka and Zbędowice, and further to the east, in the area of Celejów, Stok, Karmanowice, Klementowice, Nałęczów, Stary Gaj and Nowy Gaj (with as many as 11 kilometres of gorges per 1 sq. kilometre, the Nałęczów Plateau is unique on a global scale). Kazimierz Dolny Landscape Park – Lublin Landscape Park Complex – Field Branch in Lublin, ul. Czechowska 4, 20-072 Lublin, tel. 81 532 50 39; [email protected], www.parki.lubelskie.pl BIŁGORAJ A gorge in Parchatka, photo by J. Malińska Situated in Puszcza Solska (a primeval forest), bordering between the Sandomierz Basin and Roztocze, Biłgoraj was founded by the Gorajski family in 1568 (following Stephen Báthory’s approval issued in Lviv), on Biały Goraj Hill, at the fork of the Czarna and Biała Łada (at the time called Ruska and Polska Łada) Rivers. of old trees, to create a sort of a green roof over the gorge. The exposed roots are tangled into various fabulous shapes to provide a fairy-like setting. The educational path leads via another popular gorge, called Norowy Dół. It abounds in clear traces of natural erosion processes (suffusion sinkholes formed by aquifers, and exposed limestone cliffs, landslips and an alluvial fan at the exit of the gorge). In the western part of the town, the most popular gorges include Plebanka, called Plebani Dół, above which extends a hill, picturesquely lined with trees and containing a parochial cemetery, and a far more expansive gorge named Wąwóz Małachowskiego and known to be the place where Count Juliusz Małachowski died. This part of the town also features one of the most interesting villas in Kazimierz Dolny, the so-called Kuncewiczówka (the house of Maria and Jerzy Kuncewicz (see more on page 111). Biłgoraj – a Sieve-Making Cottage, photo by S. Turski The Korzeniowy Dół gorge, photo by S. Turski 56 Soon after Biłgoraj was granted town rights, sieve makers moved here from Masovia and Kielce Region to establish a centre of the sieve-making trade that became famous across Poland. Raw materials, including pine wood and horse hair, were abundant, so it was not long until whole families had begun to engage in the sieve-making trade. They started selling their sieves to faraway markets, travelling long distances throughout Europe and Asia. As well as making good money in this profitable trade, they developed their individual, signature style of buildings and farmstead design, their own clothing, and even language, which they could easily use in foreign countries and communities. 57 Places worth seeing The history of the sieve-makers from Biłgoraj is documented and promoted by the Regional Museum, with its original 19th-century Sieve-Making Cottage. There is a hut from 1810, in which you can see the residential interiors where sieve-maker families once lived, and also a workshop with hand- and leg-operated fabric weaving stands. In the woodshed, you can gain an insight into the secrets of making łuby (wooden straps), which are used to make sieve rims. Among other things, the cottage also features a double-chambered granary with crop-storage vessels, and stamp mills, quern-stones and other grain processing machines. Also, there is a carriage house with a collection of carriages, sledges and other means of transport. What has regrettably not survived is the buildings in the Jewish district. The Jews, who made up a large proportion of the town’s population before World War II, were killed by the Nazis in the Biłgoraj Ghetto or in the concentration camp in Bełżec. The only remnant of their presence is a Jewish cemetery with many tombstones and a monument to the war victims. The most eminent member of the Jewish community in Biłgoraj is the great writer and Nobel-prize winner, the late Isaac Bashevis Singer. A small bench-like monument was erected to honour his memory, and every spring the Singer Days festival is held. For several years, in the Łada River valley, the “Town on the Kresy Culture Trail” has been under construction to recreate a fragment of interwar-period development. This is something unique on the map of Poland. The founders of the Biłgoraj XXI Foundation have developed a plan for this city, in which structures typical for Polish (including a market square with a town hall and a church), Jewish (a synagogue and Singer’s house) and Ruthenian (with an Orthodox church and a museum of icons) districts lie close to each other. The city will also feature the distinctive sieve-maker houses and the imposing edifice of the Biłgoraj Centre for Dialogue, Education and Tolerance Between Jews and Poles. What is important is that these structures, apart from being exhibits and museum pieces, will host the offices of various organisations and companies, restaurants, hotels, stores, service venues and dwellings. I. B. Singer’s bench monument, photo courtesy of the Biłgoraj XXI Foundation archive It is worth adding that, together with the Kresy 2000 Foundation that operates here and the neighbouring Nadrzecze, the people of Biłgoraj organise regular outdoor events that take place on Biłgoraj’s streets. These include the spring’s “Pożegnanie sitarzy, co się nazywa żałosne” (“A sorrowful bid farewell to the sieve-makers”) and the autumn’s “Powitanie sitarzy, co się nazywa radosne” (“A joyful welcome to the sieve-makers”). They are associated with the celebrations that were once held as the sieve-makers were departing for the faraway lands of Germany, Scandinavia, Turkey and many of the Russian governorates to sell their goods, and as they were coming back from these journeys. The old buildings of Biłgoraj, including the Biłgoraj-style houses with arcades, were destroyed as a result of many fires and wartime activities. Three Baroque churches, founded by the Potocki and Zamoyski families, have survived, although they required several reconstructions. Also preserved is a range of wooden and brick houses dating back to the turn of the 20th century and the interwar period. 58 A borderland town in Biłgoraj, photo courtesy of the Biłgoraj XXI Foundation archive Sieve-making cottage – Branch of the Regional Museum, ul. Nadstawna 32, 23-400 Biłgoraj, tel. 84 686 04 84; [email protected], www.muzeumbilgoraj.pl/zagroda-sitarska.html Kresy 2000 Foundation, ul. Konopnickiej 7/41, 23-400 Biłgoraj, tel. 84 686 60 77; [email protected]; The House In Service to the Polish Verbal, Musical and Visual Art, Nadrzecze 7, 23-400 Biłgoraj, tel. 84 688 41 77; www.kresy2000.pl Biłgoraj XXI Foundation, ul. Wira Bartoszewskiego 10, 23-400 Biłgoraj, [email protected], www.bilgoraj21.pl 59 Places worth seeing HRUBIESZÓW One of the most important of Cherven Towns was known in the past under the name Rubieszów. It was granted its town rights in 1400 pursuant to the Act of King Władysław Jagiełło. Due to its location at the intersection of trade routes (including from Chełm to Bełz and from Lublin to Volodymyr-Volynskyi) it developed very dynamically. Unfortunately, numerous wars, raids, and march-pasts had already brought the city to ruin by the 17th century. The same applied to the next century, when the population was decimated by plague, and the Northern War caused further damage. The Dormition of the Theotokos Orthodox church, photo by P. Maciuk St. Nicholas’ Church, photo by P. Maciuk Towards the end of the 18th century, the walls of Hrubieszów’s castle were dismantled. The ruined castles in the neighbouring towns of Horodło, Uchanie and Kryłów met the same fate. The system of Hrubieszów’s embankments and defensive walls did not survive to our times. However, many monuments and the distinctive craftsmen and merchants’ buildings dating back to the period from the mid-18th century to the early 20th century did remain in the town. The oldest buildings include the post-Dominican St. Nicolas Parish Church from the years 1736-50, with its lavish Baroque and Rococo interior. Near the church there is a monastery from the mid-18th century (now operating as a school) and brick bell tower from the mid-19th century. At a short distance from the church, you can find a Baroque presbytery (the place where Aleksander Głowacki [Bolesław Prus] was born) and the preserved old presbytery garden, which has been converted into a central park with a granite monument to the great writer. The second-oldest Hrubieszów’s church is an old Uniate that dates back to the turn of the 19th century. This St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, pleasantly located on a high slope by the Huczwa River, now operates as a Marian sanctuary run by the Bernardines. It contains the image of Our Lady of Sokal, which originated in Ukrainian Sokal, and has a cult status. 60 One of the most recognisable symbols of the city is the Orthodox Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos from 1873. Its harmonious body, richly ornamented and crowned with as many as 13 domes, makes it one of the most beautiful Orthodox churches in Poland. At a short distance from the Orthodox church and the former Dominican church, there is the Du Chateau family’s house. It was built in 18th century and later extended to include two side wings. The wide single-storey building is covered by a mansard roof and decorated with four-column porticos. Now, it houses a museum (see page 113) and the Hrubieszów Regional Society. Many more manor houses, inns and elaborate tenement houses, such as the 19th-century Golakowski and Kisewetter family’s houses, survived in this town of rich merchants and craftsmen. After the death of the last starost of Hrubieszów, Franciszek Salezy Potocki, the town was bought by Fr. Stanisław Staszic, who The Du Chateau Manor House – the Regional Museum in Hrubieszów, photo by S. Turski 61 Places worth seeing proved to be an exceptionally good host and a great reformer. In 1816, in the neighbouring Dziekanów, he founded the Hrubieszów Agricultural Society – the first cooperative organisation in Poland. The founder explained that the Society was to serve as a model of a fair establishment for peasants so that they could help each other out in times of misery. Staszic’s programme covered a substantial area of 6000 ha (ten villages and half of Hrubieszów), in which the peasants were exempt from serfdom and were granted ownership over the land. The Society managed common property - forests, lakes, windmills, taverns, brickyards, sawmills. The profit they generated was intended for social services, the maintenance of hospitals and schools, and scholarships for children, as well as loans to build brick houses. The Hrubieszów Agricultural Society was governed by a hereditary president (for many years, he was a representative of the progressive Grotthuss family) and the Economic Council elected by the Society. most interesting, next to the 19th-century Jewish butcher shops (jatki), are the sutki i.e. narrow fair streets tightly packed on both sides with the houses of merchants and craftsmen. Stanisław Staszic Museum, ul. 3 Maja 11, 22-500 Hrubieszów, tel. 84 696 27 83; [email protected], www.muzeum-hrubieszow.com.pl Transboundary Tourist Information Centre, ul. 3 Maja 15, 22-500 Hrubieszów, tel. 84 696 23 80; [email protected], www.miasto. hrubieszow.pl JANOWIEC Towering over the village are the ruins of the palace of the Firlej and Lubomirski families. Once, it was one of the biggest fortresses of the Republic of Poland. The palace was built in the 16th century by Starost Mikołaj Firlej, and was developed by Voivode Piotr Firlej, who employed for this purpose the outstanding Italian architect and sculptor, Santi Gucci Fiorentino. The mansion was destroyed during the Swedish Deluge. The subsequent owners – the Lubomirski family, redeveloped it in the Baroque style to the design of the renowned Dutch designer and sculptor Tylman from Gameren. The building, however, had already fell into disrepair by the early 19th century, and after World War II, it became the only private castle in the Eastern Bloc. The last owner, Leon Kozłowski, sold the ruin to the State. The State authorities readapted it into a museum (a branch of the Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny) and began renovation works that continue up to this day. The renovated wing houses an archaeological and historical exhibition. Near the palace, there is a small open-air village museum with an 18th-century manor house from Moniaki and several grange buildings moved here from different places in the Powiśle Region. One of Hrubieszów’s urban manor houses, photo by G. Jaworski Many memorabilia of the Society and its founder, such as the wooden house of the steward, the blacksmith’s shop, the monument with a bust of Staszic, the tomb of the first president Józef Grotthuss, have been preserved in Dziekanów. It is worth remembering that this borderland town, situated by the Huczwa River, is associated not only with Staszic and Prus (Głowacki), but also with a number of other prominent figures such as the poet Bolesław Leśmian, the constructor of calculating machines Abraham Stern, the designer of the lunar roving vehicle Mieczysław Jerzy Bekker, architect Stefan Du Chateau and architect and draughtsman Professor Wiktor Zin. An observant tourist can easily notice the places connected with the eminent residents of Hrubieszów and the preserved fragments of the old buildings that testify to the former glory of the town. The 62 The Castle in Janowiec – a view of its eastern wall, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 63 Places worth seeing JANÓW LUBELSKI An exhibition at the Castle in Janowiec, photo by P. Maciuk Exhibits displayed in the open-air village museum include boats, fishing nets, wicker baskets and many more items used by people who lived by the bank of the Vistula River. The castle ruins afford a beautiful panoramic view of the Małopolska Vistula River Gorge. In the centre of Janowiec – which has not lost its small-town atmosphere provided by narrow streets and small houses made of local limestone – stands the Renaissance church with the marble gravestone of the Firlej family, sculpted by Gucci. On the Vistula River, there is a levee with mooring stands for 30 small vessels (motorboats, sailing boats, rowboats and kayaks). Next to it, there is a ferry-crossing service to Kazimierz Dolny with a cable ferry that can take up to 60 people and eight cars in one go. Castle Museum in Janowiec – Branch of the Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny, ul. Lubelska 20, 24-123 Janowiec, tel. 81 881 52 28; zamekjanowiec@ mnkd.pl, www.mnkd.pl Janowiec Ferry, tel. 81 881 58 15, 694 803 430; [email protected], www.prom-janowiec.pl A manor house at the open-air village museum in Janowiec, photo by S. Turski 64 A district town located near the region’s largest forest complex – the Janów Lubelski Forests – and a popular summer resort. Founded in 1640 on the site of the Biała village, it used to be an important pilgrimage destination with a Marian sanctuary, which in the 19th century became an administrative and economic centre of the Zamoyski family entail, and a famous hub of the cloth-making craft. The times of old of this town, once called Janów Ordynacki, are brought back to The Marian sanctuary in Janów us through the many monu- Lubelski, photo by S. Turski ments donated by the Zamoyski family, including a Baroque-Rococo church and a Dominican monastery dating from 1694-1720, in addition to a line of Classicist buildings owned by the entail’s administration. Also worth noting is the complex of Tsarist prison buildings from 1820-27, now the seat of the Regional Museum, which exhibits interesting ethnographic, archaeological and historic collections. The second museum can be found at the Ecological Education Centre of the Janów Lubelski Forest District, in the vicinity of a mini open-air museum devoted to narrow-gauge rail (active here up to the 1980s) and the region’s largest arboretum. Another touristic hallmark of Janów Lubelski is its 40-hectare artificial lake, with a bathing site, a sandy beach, a water leisure The Janów Lubelski Forests, photo by K. Pikula 65 Places worth seeing The stud farm in Wygoda near Janów Podlaski, photo by G. Jaworski The “Gryczaki” Festival in Janów Lubelski, photo by A. Koziara park, campsites and tourist resorts. A novelty here is Zoom Natury, a family recreation and education park (see page 184). Janów Lubelski constitutes an excellent starting point for the exploration of many hiking, bicycle, horse and kayak trails that run through the Janów Lubelski Forests. For instance, you might come across the place where the great partisan battle of Porytowe Wzgórze was fought, or the forest settlement in Szklarnia with a refuge for the Biłgoraj Konik, a species descending from wild Tarpan horses. Tourist Information Point, ul. Zamoyskiego 59, 23-300 Janów Lubelski, tel. 15 871 75 75; www.janowlubelski.pl “Lasy Janowskie” Ecological Education Centre, ul. Bohaterów Porytowego Wzgórza 35, tel. 15 872 42 44, 608 203 395; [email protected], www.lasyjanowskie.com, www.janowlubelski.lublin.lasy.gov.pl JANÓW PODLASKI The name of this town on the Bug River will immediately bring to your mind the famous stud located just 2 km east of Janów Podlaski, in a village called Wygoda. The stud was established in 1817 Arabian horses from Janów Lubelski, photo by P. Maciuk 66 by the Government of the Kingdom of Poland, with the consent of Tsar Alexander I. Its first director, Aleksander Potocki, travelled through the Russian Empire and the Middle East in search of the most beautiful horses. In the 1840s, Enrico Marconi designed two stables – Zegarowa and Cugowa – and at the turn of the 20th century a now historic complex of buildings came into existence. Each August, the Janów Podlaski stud hosts top-prestige shows and auctions of purebred Arabians from Polish state and private farms, welcoming breeders and traders from all over the world. Janów Lubelski, in the past known as Janów Biskupi, served as the seat for the bishops of the Lutsk and Janów Podlaski dioceses. The Holy Trinity collegiate church, dating back to the mid-18th century, still houses a sarcophagus of Fr. Adam Naruszewicz, the last Bishop of Lutsk, historian and writer. In the former castle and park complex, featuring annexes of the Bishop’s palace, you will find a stone cave which was Fr. Naruszewicz’s favourite corner to sit and ponder. Janów Podlaski Horse Stud Farm, 21-505 Janów Podlaski, tel. 83 341 30 09, [email protected], www.janow.arabians.pl Parafia Trójcy Świętej, ul. Naruszewicza 17, 21-505 Janów Podlaski, tel. 83 341 30 11; [email protected], www.parafia.janowpodlaski. pl The collegiate church in Janów Podlaski, photo by G. Jaworski 67 Places worth seeing KOCK In 1780, on the site of the former Firlej castle, Duchess Anna Jabłonowska (née Sapieha) erected a magnificent residence. The palace, designed in the Classicist style by Szymon Bogumił Zug, stands on a high terrace overlooking the nearby ponds, within the Tyśmienica and Wieprz River Valley. The residence can be reached via an alley or a stone bridge over a moat. The gorgeous landscape park planted with trees and shrubs of several hundred species echoes the sentimental style of the idyllic Arcadia gardens. The Monument to General Kleeberg in Kock, photo courtesy of the Kock Town Hall archive military cemetery honours the memory of those 81 soldiers and their commander, and the General’s monument stands by the exit road from Kock. The last grand battle of the Polish Defensive War of 1939 is also commemorated by the Military Memorial Room. Military Memorial Room, ul. Marcina Stępnia 6, 21-150 Kock, tel. 502 421 824, 693 005 271; [email protected], www.kock.pl KOZŁÓWKA The Jabłonowski Palace in Kock, photo by S. Turski The market square features a Classicist church donated by Duchess Jabłonowska and designed by Zug, with a prominent entrance portico supported by six columns and flanked on both sides by two freestanding belfries. Kock has retained the ambience of a fair market town where, amidst historic architecture, the characteristic houses of Jewish merchants can easily be spotted, including the residence of Rabbi Morgenstern (as in the 19th century Kock was an important hub of the Hasidic community). Among the Jews associated with the place was also Berek Joselewicz, the Jewish commander of the Kościuszko and Napoleon armies, who died in 1809 in the battle of Kock. Today, a monument commemorating this heroic colonel stands by the road in Kock’s western suburbs. Kock has also gone down in history as the site of clashes during the 1939 September Campaign. Here, in the early October, Polish troops forming the “Polesie” Independent Operational Group (SGO) under the command of General Franciszek Kleeberg, waged a fierce, several days’ battle with stronger German forces. Today, the local 68 Kozłówka, a small village near Lubartów, is home to one of Poland’s most magnificent and popular palace museums. The original, Baroque-Classicist palace emerged here in the first half of the 18th century on the initiative of the Voivode of Chełmno Michał Bieliński. The designer, most probably Józef Fontana, adopted “entre cour et jardin” (“between court and garden”), a style in vogue during the Baroque period. In 1799, the Kozłówka estate was purchased by the house of Zamoyski. A hundred years later, Count Konstanty The Zamoyski Palace in Kozłówka, photo by J. Opiela-Basińska 69 Places worth seeing The Zamoyski Museum in Kozłówka, the Red Salon, photo courtesy of the Museum archive The Park & Palace complex in Kozłówka, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive Zamoyski obtained the Tsarist authorities’ consent to found a new, indivisible, entail in Kozłówka, and went on to expand the palace, once owned by the Bieliński family, conferring to it the lavish form of an entail residence. The front façade received two towers and a porticoed terrace. Zamoyski, the lord of the entail (in Polish: ordynat), adapted the interiors after the luxurious, eclectic fashion of the Second Empire which he got to know well during his younger days in France. The ceilings were clad in Rococo-Revival stuccowork and the walls adorned with exquisite tapestries, carpets and mirrors, while on the floors colourful parquets were laid. The rooms received marble fireplaces and huge Meissen stoves. The fine staircase and the palace chapel took inspiration from their Versailles counterparts. Konstanty Zamoyski devised the entire palace layout, including storeyed guardhouses, annexes, the theatre parlour, the chapel and the main gate connecting the courtyard with the road from the Kamionka village. During construction, he relied on the best architects, such as Jan Heurich Jr. and Jan Lilpop. The complex also comprises a coach house with a collection of horse-drawn carriages A stained-glass window in the palace chapel, and travel accessories, and a theatre parlour which every photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 70 year hosts famed exhibitions dedicated to the bygone times of the landed gentry. Behind the palace, we will find an excellently maintained, representative French garden (where a characteristic fountain with three cupid sculptures and a monument to Napoleon’s soldiers can be seen) followed by an English landscape park with a pheasantry. Both in the park and the palace courtyard, you have the chance to encounter the peacocks which, in quite a sizeable flock, dwell on the palace premises. The Museum in Kozłówka also hosts Poland’s only Socialist-Realist Art Gallery, with an impressive collection of 1600 sculptures, paintings, drawings, posters and other works of art from the 1950s, a period when “art was harnessed to support the fight for socialism”. The Socialist Realism Art Gallery, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 71 Places worth seeing On display there are works by artists such as Alina Szapocznikow, Tadeusz Kulisiewicz, Stefan Żechowski, Andrzej Wajda, etc. Just outside the Gallery, a monument lapidarium can be seen, featuring sculptures of Lenin, Bierut and Marchlewski. Zamoyski Museum, Kozłówka 3, 21-132 Kamionka, tel. 81 852 83 10, 852 83 00; [email protected], www.muzeumzamoyskich.pl KRASNYSTAW A town formerly known as Szczekarzów, nestling on the Wieprz River, near King Casimir the Great’s castle, which used to safeguard crossings along the route to Rus. In 1394, King Władysław Jagiełło granted town rights to this settlement and often visited it. As tradition has it, the new name came from the King’s young wife, Queen Sońka, who was fascinated by the view of the beautiful, colourful pond (krasny staw) by the castle and the rough waters of the Wieprz. In the past, this location had its advantages both from the economic and the military perspectives, as the pond was a steady source of fish and effectively guarded the town against enemy raids. To improve safety even more, Zygmunt August surrounded the town with a defensive wall. Krasnystaw – the Jesuit Church Complex, photo by S. Turski In the Jagiellonian times, Krasnystaw came to be the most buoyant town of the Chełm Land. Bishops from the local diocese, bothered by the problems of life in borderland Chełm (mostly inhabited by Orthodox residents), in 1490 decided to relocate their seat to the town on the Wieprz, choosing the Gothic parish church of All Saints (no longer existing) as their new cathedral, to be later replaced by the grand Baroque Jesuit church. 72 The Market Square in Krasnystaw, photo by J. Mazurek The sanctuary, designed by a Jesuit architect, Jan Delamars, and donated by the Potocki house, in particular the Krasnystaw Starost Feliks Potocki, and his wife Krystyna née Lubomirska, was under construction from 1695 to 1717. Its massive body was initially covered by a giant dome, which, however, was never repaired, and collapsed in 1849 as a result of a building disaster. The church’s high façade is flanked by two steeples with cupolas on which stand the statues of St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius of Loyola, the patrons of the Jesuit Order and the church. Inside, you will be struck not only by the richness of its Baroque furnishings, but, above all, the splendid polychromies presenting some fantastic scenes from St. Francis Xavier’s missions overseas, e.g. in India and Japan, where he ventured to spread the word of Christ. Adam Swach, a Franciscan monastery painter from Poznań and author of these works, depicted Native Americans instead of Asians, reflecting the generally poor knowledge of geography and the customs of the indigenous peoples in those times. After the Order was dissolved in 1776, the sanctuary in Krasnystaw became the new Chełm cathedral and it remained so until 1805, when, in place of the Chełm diocese, the Lublin diocese was established. Yet, over 20 years had to pass before, in 1826, the representative functions of the bishops’ church were transferred over to the Lublin cathedral of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. The great history of this town on the Wieprz River along with its valuable remnants from the past, also from the Jesuit church and cathedral, are stored by the Regional Museum at the former seat of the Jesuit college. Let us also note that the cathedral in Krasnystaw housed the famous, acclaimed school attended by figures such as the Chancellor and Grand Hetman of the Crown Jan Zamoyski, the Bishop of Chełm and Primate of Poland Jakub Uchański, and the theological writer Józef Wereszczyński. 73 Places worth seeing Krasnystaw is the capital of Polish hop growers, who can meet here at an event called Chmielaki Krasnostawskie, organised every late summer for over 30 years. This nationwide festival of hop growers and beer makers attracts the best element of Polish breweries and brewing companies, in addition to the thousands of lovers of the hop-made beverage. The history of the Polish brewing craft is popularised by the Krasnystaw museum. Regional Museum, ul. Piłsudskiego 5a, 22-300 Krasnystaw, tel. 82 576 36 63; www.muzeumkrasnystaw.webd.pl Parafia św. Franciszka Ksawerego, ul. Piłsudskiego 3, 22-300 Krasnystaw, tel. 82 576 23 92; www.franciszek-ksawery.org Tourist Information Point, ul. Sobieskiego 3, 22-300 Krasnystaw, tel. 696 473 423; [email protected], www.lotkrasnystaw.pl KRAŚNIK Kraśnik was granted town rights in 1377 by King Louis I of Hungary, who then handed it over, along with the nearby settlements (e.g. Stróża), to Dymitr and Iwan of Goraj. In the early 15th century, Kraśnik went under the ownership of the Tęczyński family and by the end of the 16th century joined the Zamoyski family entail. Suffering recurring devastation during the Cossack raids, the Swedish deluge, and the Northern War, it was not until 1916, when the Lublin-Rozwadów railway line was laid, that Kraśnik returned to the path to development. In 1954, the village of Budzyń, which had a rolling-bearing factory and a workers’ residential estate, received municipal rights along with a new name – Kraśnik Fabryczny. In 1975, the old and new parts were combined to form a single town – Kraśnik. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Church, photo by S. Turski 74 The most precious of the local monuments is the monastery complex of the Canons Regular of the Lateran. The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel, whose construction started in the mid-15th century, still has a Gothic presbytery and sacristy which probably served as a chapel for the former church from 1403. Between 1527 and 1541, the church underwent redevelopment, receiving Renaissance attributes visible especially in the Tęczyński family’s tomb-chapels and their high-quality sculpted gravestones with figures such as Stanisław Gabriel Tęczyński, Starost of Trembowla, Jan Gabriel Tęczyński, Voivode of Sandomierz, and Jan Baptysta Tęczyński, Starost of Lublin and Voivode of Bełz. For the latter, life turned very tragic. In love with a Swedish princess, Cecilia of Sweden, Jan Baptysta went to visit her in Scandinavia, but was captured by the Danes, at the time in conflict with Swedes, and died imprisoned in 1563. Jan Kochanowski devoted many of his poems to Jan Baptysta, and Jan Zamoyski, Tęczyński’s friend, donated a gravestone from the workshop of the famous Santi Gucci. The preciously furnished church features a variety of styles – from Gothic to Baroque and Rococo. Its Gothic vaults – of the network type in the aisles and of the stellar type in the presbytery – were combined here with Renaissance cornices. Altars – the main one and the altar in the chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary – as well as stalls in the presbytery with images of Canons Regular, follow the late-Renaissance design and boast rich woodcarving work. Also worth noting are the three large paintings from Tommaso Dolabella’s workshop, dating back to ca. 1627. The first half of the 17th century is also when the painting of Our Lady of the Rosary was made, now adorning the main altar. The two-wing edifice of the monastery of the Canons Regular (brought by the Tęczyński family in 1469) has retained little of its original, Gothic shape. Having been redeveloped and expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries, it is now largely Baroque in style, just as the wall around the courtyard with the tall, brick gate and belfry (which has two bells: St. Joseph of 1758, weighing 2.6 tonnes and St. Michael of 1845, 1.3 tonnes). The church complex is further supplemented by the Classicist St. Hyacinth’s chapel from the late 18th century. Another historic sanctuary in the town is the hospital church of the Holy Spirit, erected in 1758-1761 outside the town walls, on the hill by the Wyżnica River. In the vicinity you will find the former hospital of the Holy Spirit, in the form of a one-storey larch-wood manor with two decorated porticos. Near the market square, at ul. Bożnicza, there still stands a synagogue complex from the 17th-19th centuries. Recently, it has been renovated and opened to tourists by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland. The Great Synagogue from 1637-54, covered with a mansard roof and extended in the 18th and 19th centuries, despite wartime devastation still holds a bimah, a recess for the Torah ark, and valuable polychromies, including a symbolic panorama of Jerusalem. 75 Places worth seeing The Synagogue Complex in Kraśnik, photo by S. Turski Paintings, especially those on the wall with Aron Ha-Kodesh, can also be admired in the Small Synagogue from the 19th century. The building known as beth midrash has an annexe which used to be the seat of a cahal house with a school and offices of the Kraśnik Jewish community. A fact of note is that during World War II the local Jews were confined to a German transit camp in the Budzyń suburbs, a branch of the Majdanek concentration camp. From there, they were forced into cattle trucks and deported to death camps. Around eight thousand prisoners, mostly Jews and Soviet captives, were murdered on site. But Kraśnik also has the story of the 24th Uhlan Regiment garrisoned here during the interwar period. The “white uhlans”, as they were called, became famous for the battles fought under the command of General Stanisław Maczek in the western theatres of WWII. Their wartime achievements are today commemorated by the Museum in Kraśnik. Firlejs brought craftsmen from Flanders and the Netherlands, and arranged for the town to receive the right to organise fairs. Another golden period in the town’s history began in the 18th century, when it came under the ownership of the Sanguszko Princes. Paweł Karol Sanguszko persuaded King August III to confirm the town rights of Lewartów and to change the town’s name to Lubartów. The Prince donated the three most precious monuments of Lubartów, which have survived to our times: the palace situated in a geometric park with a pond, and sanctuaries – the parish church of St. Anne and the Capuchin monastic church of St. Lawrence. Sanguszkos’ palace was erected in the late 17th century, probably to a design by Tylman van Gameren, to be later redeveloped by another great architect of the Baroque period, Paolo Antonio Fontana, who added a third storey and a portico to the already magnificent edifice. Sadly, the grand residence suffered numerous modifications, for instance while serving as a military hospital and a monastery. It was not until the second half of the 20th century that the palace, devastated twice – during warfare and in a fire – was reconstructed. Today it houses the Lubartów District Office. Next to the palace stand the ruins of an orangery (now under redecoration) and a bridge over the pond from the second half of the 18th century. After World War II, the extensive park was largely renovated (thanks to Gerard Ciołek) in line with the former layout of a French regular garden. Regional Museum, ul. Piłsudskiego 2A, 23-200 Kraśnik, tel. 81 884 34 85; 24th Uhlan Regiment Museum, ul. Piłsudskiego 7, tel. 81 884 50 31; [email protected], www.muzeumlubelskie.pl Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ul. Klasztorna 3, 23-200 Kraśnik, tel. 81 825 24 65; [email protected], www.sanktuarium.krasnik.pl/Parafia pw. Wniebowzięcia NMP LUBARTÓW Originally named “Lewartów”, after the “Lewart” coat of arms held by the town’s founder Piotr Firlej, Voivode of the Lublin and Ruthenian Voivodeships. Lewartów was granted town rights in 1543 by King Sigismund I the Old. Piotr’s son, Mikołaj Firlej, made Lewartów a well-known centre of the Reformation movement, e.g. by establishing a Calvinist middle school, to be later turned to an Arian school. The 76 St. Anne’s Church in Lubartów, photo by S. Turski 77 Places worth seeing brick manors at ul. Kościuszki, dating back to the first half of the 19th century (one of them houses a museum). Regional Museum, ul. Kościuszki 28, 21-100 Lubartów, tel. 81 855 28 08; [email protected], www.muzeumlubelskie.pl St. Anne’s Parish (Parish Museum),21-100 Lu-bartów, tel. 81 855 23 72; www.parafia.lubartow.pl/anna Koścół i Klasztor Zakonu Braci Mniejszych Kapucynów, ul. Lubelska 32, 21-100 Lubartów; [email protected], www.kapucyni.lubartow.pl, tel. 81 855 24 16 ŁUKÓW The interior of St. Anne’s Church, photo by P. Maciuk St. Anne’s parish church, dating back to 1733-1738, is ranked among the region’s most impressive Baroque sanctuaries designed by Paolo Antonio Fontana, next to the church of the Sending Out of the Apostles and St. Louis’ church in Włodawa. In designing these, the architect followed a novel layout, combining longitudinal, basilica form of the three aisles with an octagonal central form of the main nave, which opens to the aisles via the arcades supporting the dome. An interesting element outside is the front façade, with two lofty steeples and a marble entry portal, paired by a smooth, meandering wall line, whose recessed and protruded surfaces are further accentuated by cornices and pilasters. This “dynamic” architecture is accompanied by rich decorations outside and inside the church, comprising a variety of sculptures, stuccowork and illusionistic polychromies. Along with the parish church, Fontana designed the belfry, the fencing wall with a gate and two shrines, and the curates’ house (the later parsonage). In 2000, a Parish Museum was opened at St. Anne’s church, exhibiting valuable collections of paintings, garments, books and liturgical vessels. Fontana’s second sanctuary in Lubartów – the monastic St. Lawrence’s church – came into existence in 1741. In contrast to St. Anne’s parish church, this one has a simple, modest shape, with few architectural details. The interior too – with its non-polychromed whitewashed walls, altars, confessionals and a pulpit made of dark wood, with very few gilt ornaments –reflects well the Capuchin observance of poverty. Tourists are nevertheless much advised to see the church, because it houses a series of paintings by Szymon Czechowicz, the famous religious painter. The church lies adjacent to a monastery with a garden and is surrounded by a fencing wall with a shrine from the 18th century. The market square in Lubartów still features some old architecture from the 16th-19th centuries. Other monuments include two 78 The seat of a starosty which in 1474, besides the starosties of Lublin and Urzędów, entered the newly established Lublin Voivodeship. Łuków, founded in 1403, was one of the most important royal towns in the region. In 1701, the Piarist order, known for promulgating education and craftsmanship, opened a college here for young noblemen, and in 1728, through the efforts of the Bishop of Kraków Felicjan Szaniawski, a convent school was set up. Over the college and the convent school towers the grand body of the Church of the Transfiguration, built in the years 172562 to the design by royal architect Antonio Solari. The Baroque two-steeple façade is surmounted by an ornamental top, while the interior conceals richly gilded Baroque and Rococo altars and decorative Rococo pews. In 1997, the sanctuary was granted the status of a collegiate church. Another Łuków sanctuary – the Church of the Elevation of the Holy Cross – was erected for the Bernardines in the town’s suburbs, past the Krzna River. It was not until 1770 that its construction, started in 1655 and discontinued after the devastating raid by Rákóczi’s Transylvanian troops, came to completion. Despite such an extensive time span, the church’s body is characterised by a uniform, The Transfiguration of Christ Collegiate Church, photo by W. Mularczyk 79 Places worth seeing former Piarist college (the so-called Szaniawski convent school) also boasts an impressive body of ethnographic exhibits, in particular folk sculptures by authors affiliated to the Łuków Sculptural Centre, which runs two schools for young sculptors – in Łuków and Wola Gułowska. Regional Museum, ul. Piłsudskiego 19, 21-400 Łuków, tel. 25 798 27 16; [email protected], www.muzeum.illu.pl, www.muzeumamonitow.pl Parafia Kolegiacka pw. Przemienienia Pańskiego, Plac Narutowicza 2, 21-400 Łuków, tel. 25 798 29 70; www.kolegiata.lukow.pl OPOLE LUBELSKIE The Regional Museum in Łuków (the former Szaniawski Convent School), photo by A. Bednaruk Baroque shape, quite as much as its interiors. The sanctuary’s narrow profile, complemented by the two steeples of the western façade, perfectly adds to the town panorama. Next to the church there are also a brick belfry and a building formerly belonging to the Bernardine monastery (now used by the Tadeusz Kościuszko General Secondary School). The former Bernardine sanctuary has been a parish church since 1920. The northern and western suburbs of Łuków border on dense forests abundant in fir, which grows here in a cluster, outside its natural habitat and under the protection of the “Jata” reserve. Łuków is mostly known, however, as the place where a large number of Jurassic fossils – ammonites, belemnites, clams and snails – can be found. Discovered and described as early as in the 19th century by, i.a., Fr. Stanisław Staszic and, after World War II, Prof. Henryk Makowski from the University of Warsaw, fossils were taken under protection in 1981 as part of the “Kra Jurajska” reserve. They are especially numerous west of the town, in the Łapiguz and Zimna Woda suburbs, and in Kolonia Gołaszyn. A rich collection of ammonites and other Jurassic limestones is displayed in the Regional Museum. The Museum, housed in the A historic building of a railway station (PKP), photo by W. Mularczyk 80 A district town in the Powiśle region, known to be the seat of the first school of arts and crafts on the Polish land. Opole Lubelskie received town rights under the Magdeburg law from King Casimir the Great in 1368. In the 16th century, the town became an important Calvinist centre. Stanisław Słupecki, Castellan of Lublin, converted the local sanctuary into a Protestant church and founded a Calvinist school. Calvinist sermons were delivered in Opole by eminent preachers – Krzysztof Kraiński, and Andrzej and Wojciech Węgierski. The town’s owners – the house of Słupecki – took care of its growth by bringing in many craftsmen. Another highlight in the history of Opole came in the 18th century, thanks to its new owners, the Tarło family, and the Piarists, who were invited here by Jan Tarło, Voivode of Sandomierz. In 1761, Fr. Ignacy Konarski, brother of Stanisław, actively involved with the Commission of National Education, established a craftsmanship school adopted by the Sejm through a resolution in 1764. The late-Baroque Piarist monastic complex still stands in Opole Lubelskie. Erected in the mid-18th century on the initiative of Jan Tarło, to Franciszek Antoni Mayer’s design, the complex consists of a former monastery, a craftsmanship school and a Piarist college. The town’s greatest monument is the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in the years 1650-1675, and extended halfway through the 18th century. It boasts rich Baroque furnishings with Antoni Dembicki’s polychromies which form a The Park & Palace complex in Niezdów near Opole Lubelskie, photo by K. Ryczek 81 Places worth seeing the artisan and fair traditions of Opole Lubelskie. Also worth seeing is the Opole Community Centre with its refaced, iconic cinema, Opolanka, known for hosting ambitious and original cultural events, such as the Filmoffo film festival and the Chonabibe club music festival. Opole Community Centre, ul. Lubelska 30, 24-300 Opole Lubelskie; [email protected], www.ockopolelubelskie.pl; tel. 81 827 25 67, 827 25 71 Multimedia Museum, ul. Strażacka 1; [email protected]; tel. 81 475 50 10 Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ul. 24-300 Opole Lubelskie, tel. 81 827 21 04; www.paropolelub.natan.pl PUŁAWY The interior of a parish church in Opole Lubelskie, photo by S. Turski harmonious composition with the altars. Besides portraits of its donators and some religious paintings by authors such as Dembicki and Szymon Czechowicz, the church contains gravestones and many epitaphs from the 17th-18th centuries. Equally impressive is its fine collection of liturgical books, chasubles, monstrances and chalices. A token left by the magnate house of Lubomirski are the two palaces. The first one, now used by a general secondary school, emerged in the early 17th century from the hands of the Słupecki family. Around 1740, it was expanded by Tarłos, to be finally converted to a magnificent mansion by the Lubomirskis. Its Classicist style came from the great architects of King Poniatowski’s era – Domenico Merlini and Franciszek Ferdynand Nax. Just as its two annexes, which now belong to a hospital, the palace lost much of its original character after being converted to barracks in 1854. The second palace in Opole Lubelskie, dating back to 1785-87, is located in the town’s western district, Niezdów. This countryside residence of Aleksander Lubomirski, designed by Domenico Merlini, was built by a pond amidst a 16-hectare landscape park. Close by, two annexes were added early into the 19th century. A hundred years later, the park underwent a redesign by Walerian Kronenberg, to be turned in the 1970s into one of the voivodeship’s largest public parks, and it has remained so to this day. In the very heart of the town, where Ogrodowa and Strażacka streets meet, a renovated market square is to be found, today a venue which hosts fairs of regional products. Among the events organised here, of special significance is the Flavours Workshop. On Strażacka Street, tourists can also visit the Multimedia Museum, which offers some novel ways to promote local history, including 82 Dubbed the “Polish Athens”, Puławy’s hallmark is the sizable (over 30 ha) palace and park complex of the Czartoryski house (18th19th centuries), located on the site of the former magnate’s palace built in the years 1671-76 by Tylman von Gameren for Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski. On a high escarpment on the Vistula, Prince Adam Czartoryski and his wife Izabela (née Fleming) set up a unique settlement that drew much inspiration from the Antiquity period. In the storeyed main palace, turned into an Agricultural Institute after the November Uprising (and now used by the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation), a few historical rooms have survived, e.g. the hall with a cast-iron staircase from the 1850s and the Stone, Gothic, Knightly and Column rooms featuring a variety of wall and vault decors. Traces of antiquity can also be found in the Palace of Marynka (a reference to Maria, the Czartoryskis’ daughter), the palace chapel (today the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary), the Temple of the Sybil, the Greek House, the Roman Gate and the Yellow House. Most of these came from the hands of Piotr Chrystian Aigner, a renowned architect of the period. The Czartoryski Palace in Puławy, photo by S. Kuter 83 Places worth seeing The Gothic House in the Czartoryski Palace Settlement, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive The complex further includes Gothic-Revival (the Gothic House) and oriental structures (the Chinese Arbor). The settlement’s romantic ambience is complemented with the landscaped English garden and its labyrinth of grottos, arcaded gates and terraced stairs. Princess Izabela came up with the park’s concept herself, though with generous help from an English gardener, James Savage. During the Czartoryskis period, around the advent of the 19th century, Puławy became an important centre of intellectual and artistic life. The most prominent figures to visit and work in the town were Franciszek Dionizy Kniaźnin, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Grzegorz Piramowicz, Franciszek Zabłocki, Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine, Zygmunt Vogel and Joseph Richter. Princess Izabela Czartoryska, passionately interested in art and antiquity, in 1801 opened the first Polish museum in Puławy. In the Temple of the Sybil, modelled on the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli The Gothic Room at the Czartoryski Palace in Puławy, photo by P. Maciuk near Rome, Czartoryska assembled a collection of keepsakes of the most eminent Poles, among them royal insignia donated to her by Tadeusz Czacki, a famous collector. The nearby Gothic House, in turn, performed the function of a gallery exhibiting national souvenirs and masterpieces of European art, including the greatest paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. It’s worth noting that, after many years, part of the Puławy collection was returned to the town and is now displayed in the palace housing the Czartoryski Museum. The exhibition holds archival materials, militaria and souvenirs from the family collection at the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków. There is a chance that exhibition space will also be available soon at the two venues of the first Polish museum – the Temple of Sybil and the Gothic House – which have been undergoing major renovation over the last years. Czartoryski Museum in Puławy – Branch of the Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny, ul. Czartoryskich 8, 24-100 Puławy, tel. 81 475 45 00, 475 45 03; [email protected], www.mnkd.pl RADZYŃ PODLASKI The Temple of the Sibyl in Puławy, photo by S. Kuter 84 The Potocki palace and park complex is beyond comparison to anything in the region. In terms of scale and magnificence, paired by the richness of architectural decor, it is often compared to Wilanów near Warsaw, Sanssouci in Potsdam and the Admirality Palace in St. Petersburg. Erected in the 1750s by Marshal Eustachy 85 Places worth seeing Next to the church stands a belfry from a later period, with a gate donated by the house of Potocki, built in the 1750s by Jakub Fontana. Regional Chamber in Radzyń Podlaski, Cultural and Tourist Information Point (the Potocki Palace), ul. Jana Pawła II 15, 21-300 Radzyń Podlaski, tel. 83 352 15 60, 352 15 60; [email protected], www.krainaserdecznosci.pl Parish of the Holy Trinity, ul. Jana Pawła II 15, 21-300 Radzyń Podlaski, tel. 83 352 73 90; [email protected] SIEDLISKA AND HREBENNE The Potocki Palace in Radzyń Podlaski, photo by S. Turski Potocki, the complex is an achievement of the most illustrious Rococo architects, sculptors and stucco-workers – Jakub Fontana, Jan Chryzostom Redler, Bogumił Plersch and Józef Lapen. Its true sculptural masterpieces are figurative, ancient scenes (e.g. The Twelve Labours of Heracles and Apollo’s Chariot) which adorn the upper sections of the palace, gates and orangery. Sadly, the grand palace interiors were severely burnt during World War II, but this damage is being meticulously repaired by the local authorities and institutions from Radzyń Podlaski, which have their offices here. The large park by the palace, laid out by Jakub Fontana, Pierre Ricaud de Tirregaille and Dawid Knackfus, is not only home to some of the trees that originally grew here, but also a group of four ponds and a lane along a wide causeway. Vis-a-vis the palace complex we face another historically valuable building – the parish church of the Holy Trinity, dating from the first half of the 17th century. The church, styled in line with the Lublin Renaissance and donated by Stanisław Mniszech and Zofia Mniszech née Działyńska, boasts impressive stuccowork in its vaults. Also worth attention is the storeyed Mannerist gravestone to the donators in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Park & Palace complex in Radzyń Podlaski, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 86 A very attractive, though still hardly known, village in eastern Roztocze, just near the Polish-Ukrainian border and the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. Surrounded by forests, Siedliska is an excellent choice for a summer vacation, the more so that it abounds in tokens of the past related to the Sapieha house, which owned the Rawa demesne. Early into the 20th century, Prince Paweł Sapieha donated sanctuaries that stand to this day – the parish church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (the former estate chapel) and St. Nicholas’ Greek-Catholic Church. The latter, restored by the local community, has an iconostasis from the 17th-18th centuries and a wooden belfry constructed in the first half of the 19th century. On the opposite side, in a building once used by a school, there is the Petrified Trees Museum, devoted to one of the most interesting natural peculiarities in eastern Roztocze. The fossils presented here, quite numerous in and around Siedliska, are remnants of sequoia taxodium from over ten million years ago, i.e. the Tertiary (Miocene) period. They became petrified through saturation with silica and, as a result, today resemble stone rather than organic wood. This phenomenon drew the eye of Jan Długosz himself back The Petrified Trees Museum, photo by S. Turski 87 Places worth seeing in the Middle Ages, and today it has become the leading theme for “Kamienny Las na Roztoczu” (“The Roztocze Stone Forest”), a new geopark being currently designed by researchers. It was the residents of Siedliska that created the museum, furnishing it with nearly 500 pieces of petrified trees. Fossils can also be seen out in the wild, along the educational nature trail which runs to the “Jalinka” reserve and was marked out by the Tomaszów Lubelski Forest Inspectorate. It will not only lead us to the petrified trees, but also to a plot planted with bald cypress, a close relative of the prehistoric taxodium. Another interesting piece is the group of more than ten monumental oak trees (with up to 6.5 m in circumference) left after the Sapieha estate park. Nature lovers will certainly enjoy dropping in on the mid-forest clearing near the springs of the Prutnik River, where in crystal-clear water, somewhere in the sandy bottom, you can spot pulsating mini-geysers. Right by the springs stands the wooden chapel of St. Nicholas, and in the adjacent area a mysterious earthen burial mound towers over the ground. It is said to conceal the remains of Tatar knights who in 1672 suffered a defeat here from the army of King Jan III Sobieski. The closest neighbour of Siedliska is Hrebenne, a village mostly known for a major level crossing to Ukraine. Frome here, Lviv can be reached at the shortest distance. On a hill outside the village, among old lindens, lies the Greek-Catholic complex of sanctuaries of St. Nicholas, with a wooden Orthodox church from the late 17th century, a wooden belfry from the 18th century and a brick gate dating back to the early 19th century. The Orthodox church, built probably in 1697 and extended around the turn of the 19th century, has a three-section layout with a vestibule, a nave and a presbytery, and is capped with three octagonal domes resting on tall “drums”. Its interior is adorned with icons from the original iconostasis dating back to 17th-18th centuries, including depictions of Christ the Pantocrator, Hrebenne – a Greek-Catholic Church, photo by S. Turski 88 A spring and St. Nicholas’ shrine, photo by A. Pietruszka the Twelve Apostles and Oranta the Mother of God. Interestingly, the Orthodox church in Hrebenne has for several decades been a place of worship for both local congregations, as Sunday and holiday services are celebrated here by priests from the nearby Catholic parish in Siedliska and the Greek-Catholic parish in Przemyśl. The Orthodox-church hill is also an excellent viewing spot on the Hrebenne - Rawa Ruska border crossing. Petrified Trees Museum, Siedliska Tomaszowskie, 22-680 Lubycza Królewska, tel. 84 667 46 82, 513 122 918 Tomaszów Pasieki Forest Inspectorate, ul. Mickiewicza 1, 22-600 Tomaszów Lubelski, tel. 84 664 24 50, 664 24 58, 664 24 59; www.lublin.lasy. gov.pl/web/tomaszow Catholic Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Siedliska 15, 22-680 Lubycza Królewska, tel. 84 667 46 86 Greek-Catholic Parish of St. Nicholas, Hrebenne 181, 22-680 Lubycza Królewska, tel. 505 003 609; [email protected] (curate: Fr. Jan Tarapacki) Church and bell tower in Siedliska, photo by E. Słoniewski 89 Places worth seeing St. Catherine’s Church in Szczebrzeszyn, photo by S. Turski SZCZEBRZESZYN One of the region’s oldest and most historic localities, which received its town rights in the second half of the 14th century. It features an age-old street layout and market square, a few historically precious sanctuaries, a mediaeval gord and a Jewish cemetery. The gord in the western suburbs shows traces of a 10th-century settlement with remnants of cottages, stone furnaces and a burial ground built around the 12th-13th centuries. A hundred years later, King Casimir the Great had a defensive tower built here to protect crossings over the Wieprz River. By that time, a town had grown east of the castle, and towards the end of the century a parish and the first wooden church appeared. Some of the walls of another sanctuary (from the 14th-15th centuries) belong to the Orthodox church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, dating back to the 16th century. Originally Orthodox, it was used by Uniates from 1596 to 1875, to eventually return and stay with the Orthodox Church until 1915. Up to this day, the congregation of the eastern rite occasionally use it as a branch church affiliated with St. Nicholas’ Orthodox parish in Zamość. What’s worth noting is that this is the oldest religious structure administered by the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. It boasts magnificent polychromies from the 16th-17th centuries, depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ and St. John’s Book of Revelations. The early 17th century is when two Catholic sanctuaries, still standing, came into existence – the parish church of St. Nicholas the Bishop and the monastic Franciscan church of St. Catherine. Donated by the Zamoyski ordynats and designed in the Lublin Renaissance style, both have rich stuccowork in the vaults. The Franciscan monastery at St. Catherine’s church from the 18th century became 90 home for a hospital present there to this day. The Renaissance synagogue was established at the turn of the 17th century, to undergo a major redevelopment a hundred years later. Burned down by German Nazis during World War II, the synagogue was reconstructed and is now the seat for the local community centre. Inside, we will find a stone Aron Ha-Kodesh (Torah ark) and Renaissance vaults with exquisite The beetle monument in stuccowork. A stone’s throw Szczebrzeszyn,photo by G. Jaworski away from the synagogue on ul. Cmentarna lies one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the region, comprising nearly 400 tombstones, the oldest of which have stood here since the turn of the 18th century. The cemetery commemorates the martyrdom of 2300 Jews from Szczebrzeszyn, who on this very ground were shot by the German Nazis. On the market square, and by the spring at the foot of Zamkowa Hill, we can see monuments to the beetle from Jan Brzechwa’s famous poem and tongue-twister W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie i Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie (In Szczebrzeszyn the beetle clicks in the reed and that’s what Szczebrzeszyn is famous for). In the eastern suburbs, on the Wieprz River, an extensive park stretches out with a palace once owned by the Zamoyskis, both dating back to the 17th-19th centuries. A Jewish cemetery in Szczebrzeszyn, photo by G. Jaworski 91 Places worth seeing Several kilometres north of Szczebrzeszyn, in the valley of the Por River, the village of Sąsiadka nestles, with a high, earthen hill. This is where back in the 11th-12th centuries Sutiejsk, one of the border Cherven Towns, was located. West and south of the town, the picturesque scenery of Western Roztocze can be admired, with a dense network of loess gorges (3-9 km/sq. km), including the “Piekiełko” labyrinth between Szczebrzeszyn and Wywłoczka. Municipal Community Centre, ul. Sądowa 3, 22-460 Szczebrzeszyn, tel. 84 682 10 60; [email protected], www.szczebrzeszyn.pl; Online Tourist Information Point: [email protected] TOMASZÓW LUBELSKI A large trade centre on the Lviv Route with town rights since 1590. At the site of Rogóźno village, Hetman Jan Zamoyski founded a town called Jelitowo (after “Jelita”, the Zamoyskis’ coat of arms) which five years later was renamed Tomaszów (from Jan Zamoyski’s son, Tomasz). Its urban layout was devised by the Italian architect Bernardo Morando, who also designed the “ideal Renaissance town”, Zamość. The layout drew much inspiration from the original The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, photo by S. Turski 92 – within an area shaped as a regular hexagon, fortified with embankments and a moat, Morando inscribed a market square from which four main streets emerge towards Zamość (today ul. Zamojska), Lviv (ul. Lwowska), Szczebrzeszyn (ul. Józefa Piłsudskiego) and Sokal (ul. 29 Listopada). These in turn are connected to a grid of smaller, perpendicular and parallel alleys, which together form very regularly structured quarters of land. The St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Sadly, much of Tomaszów’s photo by S. Turski earliest architectural style has been lost in raids, warfare and fires afflicting the town. Many monuments have not survived either, e.g. a Baroque Trinitarian church and monastery from the first half of the 18th century (pulled down after the order was dissolved in 1783 and a synagogue dating back to the second half of the 17th century (destroyed by the Germans during their occupation of Poland). On the market square, the original Tea House can still be visited, built in 1895 from thick wooden logs and modelled after northern-Russian tea houses. Nearby stands the Orthodox St. Nicholas’ church, dating from 1885-90. This eclectic structure crowned by five domes combines neo-Classicist architecture with the official, Byzantine-Ruthenian style. Also worth visiting is the parish church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus at ul. Lwowska. The Baroque furnishings in this 193549 sanctuary (the altar, the paintings and the boat-shaped pulpit) were taken from a Roman-Catholic church and a Greek-Catholic church in nearby Uhnów which, after the 1951 arrangements for Poland’s eastern border, today belongs to Ukraine. The town’s most precious historic landmark is the church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ranked among the most beautiful wooden sanctuaries of the Baroque period in Poland. Donated by the second ordynat, Tomasz Zamoyski, and erected in 1627, the church was redeveloped a century later. It has a spatial layout characteristic of grand Baroque sanctuaries made of brick – a three-aisle interior with side aisles separated from the main nave by arcades on slim, richly corniced pillars. A similar, very prominent cornice runs around the coping of the external walls, demarcating in the façade the top storey with quadrilateral steeples capped by bulb-shaped cupolas. The church must have been designed by a top-class architect and built by masters in carpentry, as can be seen in its barrel vault and trapezoid niches for chapels in the side aisles. The copious Baroque interior, 93 Places worth seeing which was in part transferred from the demolished Trinitarian church, will draw the visitor’s eye with the main altar (made in 1627 and extended in 1726) with a miraculous painting of Our Lady of the Scapular. Next to the church stand an 18th-century wooden belfry and an original stone pillory, whereas the church cemetery is surrounded by ancient trees. Every autumn, in and around Tomaszów Lubelski, battles are re-enacted between the Polish and German armies that clashed here on one of the biggest battlefields of the 1939 September Campaign. The first to meet the Germans here, on 17-20 September, were the Lublin and Kraków armies heading for the south-eastern border and Romania. Later, from 22 to 27 September, similar battles were fought by the forces of the Northern Front, built up on the basis of the Modlin army. The open-air shows entitled “Ocalić od zapomnienia” (“Preserving Them in Memory”), with various re-enactment groups backed by tanks, armoured vehicles and cars (successful battles were fought by, i.a., the armoured-mechanised brigade under Gen. Piskor’s command) are held here in September. In addition, all those war encounters have been commemorated by the Regional Museum named after Dr. Janusz Peter, a physician, painter and regionalist. The Museum exhibits a vast collection of battlefield weaponry, as well as the banners of regiments and other military units. Siwa Dolina (Grey Valley) encompassed within the town limits is the region’s undisputed hallmark when it comes to cross-country skiing (and the place where a branch of the Polish Ski Federation has its headquarters), whereas the village of Justynówka, east of Tomaszów, has an Alpine-skiing centre on Mount Biała (349 The J. Petera Regional Museum – an exhibition dedicated to the battles of Tomaszów Lubelski, photo by S. Turski 94 metres above sea level). The five professional cross-country routes in Siwa Dolina are not open exclusively to skiers, as, outside the winter season, skirollers, roller-bladers and roller-skaters can use them too, in addition to a half-kilometre track prepared especially for them. The skiing routes are also available to cyclists. Tomaszów Lubelski has even hosted MTB (mountain bike) championships. Tourist Information Point, ul. Kościelna 9, 22-600 Tomaszów Lubelski, tel. 84 665 85 05; [email protected], www.roztoczewita.pl Janusz Peter Regional Museum, ul. Zamojska 2, 22-600 Tomaszów Lubelski, [email protected], www.muzeum.powiat-tomaszowski.com.pl, tel. 84 664 37 20 Siwa Dolina Skiing Centre, al. Sportowa 8, 22-600 Tomaszów Lubelski, tel. 84 665 93 50; [email protected], www.lozn.org.pl WŁODAWA A town on the Bug that has retained the unique atmosphere of three intermingling religions and cultures – Catholicism, the Orthodox church and Judaism. A prominent aspect of Włodawa’s landscape is the steeples of the great Baroque church of Paulines from the 18th century, the 19th-century Byzantine-Ruthenian Orthodox church, and the roof of the grand synagogue dating back to the second half of the 18th century. Some of the bygone splendour of Włodawa, once a renowned fair centre, has been preserved in its historic, brick structure (“tetragon”) which used to house stalls and butcher shops, and is located – just like Sukiennice in Kraków – in the middle of the market square. Another reminiscence of the town’s multicultural past comes from the Festival of Three Cultures, held each autumn and comprising concerts, exhibitions, performances, workshops and religious services in the three local sanctuaries. Włodawa – the Festival of Three Cultures, photo by A. Koziara 95 Places worth seeing Włodawa – a view of St. Louis’ Church, photo by P. Maciuk Włodawa is also special in that all its sanctuaries were donated by its former owners: the Catholic church by the Pociej family, the synagogue by the Czartoryskis, and the Orthodox church by the Zamoyskis. St. Louis’ church was under construction from 1731 to 1780, to the design by the famous Paolo Antonio Fontana. Its rich late-Baroque style is best represented by the two-steeple façade running along a very smooth, meandering line and adorned with pilasters and cornices. The elliptical nave is covered by a dome. The polychromy adornments inside were added by Antoni Dobrzeniewski and the canvas paintings were by Szymon Czechowicz, an established painter of the Baroque period. The altars and other items, including the large sculptures of the Church Fathers by the pillars in the nave, Włodawa – an Orthodox church, photo by S. Turski 96 The Great Synagogue in Włodawa, photo by G. Jaworski sport a Rococo design. Next to the church stands the extensive monastic complex of the Pauline Order monks, who were invited by Ludwik Konstanty Pociej in 1698 to come over from Częstochowa and settle on the Bug River. The Orthodox church of the Nativity of the Theotokos, built from 1840 to 1842, was donated by the town’s owner, Count August Zamoyski. It was first used by Greek Catholics, to be turned in 1875 into an Orthodox church, which it is to this day. Its external body, dating from the reconstruction of 1888, constitutes a classic example of a Byzantine-Ruthenian Orthodox church on a Greek-cross plan, with a tall, bulbed dome in the middle and three apses crowned by semi-domes. Other elements that have survived since the first donation include the interior polychromies (from 1842) and the iconostasis with icons from the 17th-18th centuries. The sanctuary neighbours a Classicist parsonage which dates back to 1846-1850 and features a characteristic portico and bossed The Torah Ark in the Great Synagogue, photo by S. Turski 97 Places worth seeing Former Kahal house in Włodawa, photo by M. Tarajko quoins. In the church cemetery, by the wall, a couple gravestones from the 19th-20th centuries can be seen. The synagogue complex in Włodawa is one of the greatest of its type in Poland. The grand synagogue was donated in 1764 by the Czartoryski house who at the time owned Włodawa. This Baroque, storeyed building stands under a mansard roof of the Polish type and has a façade flanked by storeyed corner extensions with charming arcades by the ground floor. Its Aron Ha-Kodesh (built in the 1930s in the Baroque Revival design), ornamented with beautiful stuccowork and polychromies, made it through the WWII devastation from the German hands. Also worth noting is the cross-barrel vault with lunettes, featuring ornamented medallions on its keystones. Next to the grand synagogue stands a smaller, Classicist church from the second half of the 19th century, along with a building that housed a Jewish school, beth midrash. The whole complex, subject to major renovation in the 1980s, has been used since 1986 by the Museum of the Łęczna-Włodawa Lake District, which holds a large collection of Judaica exhibits. Museum of the Łęczna-Włodawa Lake District (in the former synagogue), ul. Czerwonego Krzyża 7, 22-200 Włodawa, tel. 82 572 21 78; [email protected], www.muzeumwlodawa.pl Pauline Monastery and St. Louis’ church, ul. Klasztorna 7, 22-200 Włodawa, tel. 82 572 13 66; [email protected], www.wlodawa.paulini.pl Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos, ul. Kościelna 11a, 22-200 Włodawa, tel. 82 572 17 50; [email protected] WOJCIECHÓW This most widely known agritourism village in the Lublin region, located ca. 25 km west of Lublin, is famous for cherishing folk smithery traditions. The Czerniec family, who for nearly a hundred years have been running a blacksmith’s shop here, every early July host all-Polish smithery workshops, turning Wojciechów into a lively fair devoted to artistic steelwork and other items of folk art. 98 The Arian Tower, photo by G. Jaworski Wojciechów’s most precious monument is the Arian Tower. Erected in the 16th-17th centuries by the Pilecki house, it constitutes an interesting piece of residential and defensive architecture verging on the Gothic and Renaissance styles. 25 metres in height, it has four storeys and 2-metre-thick walls at the foundation. In the past, the tower stood in a fortified square (a fragment of the wall with embrasures is still there, as well as the remnants of earthen embankments and moats) which also housed estate buildings owned by the Spinek and Orzechowski families. As both lines were keen supporters of the Reformation, the tower served as a Protestant chapel, where sermons were delivered by Marcin Krowicki, a famed Calvinist preacher. The tower in Wojciechów was dubbed “Arian” by Stefan Żeromski (who would often come here from nearby Nałęczów) in his novel “Nawracanie Judasza” (“Converting of Judas”). Of note, this first-class monument, at that time an estate granary, was under renovation from 1911 to 1914 by Jan Koszczyc-Witkiewicz, Żeromski’s son-in-law, at the commission of the Society for the Protection of Monuments. Today, the Arian Tower houses the Communal Culture Centre At the smithy of Roman Czerniec in and a smithery museum. The Wojciechów, photo courtesy of the second of Wojciechów’s great Wojciechów Commune Office archive 99 Places worth seeing tombstone that dates back to much earlier times, and commemorates Stanisław Spinek Jr., who died in 1578. Behind the wall, we can see a parsonage and an organist’s house, both from the interwar period. The active cemetery features a sepulchral chapel of the Świeżawski family from the late 19th century. Through Wojciechów runs the Iron and Smithery Tradition Trail, which will not only take us to blacksmiths’ shops and the monuments mentioned earlier, but also the Wojciechosko Homestead mini open-air museum (with a genuine 1918 smithy, among other things) and the Hipolit Water Mill on the Bystra River in Nowy Gaj, where an interesting collection of minerals, ammonites and many other fossils can be seen. St. Theodore’s church in Wojciechów, photo by P. Maciuk monuments is the parish church of St. Theodore, built in 1725 by Teodor Orzechowski, as a votive offering for the donator’s return (under the influence of Jesuit missions) to the Catholic denomination. Inside the church, fully made of larch wood, there are a Baroque main altar and Rococo side altars, which conceal priceless cordovans – impressed, painted and gilded skins with rich ornamentations. Along with the sanctuary, a still-standing wooden belfry was erected, and in 1802 the new owner of Wojciechów, Ignacy Morski, enclosed the church with a brick fence comprising gates, chapels and a mortuary. The wall features a Hipolit Mill in Nowy Gaj n. Wojciechów, photo by G. Jaworski 100 Smithery Museum - Communal Culture Centre, 24-204 Wojciechów 9, tel. 81 517 72 10; [email protected], www.kowale.com.pl, www.gokwojciechow.pl Roman Czerniec’s Blacksmith Shop, Wojciechów 153, tel. 81 517 73 05, 691 053 403, www.czerniec.pl Hipolit Water Mill, Nowy Gaj 18A, 24-204 Wojciechów, tel. 81 723 75 72, 505 288 292; [email protected], www.mlynhipolit.pl St. Theodore’s Parish, Wojciechów 113, tel. 81 517 73 14; [email protected], www.parafia–wojciechow.pl WOJSŁAWICE A former town with numerous traces of the past, e.g. three sanctuaries – a Catholic church, an Orthodox church and a synagogue. In 1440, the castellan of Krasnystaw, Jan Ligęza Czyżowski, requested from King Władysław Warneńczyk town rights for the village that Ligęza received a few years earlier from King Władysław Jagiełło. The new town, with a rectangular market and a regular network of streets, was constructed in the early 16th century by Hieronim Zaklika Czyżowski, once he had secured an incorporation charter for Wojsławice. In the 17th century, the town first An Orthodox church and a bell tower, photo by S. Turski 101 Places worth seeing The synagogue (now serving as a library and an art gallery), photo by S. Turski became the property of the Voivod of Kiev, Janusz Tyszkiewicz, and then of Stanisław Stefan Czarniecki, who held the office of notarius campestris and was a relative of the famous hetman, Stefan Czarniecki. In the 18th century this estate went over to the Potocki and Poletyło houses. The parish church of St. Michael the Archangel was erected in 1595-1608 and redeveloped in the late 17th century in line with late-Renaissance models by the architect and engineer of the Zamość fortress Jan Michał Link. 1771 saw the construction, just nearby, of a Greek-Catholic church of Prophet Elijah, next to which a high brick belfry in the Byzanthine-Ruthenian style appeared in the mid-19th century. Between 1864 and 1945, the Elijah sanctuary belonged to the Orthodox congregation and now is a branch church of the Orthodox parish in Chełm. The Jews, forming a large part of Wojsławice’s population, were murdered by the Germans during WWII. Pieces of architecture that have survived to our times include a synagogue from the turn of the 20th century and a wooden Rabbi’s house (the old 1780 synagogue was pulled down back in the second half of the 20th century). The new synagogue, with a characteristic suspended false vault, a recess for Aron Ha-Kodesh and a reconstructed wooden structure of the bimah, houses a library and an exhibition room. As regards the Jews from Wojsławice, we should mention the bizarre and dramatic story from 1761, when, in retaliation for the Frankists’ murder of a Christian child, the elders of the local kahal were sentenced to death and the Orthodox Jews exiled from the town. While in prison, the Rabbi put a curse on Wojsławice and committed suicide. A year later, the castellan’s wife 102 A parish church, photo by S. Turski Marianna Potocka had five votive shrines placed near each of the roads running to Wojsławice (on a plan of a cross), devoting them to the saints – Barbara, Thecla, Florian, John of Nepomuk and Michael Archangel – who were to protect the locals from the Rabbi’s curse. Aside from the shrines, those tragic events are brought back to us by Szubienica (The Gallows), a forested area out of town, while the story itself was popularised by Andrzej Pilipiuk. This well-known author of fantasy literature, strongly inspired by the aura and social conditions of small Polish towns and villages, chose Wojsławice and its environs as the setting for his short stories on Jakub Wędrowycz. Building on its rich history, also that being the topic of literary fiction, Wojsławice organises each year The Days of Jakub Wędrowycz and a fest entitled “W kręgu Wojsława” (In the Wojsław circle). Commune Office in Wojsławice, Rynek 30, 22-120 Wojsławice, tel. 82 566 91 02; [email protected], www.wojslawice.eurzad.eu 103 Biographical museums Biographical museums Chapter 2 104 105 Biographical museums The J. I. Kraszewski Museum, photo by S. Turski ROMANÓW Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Museum Romanów is where Józef Ignacy Kraszewski spent his childhood years (1812–1826) and a place he would revisit later in his life. Currently, a museum dedicated to the life and work of this writer operates here. The manor house in Romanów was built by Kraszewski’s grandparents (Malski). His parents, Zofia (née Malski) and Jan, inherited the property in the mid-19th century. Built in 1962, this museum has interiors that capture the patriotic air of a Partitions-period gentry’s house, exhibiting an impressive body of work by one of the greatest Polish writers – the author of more than 220 novels, who was also a journalist, draughtsman and publisher. The Romantic park still features a spruce alley, a Gothic-Revival gate and a chapel with the mausoleum of the Malski and Kraszewski families. The writer’s mother and two brothers are buried in the parochial cemetery in the nearby village of Wisznice. Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Museum, Romanów 25, 21-518 Sosnówka, tel. 83 379 30 14; [email protected], www.muzeumkraszewskiego.pl The J.I. Kraszewski Museum – the salon, photo by S. Turski 106 The Henryk Sienkiewicz Museum, photo by A. Bednaruk WOLA OKRZEJSKA Henryk Sienkiewicz Museum Wola Okrzewska in Southern Podlasie is where Henryk Sienkiewicz was born. Since 1966, in a restored estate outbuilding, a museum dedicated to this Nobel Prize-winning author has been open for visitors. The substantial collection of over 1500 volumes of Sienkiewicz’s works, analyses and critiques is complemented by some colourful memorabilia and posters of the film adaptations of, among other works, “Pan Wołodyjowski” (“Fire in the Steppe”), “W pustyni i puszczy” (“In Desert and Wilderness”) and “Quo vadis.” On show are also his paintings, aquarelles and drawings, and the adjoining park contains open-air sculptures inspired by Sienkiewicz’s works and protagonists. In the parish church of the nearby village of Okrzeja, there are a plaque commemorating his baptism and polychromies depicting some scenes from “Quo Vadis” and “Potop” (“The Deluge”). The Part of an exhibition in the museum, photo by A. Bednaruk 107 Biographical museums cemetery contains the gravestone of the author’s mother – Stefania Sienkiewicz (née Cieciszowska) – along with the “Mother and Son” monument, which was donated by the Henryk Sienkiewicz Society in Lublin. On the outskirts of the village, there is a mound, made in the 1930s, with Sienkiewicz’s bust. Henryk Sienkiewicz Museum in Wola Okrzejska, 21-480 Okrzeja, tel. 25 755 90 00; [email protected], www.muzeumsienkiewicza.pl NAŁĘCZÓW Bolesław Prus Museum At the turn of the 20th century, Nałęczów was not only a renowned and fashionable health resort, but also a hotbed of intellectual and artistic activity for many outstanding figures. Bolesław Prus was one of the most famous of these figures. He had an unmatched fondness for Nałęczów. Indeed, he was associated with the town for 28 years. He was born in Hrubieszów and attended school in Lublin, later to move to Warsaw. In the years 1882–1910, already an acclaimed writer and columnist, he used to spend all his holidays in the Nałęczów resort. He lived in the Palace of the House of Małachowski, where he worked on such novels as “Placówka” (“The Outpost”) and “Lalka” (“The Doll”), and also wrote the superb “Kroniki Nałęczowskie” (“Nałęczów Chronicles”) for Warsaw newspapers. A Spring Picnic with Mr Prus in Nałęczów, photo by P. Maciuk a monument to Bolesław Prus – a bench with the author’s sculpture sitting on it. To cherish the memory of this great man, each year the people of Nałęczów organise an open-air event called “Majówka z Panem Prusem” (“A Spring Picnic with Mr Prus”) that takes place in the Nałęczów Health Resort’s park. Bolesław Prus Museum in Nałęczów – Branch of the Lublin Museum, al. Małachowskiego 2, 24-140 Nałęczów, tel. 81 501 45 52; [email protected], www.zamek-lublin.pl Nałęczów – a bench monument near the Bolesław Prus Museum, photo by S. Turski Several rooms on the Palace’s ground floor have been re-adapted as a museum dedicated to Prus. One of the most notable exhibits here is the original typewriter used by Prus to write his articles, short stories and novels. By the entrance to the Palace there stands 108 The B. Prus Museum in Nałęczów, photo by P. Maciuk 109 Biographical museums The Stefan Żeromski Museum, photo by S. Turski NAŁĘCZÓW Stefan Żeromski Museum Stefan Żeromski is yet another great writer connected with Nałęczów. He came here in 1890 as a tutor to the daughters of Michał Górski, who owned the health resort in Nałęczów. Enchanted by the town (“Nałęczów is now not merely a beautiful place, but an art book of images one would think only a dream could create...” – he wrote in his Diary in 1891), he stayed there for longer. He married Oktawia Rodkiewiczowa, a stepdaughter of Doctor Konrad Chmielewski, who was the resort’s chief physician. Cottage interior – S. Żeromski Museum, photo by P. Maciuk 110 In 1905 on a hill called Armatnia Góra, he put up a workshop cabin. It was a Zakopane-style building, designed by Jan Koszczyc-Witkiewicz. In 1928, Żeromski’s wife, Oktawia, decided that a museum would be established there. Inside you can see genuine furniture, pictures and many more keepsakes of the author of “Popioły” (“Ashes” – he used the royalty money received for this novel to build the cabin). There are more traces left by Żeromski in Nałęczów, Tomb of Adam Żeromski, photo by P. Maciuk such as the orphanage he donated. Set deep inside the museum’s property, there is another building, also designed by Koszczyc-Witkiewicz. It is the stone mausoleum of Adam, the prematurely deceased, only son of Stefan Żeromski. Stefan Żeromski Museum in Nałęczów – Branch of the Lublin Museum, ul. Żeromskiego 8, 24-140 Nałęczów, tel. 81 501 47 80; [email protected], www.zamek-lublin.pl KAZIMIERZ DOLNY Maria and Jerzy Kuncewicz Museum This is one of the most exquisite villas in Kazimierz. For many years, it was a summer retreat for a well-known writing couple – Maria and Jerzy Kuncewicz. The villa, called „The Squirrel House,” was Maria and Jerzy Kuncewicz’s House, photo by G. Jaworski 111 Biographical museums built between 1934 and 1936 to the design of Karol Siciński, an outstanding architect associated with Kazimierz Dolny. This imposing house, made of brick and wood, blends the features of the typical summer architecture of the interwar period with the qualities of a traditional carpenter’s craftsmanship. It is surrounded by a beautiful landscape garden and park designed by Jan Dybowski, a prominent naturalist and Professor at the National Institute of Agricultural Science in Puławy. The Former Estate Manager’s House, the Hrubieszów Agricultural Society (TRH) in Dziekanów near Hrubieszów, photo by S. Turski HRUBIESZÓW Fr. Stanisław Staszic Museum "Bluszcz" Historical reenactment group, photo by S. Kuter Before World War II, the Kuncewicz couple hosted many eminent figures of literature on their summer property, including Julian Tuwim, Kazimierz Wierzyński and Antoni Słonimski. When the war broke out, they left Poland for Western Europe and the USA. They returned to Kazimierz Dolny as many as 20 years later to spend their summer holidays here as they used to. Maria Kuncewiczowa – who authored many short stories and novels, including “Cudzoziemka” (“The Stranger”) and “Dwa Księżyce” (“Two Moons”) as well as an anthology of Polish literature) – spent the last five years of her life (1984–89) in “The Squirrel House.” In the period between 1991 and 2005, the house was administered by the Kuncewicz Foundation, and since 2006 it has been home to a branch of the Vistula Museum of Kazimierz Dolny. Some interiors are available for sightseeing. These include the living room and the fireplace room, whose fixtures and furnishings were reproduced when Maria and Jerzy Kuncewicz still lived. The 1791 Baroque-Classicist manor house of the Du Chateau family (with outbuildings that were added in the 19th and 20th centuries) contains the regional Fr. Stanisław Staszic Museum. This eminent clerical, scientist and reformer bought Hrubieszów in 1800 and in 1816, in the neighbouring Dziekanów, he established House of Maria and Jerzy Kuncewicz – Branch of the Vistula Museum, ul. Małachowskiego 19, 24-120 Kazimierz Dolny, tel. 81 881 01 02; www.mnkd.pl/dom-kuncewiczow The Du Chateau Manor House – Regional Museum in Hrubieszów, photo by P. Maciuk 112 113 Biographical museums the Hrubieszów Agricultural Society, believed to be the first cooperative organisation on the Polish land, whose aim, he wished, was to “provide a model of a fair establishment for peasants so that they could help each other out in times of misery” Staszic was the one who discovered Abraham Stern – the brilliant inventor of mechanical calculators from Hrubieszów and an important contributor to Polish science. In addition to an exhibition dedicated to the life and work of Staszic and his Hrubieszów Agricultural Society, the museum has a collection of valuable archaeological items found in the Hrubieszów Basin, in such villages as Masłomęcz and Gródek nad Bugiem. Fr. Stanisław Staszic Museum, ul. 3 Maja 11, 22-500 Hrubieszów, tel. 84 696 27 83; [email protected], www.muzeum-hrubieszow.com.pl LUBLIN Wincenty Pol Museum Wincenty Pol was a great poet, explorer and geographer. He was born in 1807 in Lublin, where his parents had a grange in the Firlejowszczyzna suburb. The late-18th-century former manor house of the Pol family was relocated in 1972 to Kalinowszczyzna, one of Lublin’s districts, to become the Wincenty Pol Museum. The museum’s interiors capture the air of the 19th century, and its collections include portraits, manuscripts of Pol’s works, letters and many more heirlooms. Pol was an avid explorer, researcher and describer of the Polish lands that lay at the source of the Vistula and Oder Rivers, by the The W. Pol Museum in Lublin, photo by P. Maciuk 114 The interior of the W. Pol Museum, photo by P. Maciuk San, Dniester and Prut Rivers, and in Podolia and Silesia. He put his impressions on paper as poems, the most famous being “Pieśń o ziemi naszej” (“A Song of our Land”). He also published articles in magazines and books. He was Professor at the universities in Vilnius and Kraków, where he established the first chair of geography. In addition to many memorabilia and publications, the Wincenty Pol Museum in Lublin collects measuring devices, atlases and globes. Particularly notable is its unique collection of over 100 Polish-language globes. Wincenty Pol Manor House Museum – Branch of the Lublin Museum, ul. Kalinowszczyzna 13, 20-129 Lublin; [email protected], www.muzeumlubelskie.pl; tel. 81 747 24 13 The interior of the W. Pol Museum, photo by P. Maciuk 115 Other museums Chapter 3 116 Other museums on display include machines once widely used by the Polish Army: the MiG and SU fighter planes, the Mi and the SM helicopters as well as the Lim, the Bies, and the Iryda trainers. Visitors will certainly enjoy the possibility of boarding the Yak-40 airliner, the largest among the airplanes on display, which comes from the disbanded 36th Military Aviation Regiment. Air Force Museum in Dęblin, ul. Dywizjonu 303 nr 12, 08-521 Dęblin, [email protected], www.muzeumsilpowietrznych. pl, tel. 81 551 94 50 Żmijowiska Gord Dęblin. The Air Force Museum, photo courtesy of the Museum archive Air Force Museum in Dęblin Established in 2011 by the Ministry of National Defence (MON), this is the newest military museum in Poland. It was created on the basis of the Chamber of Tradition of the Polish Air Force Academy (WOSSP) in Dęblin. The famous “School of Eaglets” has trained pilots for military and civil-aviation purposes for nearly 90 years. Its graduates include some of the greatest fighter-plane pilots of World War II, including Polish squadrons fighting in the Battle of Britain. The museum presents the history of the school in Dęblin and of Polish aviation as a whole. Its most exciting department is nothing else but an open-air exhibition of planes, helicopters, rocket systems and radiolocation equipment. The fighter aircraft This open-air themed museum with a partially reconstructed Slavic defensive gord and an accompanying 9th-10th-century settlement. Żmijowiska (Wilków Commune) has preserved one of the four Slavic gords, known as the gords on the Chodelka River, and dating back to the 8th-10th centuries. Archaeologists from the Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny have reconstructed part of its fieldwork with a stockade and a gate, as well as several cottages, to create an archaeological open-air museum referred to as “The Żmijowiska Gord”. The Żmijowiska Gord is an open museum, available to visitors all the year round. During the high season, it offers workshops in experimental archaeology, open for everyone. The Vistula Museum, as the manager of the gord, also organises regular “Meetings with archaeology”. The Gord in Żmijowiska, photo by S. Turski The open-air plane exhibition, photo courtesy of the Museum archive 118 In addition to Żmijowiska, the Chodelka River Valley also holds three early-mediaeval gords from the 8th-10th century. The largest was the gord in Chodlik, spreading over an area of nearly 9 ha and protected by a system of triple-ground embankments, which, along with its adjacent villages, was inhabited by up to 10 thousand 119 Other museums The entrance to the gord, photo by S.Turski residents. Other gords included Kłodnica and Podgórz. All these four destinations lie along the themed trail known as “Gords on the Chodelka” (blue, 15 km long). Żmijowiska Gord, the Vistula Museum Branch in Kazimierz Dolny, Żmijowiska, 24-313 Wilków, tel. 81 881 02 77; [email protected], www.zmijowiska.pl Open-Air Museum of the Heritage of Chełm and Podlasie Regions in Hola Hola – this small village in Polesie is famous for the Orthodox Church of St. Anthony of Kiev and St. Paraskeva, and the neighbouring private open-air village museum run by the Society of Enthusiasts of the Open-Air Museum of the Heritage of Chełm and Podlasie Regions. Hola, a cottage in the open-air village museum, photo by S. Turski 120 The St. Anthony of Kiev church fair in Hola, photo by A. Koziara The orthodox church, which was primarily a Greek-Catholic church, was built in 1702, with a few redevelopments in the following century. This simple wooden planked building is painted blue, a colour characteristic of Polesie, and covered with a pitched roof with a small domed turret in the middle. Inside there is a preserved iconostasis from the second half of the 19th century and eastern icons, feretories and other elements. Near the church, which today is a branch church of the parish in Horostyta, there is a two-storey wooden belfry, and the historic cemetery holds a chapel from the mid-19th century. The open-air village museum located near the Orthodox church complex consists of residential and utility buildings transferred from various places in the north-eastern part of the Lublin Region. In Hola – an Orthodox church near the open-air village museum, photo by S. Turski 121 Other museums An exhibition at the Natural Museum photo by P. Maciuk Traditional log beehives and a post mill at the open-air village museum, photo by S. Turski the centre there is a cottage from the late 19th century which used to belong to a wealthy peasant family from Wyryki. The post mill from the early 20th century from Wołoskowola is a landmark of the museum. Among other buildings there is a barn from Kostomłoty with walls woven with bast fibre and wicker, a forge, a pottery kiln, a sweep well, a roadside shrine and cross, and also traditional log beehives made of one piece of wood. The museum is open to tourists from spring to autumn, but the best time to come is the end of July, when in the Orthodox church the annual St. Anthony of Kiev fair is held, and the museum hosts the colourful Hola Fair. During the spring & summer seasons, visitors are also invited to a small botanical garden, located between the museum’s granary and a wooden manor house. The Natural Museum organises many interesting activities and events to popularise the local nature. In particular, you may want to save the dates for “The Vistula Days” in spring, and “The Autumn Festival” at the end of the season. Natural Museum, Branch of the Vistula River Museum, ul. Puławska 54, 24-120 Kazimierz Dolny, www.mnkd.pl/muzeum-przyrodnicze, tel. 81 881 03 26 Open-Air Museum of the Heritage of Chełm and Podlasie Regions in Hola 63, [email protected], www.skanseny.net/skansen/hola, tel. 82 560 76 35; Natural Museum in Kazimierz Dolny The Natural Museum is housed in a grand 16th-Century granary, once owned by Mikołaj Przybyło, one of the wealthiest local merchants. Visitors can admire the landscape and natural beauty of the Middle Vistula River Valley gorge and a great part of the Powiśle region, including the Kazimierz Dolny Landscape Park. The exhibits present the wealth of local fauna and flora, as well as the amazing network of loess ravines, a peculiar landscape feature. Equally interesting experiences are offered by geological and palaeontological exhibits, which reveal the secrets of the extinct world from 65 million years ago, including a number of fossil organisms that inhabited the seas during the Cretaceous period. 122 The Natural Museum in the granary, photo by S. Turski 123 Sanctuaries Chapter 4 124 Sanctuaries A painting of the Mother of God of Kodeń, photo by S. Turski KODEŃ Sanctuary of Our Lady of Kodeń The famous sanctuary with the miraculous painting of Madonna de Guadalupe stolen by Mikołaj Sapieha from the Papal Chapel in Rome. This sensational story was described by Zofia KossakSzczucka in her book Błogosławiona wina (The Fortunate Fault). Pope Urban VIII excommunicated the magnate from Podlasie, but later Sapieha received forgiveness. Sapieha, called “the Pious”, built a large church in Kodeń based on St. Peter’s Basilica. The church, destroyed during the Swedish Deluge, was reconstructed and decorated with a splendid late-Baroque façade. Inside the vaults still hold the 17th-century stuccos. The church neighbours the monastery buildings of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the remains of the Sapieha family castle, including a brick church from the first half of the 16th century. The Oblates run a pilgrim’s house and a missionary The Missionary Oblates of Immaculate Mary’s monastery and sanctuary, photo by S. Turski 126 The Holy Ghost castle chapel, photo by S. Turski and ornithological museum, while the underground section of the castle features a shop with regional souvenirs and healthy food. This is where you can buy the famous Kodeń bread, kvas, meads and liqueurs - “Eremite’s Vitamins” with elderberry and St. Eugene’s Nectar with dandelion. The major fairs in the Kodeń sanctuary: 2 July – the holiday of Our Lady of Kodeń, 14-15 August – the diocesan fair of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 8 September – the holiday of the Nativity of Mary. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Kodeń, Rynek 1, 21-509 Kodeń, tel. 83 375 41 19/ 20; [email protected], www.koden.com.pl JABŁECZNA St. Onuphrius’ Orthodox Monastery Complex St. Onuphrius’ Monastery in Jabłeczna is believed to be one of the oldest Orthodox sanctuaries in Poland. According to various legends and records, it has existed since the 15th century. In the Spring flood waters of the Bug near Jabłeczna, photo by T. Żaczek 127 Sanctuaries A martyrium of the Uniates in Pratulin, photo by J. Gumowski Jabłeczna – the interior of St. Onuphrius’s Orthodox Church, photo by P. Maciuk mid-19th century an orthodox church was built on the Greek-cross plan with two gate buildings and a belfry, while in the early-20th century two chapels were constructed – of the Dormition of the Mother of God and of the Holy Ghost. Jabłeczna, with the miraculous icon of its patron St. Onuphrius and one of the four male Orthodox monasteries in Poland, is a unique place for the followers of the Orthodox faith. Each year on 24-25 June the fair attracts tens of thousands of believers from the entire country and abroad who take part in the exceptionally colourful liturgical celebrations which last for many hours in the monastery and shrines located on the meadows at the Bug River. St. Onuphrius’ Monastery, 21-526 Jabłeczna 69, [email protected], www.klasztorjableczna.pl, tel. 83 378 31 11 St. Onuphrius Orthodox Sanctuary in Jabłeczna, photo by S. Turski 128 PRATULIN AND KOSTOMŁOTY Sanctuaries of the Blessed Martyrs of Podlasie Pratulin, a summer resort on the Bug River, is a symbolic place for the Uniate Church in Poland. On 26 January 1874 the Tsar’s army, trying forcefully to place an Orthodox priest in the Uniate church, met the parishioners’ resistance. As a result, 13 believers were shot, and in 1996 they were granted the status of blessed martyrs for the faith. The church in Pratulin serves as a sanctuary with martyrs’ relics. Nearby there is a wooden church from Stanin near Łuków, transferred to the site of a former Orthodox church. Currently it serves as a document depository and museum of the Blessed Martyrs of Podlasie. The interior of an Orthodox church in Kostomłoty, photo by G. Jaworski 129 Sanctuaries The Neo-Uniate Orthodox church in Kostomłoty, photo by G. Jaworski This tragic fate was also experienced by the Uniates from Drelów in Podlasie, where 13 parishioners died from the bullets and clubs of Tsar’s soldiers. In the local Roman-Catholic Parish of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary there is the Memorial Room of the Blessed Martyrs of Podlasie. The Uniate Church, dissolved by the Russians on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland in 1875, began to revive in the free Poland after 1918. From the several dozen Neo-Uniate parishes of the Byzantine-Slavic rite only one still exists – in Kostomłoty on the Bug River. This wooden Orthodox church, erected around 1631, and renovated and expanded in 1852, holds a richly embroidered iconostasis featuring 17th-century icons. A church fair in the Sanctuary of the Blessed Martyrs of Podlasie in Kostomłoty, photo by S. Turski In June, on the Sunday following the end of the school year, the Blessed Martyrs of Podlasie Parish Fair is held in Kostomłoty, combined with a foot pilgrimage to Pratulin, while in the middle of September there is St. Nikita’s Fair, featuring a feast of traditional Podlasie songs. Parish of St. Peter and Paul, Pratulin 19, 21-504 Rokitno, tel. 83 345 41 40, 606 651 607; [email protected], www.sanktuariumpratulin.pl Parish of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ul. Męczenników Podlaskich 28, 21-570 Drelów, tel. 83 372 00 11; [email protected], www.parafia-drelow-nmp.siedlce. opoka.org.pl St. Nikita’s Neo-Uniate Parish, Kostomłoty 15, 21-509 Kodeń; tel. 83 375 52 27, 512 341 502; [email protected], www.kostomloty.com LEŚNA PODLASKA Sanctuary of Our Lady of Leśna Podlaska The parish church in Pratulin, photo by G. Jaworski 130 In the 18th century, due to the presence of Paulines and the worship of Our Lady of Leśna Podlaska, the village was called the Częstochowa of Podlasie. A small depiction of Virgin Mary carved in stone was acknowledged as miraculous in 1700. The Paulines from Częstochowa established a monastery there and began the construction of an extensive basilica. Architect Vincent Rachetti gave the three-nave structure a monumental character, emphasised by the broad two-storey façade with two steeples. The church built in the years 1730-52 is adjacent to a vast complex of monastery buildings which used to be surrounded by a defence system of earthen embankments, moats and walls with embrasures. The sanctuary consists of the Chapel of the Appearance with a well in the place of the pear tree on which in 1683 the miraculous image of Virgin Mary was to appear for the first time. 131 Sanctuaries The Marian Sanctuary in Leśna Podlaska, photo by S. Turski The major fairs in the Leśna Podlaska sanctuary: 29 June – the feast of St. Peter and Paul the Apostles, 15 August – the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 8 September – the Nativity of the Theotokos, and 26 September – the celebration of the Appearances of Virgin Mary in Leśna Podlaska. the retreat of the Tatar hordes defeated, among others, by the troops of the Wąwolnica heir Otton Jastrzębczyk in Opole Silesia retreated, the statue of Virgin Mary, reviled by barbarians, began to cast an unearthly glow and rose above the reach of pagans. The Marian worship was spread by the Benedictines from Mount Święty Krzyż. Wąwolnica, in the past called Wawelnica, owes its town rights and the construction of its defensive castle to King Casimir the Great. On the castle hill only the Gothic chapel (the presbytery of the former castle church) has survived to the present day, to be expanded in the 20th century. Nearby there is a Gothic Revival basilica from the years 1907-14. The sanctuary in Wąwolnica is famous for two Gothic statues in the Beautiful Madonna iconographic style – the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Kębło from around 1440, which can be viewed in the chapel, and the statue of Our Lady of Wąwolnica from the turn of the 15th century in the basilica. Nearby there is a pilgrim house and an interesting parish museum. On fair days (the first Saturday and Sunday of September) the place of apparitions in Kębło, with a brick chapel featuring a copy of the miraculous statue, light processions are held with the participation of thousands of believers. Parish of the Nativity of the Theotokos and St. Peter and Paul the Apostles, ul. Biskupa K. Moszyńskiego 2, 21-542 Leśna Podlaska, tel. 83 345 07 00; [email protected], www.lesnapodlaska.paulini.pl WĄWOLNICA Sanctuary of Our Lady of Kębło The most renowned Roman-Catholic sanctuary in the region, in which the Virgin Mary has been worshiped for over 700 years. As legends have it, in 1278 in Kębło near Wąwolnica, during A figurine of the Mother of God of Kębel in the castle chapel, photo by S. Turski The Mother of God of Kębel basilica and chapel in Wąwolnica, photo by P. Maciuk 132 Parish of St. Adalbert, ul. Zamkowa 24, 24-160 Wąwolnica, tel. 81 882 50 04; [email protected], www.sanktuarium-wawolnica.pl 133 Sanctuaries her recovery. The Marian worship in Krasnobród originated from the apparitions of Virgin Mary to the peasant Jakub Ruszczyk engrossed in prayer, which took place in 1640. This is also the date when the depiction of the Virgin Mary was created based on the 17th-century Italian painting. The major fairs are celebrated on 31 May (the Diocesan Day of the Sick) 1-2 July (the feast of Our Lady of the Berries), 15 August (the feast of Our Lady of the Herbs), 8 September (the feast of Our Lady of the Sowing). On the Sunday following 8 September St. Roch’s Fair is held, with a procession to St. Roch’s Shrine in the sacred place among the fir and beech forest with monument trees. The pilgrims can visit the Krasnobród Village Museum featuring sacral, ethnographic, archaeological and natural exhibits and an aviary, both located nearby the church, and they can follow the stations of the Cross in the park. The interior of a church in Krasnobród, photo by S. Turski KRASNOBRÓD Sanctuary of Our Lady of Krasnobród RADECZNICA Sanctuary of St. Anthony The Dominican monastery complex is a famous Marian sanctuary – with the miraculous painting of Our Lady of Krasnobród, the apparitions chapel “on the water”, erected on pile foundations on a nearby spring, and carved shrines and rosary path stations, some of which are located on the springs – from the first half of the 19th century the Church with the Dominican monastery was donated in the years 1690-99 by Queen Maria Sobieska in gratitude for The church and monastery of the Order of Friars Minor (Bernardines) were built in the late 17th century on a hill called Łysa Góra (Bald Hill). Below, over the water, in the place of apparitions of St. Anthony of Padua to the peasant Szymon Tkacz (the first apparition took place on 8 May 1664), there is an octagonal wooden shrine. Tradition has it that the water from St. Anthony’s spring has healing powers. The Marian sanctuary and former Dominican monastery in Krasnobród, photo by P. Maciuk 134 Parish of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Krasnobród Village Museum, ul. Tomaszowska 18, 22-400 Krasnobród, tel. 84 660 71 43; [email protected], www.krasnobrod-sanktuarium.pl The Sanctuary in Radecznica – St. Anthony’s chapel, photo by G. Jaworski 135 Sanctuaries The designer of the church and monastery Jan Michał Link, who also was the architect of the Zamość stronghold, is responsible for the splendid Baroque appearance of the building with a monumental two-steeple façade. The pilgrims, who come to St. Anthony’s Fair in large numbers (1-2 June; in the past, when Radecznica was called the Częstochowa of the Lublin Region, there were hundreds of thousands), enter the sanctuary through a long vaulted tunnel with 102 steps. Many guests stay in the sanctuary overnight to participate in the Fair Mass with the blessing of the lilies in the shrine on the water. Monastery of the Order of Friars Minor, ul. Klasztorna 6, 22-463 Radecznica, [email protected], www.radecznica.bernardyni.pl, tel. 84 681 80 15; PIOTRAWIN Sanctuary of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr According to Jan Długosz, Piotr Strzemieńczyk called Piotrowin, the owner of the Piotrawin village, was to rise from his grave resurrected by St. Stanislaus to testify to the benefit of the bishop in his dispute with the impulsive King Bolesław the Bold. On the high slope at the Vistula (where the banks reach up to 40 m in height) stands the Church of St. Stanislaus dating back to 1440. The church, preserved until the present times in its original Gothic style, was donated by the Bishop of Kraków Zbigniew Oleśnicki. The oldest and most precious monument is the foundation plate The Piotrowin Chapel and St. Stanislaus the Martyr’s church, photo by P. Maciuk 136 A votive painting from the collection of the sanctuary in Piotrawin, photo by P. Maciuk carved in stone placed on the wall of the nave, presenting Bishop Oleśnicki with a model of the church before the Madonna. Simultaneously with the church, a shrine was built at Piotrowin’s grave. The parish is famous for a rich collection of historic liturgical vestments, books and vessels and a unique series of 55 votive paintings from the 17th century. Parish of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr and of St. Thomas the Apostle, Piotrawin 94, 24-335 Łaziska, tel. 81 828 01 68; [email protected], www.parafiapiotrawin.eu Museum treasures in Piotrawin's sanctuary, photo by P. Maciuk 137 Sanctuaries GÓRECKO KOŚCIELNE Sanctuary of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr This summer resort village in Roztocze is famous for the Sanctuary of St. Stanislaus, bishop and martyr, who was to appear in the village in 1648, saving the village and its residents from Chmielnicki’s Cossack army. In the place of the apparitions, between the monumental oaks there is a wooden shrine with a depiction of the saint. The second shrine, also featuring the image of St. Stanislaus, was built on a piling foundation at the Szum stream, the spring called God’s Tear. A few hundred metres away there is a larch-wood church from 1768 with relics of the saint bishop martyr donated to the parish by Cardinal Karol Wojtyła. In the years 1668-1866 the sanctuary was run by the Franciscan Order, and the church and the shrines were donated by the holders of the Zamoyski family entail. In the historic lane leading from the church to the shrine on the water there are six oaks which are a few hundred years old. The fairs (especially on the patron’s day on 8 May) feature colourful processions with banners, flags and feretories. Groups St. Stanislaus’ chapel in the oak lane in Górecko Kościelne, photo by S. Turski of believers also visit the shrines and stations of the Cross located nearby. At the sanctuary there is the Diocesan Retreat House and an amphitheatre which hosts Marian Song Festivals. Parish of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr, Górecko Kościelne 11, 23-460 Józefów, tel. 84 687 80 45; [email protected], www.gorecko.pl A chapel by the Szum stream, photo by P. Maciuk 138 Larch church in Górecko Kościelne, photo by M. Zieliński 139 Sanctuaries WOLA GUŁOWSKA Sanctuary of the Virgin Mary, the Patron of September Soldiers The massive basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary towers over the village and the plain area, holding the great story of fights for independence at the turn of the 19th century and the last battle of the September campaign of 1939. Marian worship in Wola Gułowska began as early as in the 16th century when a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary was brought to the shrine sited in the place of the Marian apparitions. The painting was found by accident near Łysobyki (today’s Jeziorzany), probably after being thrown away by the Calvinists from the local church when changed into a Protestant church. In 1633 the local heir Ludwik Krasiński, the castellan of Ciechanów, brought the Carmelites to the newly built church and monastery. The monks from Wola Gułowska became famous for their patriotism, by supporting the Bar Confederates, the January insurrectionists and, after 1864, the persecuted Uniates. As a result some of them were imprisoned or sentenced to penal servitude in deep Russia. In the early October 1939 in Wola Gułowska the Polish cavalrymen from the covering parties of the “Polesie” Independent Operational Group commanded by General Kleeberg in the area of Kock, Serokomla, Adamów and Wola Gułowska, fought the Germans for two days, managing to recapture, among others, the church and the monastery. The winning fight was one of the episodes of the The Memorial Museum of the Combat Operation of Kleeberg’s Soldiers, photo by T. Osiński last battle of the 1939 September Campaign. The tragic events of those times are commemorated by the plaques in the church galilee, and Kleeberg’s soldiers and their families meet each year in Wola Gułowska for the celebrations on the first Sunday of October. The memory of the last battle of the September Campaign is cultivated by the Museum of the Combat Operation of Kleeberg’s Soldiers, established in 1989 in the local community centre). The school in Wola Gułowska bears the name of General Franciszek Kleeberg; its foundation stone was laid in 1960 by Wanda Kleeberg, the widow of the heroic commander. Monastery of the Carmelite Order, 21-481 Wola Gułowska 56, tel. 25 755 02 21; www.wola-gulowska.karmelici.pl The Basilica in Wola Gułowska, photo by T. Osiński 140 Historical reenactment in Wola Gułowska, photo by Adamów Commune Office archive 141 Defence structures Chapter 5 142 Defence structures The Mierzwiączka Fort in Dęblin, photo courtesy of STB archive Dęblin Stronghold One of the largest fortress complex built by the Tsar’s army on the Polish land. The complex, constructed from the 1840s to the beginning of World War I, consists of a citadel and seven forts. The citadel was built in the years 1838-45 by General Johan Jakob von Daehn. It is a compact complex of barracks and storage buildings surrounded by a moat and the Vistula River. Entry to the stronghold used to be guarded by the Warsaw and Lublin gates. In 1840 the Dęblin property was given to Ivan Paskevich, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Poland, who established a trade and crafts settlement ca. 1.2 km from the stronghold. The settlement, named Irena in honour of Paskevich’s wife, later became the centre of Dęblin town. Fort II, called Mierzwiączka, and located in the northern part of the town, constructed in the years 1879-1882, is the best-preserved among the historic forts. Dęblin Stronghold Museum, ul. 15 Pułku Piechoty “Wilków” 32b, 08-530 Dęblin, tel. 601 817 048; [email protected], www.deblin.pl The Dęblin stronghold and a bridge over the Vistula, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 144 The forts in Kobylany near Terespol, photo by S. Turski Forts of the Brest Stronghold The construction of the massive stronghold in Brest, which guarded the route from Warsaw and the bridge crossing on the Bug River, was launched soon after the November Uprising. On the left bank .of the river, called the Terespol bridgehead, the Tsarist authorities demolished the old town buildings to build the western rampart of the stronghold, fortified and surrounded with a moat. Further to the west, at a distance of a few kilometres, two rings of brick and earth forts were built, expanded and reinforced by Tsar’s engineers until 1915. Two of the forts from the first ring of fortifications, built in 1878-85 within the area of Terespol, have survived until the present day. Among the most interesting structures is Fort VII in the western bridgehead in Łobaczew Duży. The concrete structure with a dome embedded in the ground is surrounded by a deep moat. The Brest fortress forts near Łobaczew, photo by A. Pietruszka 145 Defence structures A much larger fort from the years 1911-14 can be seen in Koroszczyn west of Terespol, and three more, belonging to the second ring of fortifications, are in Kobylany, Lebiedziew – Dobratycze Kolonia and Żuki-Murawiec. The defence line was supplemented with several dozen structures – fortified outposts, batteries, storage buildings and powder magazines. The Association of the Enthusiasts of Fortifications and History renovated the powder magazine from 1913 in Terespol and adapted it for sightseeing purposes. The building features, among other things, a military, ethnographic and rail exhibition. The latter focuses on the history of the strategic railway connection between Warsaw and Brest constructed in the years 1865-67, to which later a siding was added leading to the powder magazine. Association of the Enthusiasts of Fortifications and History – the Powder Magazine, ul. Topolowa 6, 21-550 Terespol, rememberterespol@gmail. com, www.twierdza.org, www.prochowniaterespol1.blogspot.com, tel. 798 091 475 Bunkers of the Molotov Line In autumn 1939, after establishing the demarcation line by Germany and the Soviet Union which divided the conquered Poland into two occupation zones, the Soviet army began the construction of 13 fortification districts - from Kaunas and Grodno on the north to Rava-Ruska and Przemyśl on the south. The fortifications are referred to as the Molotov Line, after the name of the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs who in 1939 signed the pact on the invasion and occupation of Poland with the German Minister Ribentropp. On the area of today’s Lubelskie Voivodeship there are over 50 defence bunkers constructed in the years 1940-41. Located south of Lubycza Królewska, the bunkers on many forest sections are connected with anti-tank trenches. Two- and The Molotov Line bunker near Lubycza Królewska, photo by T. Grodek 146 A bunker between Bełżec and Lubycza Królewska, photo by J. Oleszczuk even three-storey reinforced concrete bunkers, each equipped with several cannons and machineguns were to protect the area of Southern Roztocze. However, the Germans surprised the Soviet Union, its previous allies, with an attack in June 1941 and passed the unfinished defence line without any difficulties. In the Lubycza Królewska a blue-colour trail was designated along the Molotov Line bunkers running through Huta Lubycka, Krągły Goraj Hill, Lubycza Królewska, Teniatyska, Mosty Małe and Hrebenne. Lubycza Królewska Commune Office, ul. Kolejowa 1, 22-680 Lubycza Królewska, tel. 84 661 74 51; [email protected], www.lubycza.pl A bunker in the forest near Lubycza Królewska, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 147 Museums of martyrology Chapter 6 148 Museums of martyrology The mausoleum with the remains of those murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp, photo by P. Maciuk Majdanek The concentration camp located in the immediate vicinity of Lublin is where around 80 thousand people were exterminated. Half the victims transported from 26 European countries were Jews. The camp area has served as the State Museum at Majdanek since 1944. The Museum deals with protecting the memory of the victims and documenting Hitler’s programme of exterminating the population of the conquered countries, including the Reinhard action, aimed at the complete annihilation of the Jews. Young Jews visit the Museum at Majdanek, photo by S. Turski 150 The Memorial at the Museum at Majdanek, photo by J. Gorlach The museum houses the remnants of the former camp, i.a. baths, gas chambers and the crematory, and parts of the barracks where the prisoners lived. At the entrance to the museum there is a monumental statue, and along its axis, nearby the crematory and execution ditches, a mausoleum with the ashes of the camp victims. State Museum at Majdanek, ul. Droga Męczenników Majdanka 67, 20-325 Lublin, tel. 81 710 28 33, 710 28 65; [email protected], www.majdanek.eu The Memorial Lane at the Museum at Majdanek, photo by S. Turski 151 Museums of martyrology A symbolic gate at the Memorial Site in Bełżec, photo by P. Maciuk Bełżec The Museum – Memorial Site was created in 2004 due to the efforts of the American Jewish Committee and the Government of the Republic of Poland. It covers an area of a few hectares, located on what was formerly one of the largest Nazi death camps of World War II. From February to December 1942 the Germans murdered nearly 600 thousand Jews from Lublin, Lviv and the entire Galicia, as well as Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway. Fifteen hundred Poles who were found to be helping or hiding Jews also died, as well as an unspecified number of Romanians. In early 1943 the Nazis liquidated the camp, covering the traces of their crime. They exhumed the bodies of the victims and placed their ashes in ditches – after some years 33 such mass graves were Exhibits at the Memorial Site Museum in Bełżec, photo by P. Maciuk 152 The Memorial Site Museum in Bełżec, photo by S. Turski found. The story of the Nazis’ homicide and the Reinhard operations is recalled by the camp museum. Museum – Memorial Site in Bełżec – Branch of the State Museum at Majdanek, ul. Ofiar Obozu 4, 22-670 Bełżec, tel. 84 665 25 10; muzeum@ belzec.eu, www.belzec.eu Sobibór In the forest near the railway station from March 1942 to October 1943 the Germans murdered ca. 250 thousand Jews from Poland and many other European countries, including France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria. On 14 October 1943 the prisoners The memorial to the victims murdered in the Sobibór extermination camp, photo by S. Turski 153 Museums of martyrology The Cemetery at the Zamość Rotunda , photo by S. Turski Sobibór, a former extermination camp, photo by S. Turski raised a riot and nearly 300 of them managed to escape. Only a few dozen of them survived the occupation, but the Nazis closed the camp soon after the escape, covering the traces of their homicide. Since 1993 in the former camp there is a museum which commemorates the victims who died in Sobibór. Among the traces of the past there is a railway siding which for thousands of European citizens used to be the last stop on their journey. Their tragedies are symbolised by the monument of a female prisoner with distinctly Semitic features, holding a child to her side. In 2003, on the initiative of social organisations from the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, the Remembrance Alley was created with stones bearing names of particular people or groups of camp victims. Museum of the Former Death Camp in Sobibór – Branch of the State Museum at Majdanek, Stacja Kolejowa Sobibór 1, 22-200 Włodawa, tel. 82 571 98 67; [email protected], www.sobibor-memorial.eu The Memorial Lane to commemorate the Sobibór Victims, photo by S. Turski 154 Rotunda in Zamość The brick cannon post with a crew shelter built in the 19th century on the southern foreground of the Zamość Stronghold during World War II served as the site of the martyrdom and numerous executions of Poles, Jews and Soviet prisoners. The Gestapo established a prison and execution site there. The bodies of the victims (around 8000 people) were burned, and their ashes were put in ditches or the moat surrounding the Rotunda. The homicide reached its peak in 1944 when the Nazis carried out pacification operations in the Zamość Region aimed at guerrilla troops and civilians supporting them. The imprisoned and murdered people are commemorated by the museum of martyrology established in 1947. Around the Rotunda there is a cemetery of Polish soldiers of September 1939, guerrillas, Soviet prisoners, the Jewish people and the victims of Stalin’s regime. Rotunda Martyrdom Museum, ul. Męczenników Rotundy 1, 22-400 Zamość, tel. 84 638 64 94; [email protected], www.muzeum-zamojskie.pl The Rotunda in Zamość, photo by S. Turski 155 National parks Chapter 7 156 National parks The former plenipotentiary house – now housing the RNP management in Zwierzyniec, photo by S. Turski Roztocze National Park Created in 1974 on an area of 8482 ha, 93% of which are forests, to protect the valuable forests of Central Roztocze. It covers a variety of forest environments – from peat bogs to alder swamps, marshy meadows and wet-ground forests and fir and beech forests typical of the Carpathians. The most popular natural and educational trail to Mount Bukowa leads through the forests. At the foot of Mount Bukowa lies Zwierzyniec, which used to serve as a separated and fenced hunting area for the heirs (in Polish: ordynats) of the Zamoyski family entail, frequented by Polish Kings Władysław IV, John II Casimir and Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki. Numerous monuments in the town come from the times of the entail, the most magnificent of which is the Baroque Church of St. John of Nepomuk, donated in the years 1741-47 by Tomasz Antoni Zamoyski as a votive offering for his recovery. The church lies on The Polish Konik horses from the RNP stud farm in Florianka, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 158 The church on the water in Zwierzyniec, photo courtesy of the Zwierzyniec Town Hall archive an island and is surrounded by a pond which previously housed the theatre on the water established by the wife of Ordynat Jan Sobiepan Zamoyski Marie Casimire Louise de la Grange d’Arquien, who later became Queen Marysieńka Sobieska. Near the church there still exist the Classicist buildings of the entail administration, the old brewery from 1806, handicraft workshops and a beautiful wooden villa – the residence of the plenipotentiary of the entail. The design is complemented with the “Zwierzyńczyk” park, featuring the renovated historic Dworski Channel and ponds. Today Zwierzyniec is a popular summer resort and includes the office of the management of the Roztocze National Park. At the Education and Museum Centre of the Roztocze National Park it is possible to see films and a natural-sciences exhibition with fascinating dioramas. A little further south, at the Echo Ponds, there is the natural refuge for the Polish Konik (Polish primitive horse), a descendant RNP – a view from Mount Bukowa, photo by S. Turski 159 National parks The Polesie National Park – the path to Lake Moszne, photo courtesy of PNP The Echo Ponds in Zwierzyniec, photo by S. Turski of the extinct wild Tarpan horses. The second farm of the Konik, the symbol of the Roztocze National Park, is run in domesticated conditions in Florianka, which can be accessed through a hiking and bicycle tourist trail. The place is famous for the museum Forest Room arranged in an enclosure with a forester’s lodge from 1830. Roztocze National Park, ul. Plażowa 2, 22-470 Zwierzyniec, tel. 84 687 20 66; [email protected], www.roztoczanskipn.pl. The Education and Museum Centre of the Roztocze National Park, ul. Plażowa 3, tel. 84 687 22 86; [email protected] The forest panorama of the Roztocze National Park (RNP), photo by P. Maciuk 160 Polesie National Park Established in 1990, covers an area of 9648 ha of water and peatland areas of the Łęczna-Włodawa Lake District, constituting part of a much larger “West Polesie” Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (extending to parts of Ukraine and Belarus). No other national park in Poland (apart from the Biebrza National Park in Podlasie) can boast such extensive peat bogs with large numbers of shallow lakes, ponds, pools, ditches, karst regions and various marshy areas, locally called młakas. Peat bogs between the lakes, covered with dwarf willows (rosemary leaf willow, grey willow, bay willows) turning to natural (self-seeded) marshy forests, are examples of tundra and wooded tundra south-westernmost of Europe. The muddy banks of water reservoirs are covered with peat moss, sedge and other plants which create floating compact surfaces called spleja that bend when stepped on. Exploring this unique environment is facilitated by nature trails which run through The Polesie National Park – cranes before migration, photo by M. Bartosz 161 National parks A sightseeing group at the Polesie National Park, photo by S. Turski the marshy land along specially arranged wooden footbridges and platforms (trail names: “Dąb Dominik”, “Perehod”, “Insurrectionary Camp”, “Mietiułka” and “Spławy”). The crane, one of nearly 150 species living in the park, is the symbol of the Polesie National Park. Among them are species rarely encountered in Poland, such as black storks, aquatic warblers, short-eared owls, black grouse, and lesser spotted eagle. Also the largest flying predators – golden eagles and white-tailed eagles – use the area of the park as their hunting ground. The Polesie marshes and peat bogs are refuges for elk. These large mammals created one of the most numerous populations there, similarly to European pond turtles, reptiles under protection, which have found particularly favourable conditions in the Polesie National Park. It is also worth paying attention to the diversity of butterflies – over 70 species of these colourful insects have been observed in the park. A viewing tower along the Perehod nature trail, photo by S. Turski 162 A young pond turtle in the PNP, photo S. Turski The flora and fauna of Polesie are presented in videos, exhibitions and a terrarium with reptiles and amphibians in the Didactic and Museum Complex of the Polesie National Park in Stare Załucze. The complex also features the “Żółwik” nature trail and the Animal Rehabilitation Centre, which provides treatment for sick or injured animals. The Didactic and Administration Centre of the Polesie National Park in Urszulin is also worth seeing – it contains a large aquarium showcasing all the fish species found in Polesie. The Didactic and Administration Centre features the European Pond Turtle Protection Centre in which visitors, from autumn to spring, can watch little turtles before the park’s staff moves them to their natural habitat. Polesie National Park, ul. Lubelska 3a, 22-234 Urszulin, tel. 82 571 30 71, 571 30 72; [email protected], www.poleskipn.pl. Didactic and Museum Complex of the Polesie National Park, Stare Załucze 8, tel. 82 571 31 99. Moorland near the Staw Marsh in the Polesie National Park, photo by S. Turski 163 Health resorts Chapter 8 164 Health resorts The Spa House with a palm house and mineral water pump room in Nałęczów, photo by G. Jaworski Nalęczów – the Małachowski Palace in the Spa Park, photo by G. Jaworski Nałęczów The first privatised Polish resort specialising in treating heart and circulatory system diseases, has an almost 200-year history. The healing properties of the Nałęczów waters were discovered in 1817. In the late 19th century the resort, run by three physicians – Fortunat Nowicki, Wacław Lasocki and Konrad Chmielewski, enjoyed great popularity. The resort also became the favourite leisure and meeting location of the Polish elite. It was frequently visited by, among others, Polish writers Henryk Sienkiewicz, Bolesław Prus The Spa Park in Nałęczów, photo by Gr. Jaworski 166 and Stefan Żeromski. The last two, who spent many years of their lives in Nałęczów, have museums there (see more on page …). Nałęczów is a town resembling a garden, situated among forests and gorges, with numerous beautiful spa villas, often adapted to the style of houses in resorts in the Tatra Mountains and the Alps. Some of the buildings, for instance the Church of St. Charles Borromeo and the cottage at Armatnia Góra where Stefan Żeromski used to work, were designed in the Zakopane style by Jan Koszczyc Witkiewicz. In the heart of Nałęczów there is a vast Spa Park with the Classicist Palace of the Małachowski Family, and other historic buildings such as Old Baths, the “Książę Józef” Sanatorium, the Greek House and the Gothic House. Many modern spa and wellness centres In the Nałęczów Spa Park, photo by P. Maciuk 167 Health resorts The SPA ATRIUM Centre in Nałęczów, photo by G. Jaworski have opened in the resort, famous for its excellent mineral waters, offering hydrotherapy and other health and beauty treatments (Termy Pałacowe and SPA Atrium). Zakład Leczniczy „Uzdrowisko Nałęczów” SA, al. Małachowskiego 5, 24-140 Nałęczów, tel. 81 501 43 56, 501 42 75; [email protected], www.spanaleczow.pl Krasnobród Located in the vicinity of old beech and fir forests in Roztocze, it is famous not only for the Marian sanctuary (read more on page 134) but also for being the region’s second largest health resort. In the late 19th century one of the first tuberculosis treatment facilities in Europe was opened here, where patients from the entire country were subjected to a non-standard treatment involving A panorama of Krasnobród with the reservoir on the Wieprz River, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 168 Sanatorium – the former palace of the Fudakowski Family in Krasnobród, photo by S. Turski mare’s milk and saline water deposits. Currently the Krasnobród resort specialises in treating diseases of the upper respiratory tract and of the motor organs. The sanatorium is located in the palace-and-park complex from the 17th-19th centuries in the Podzamek quarter, formerly owned by the Leszczyński family and rebuilt after being destroyed during World War I. In the vicinity of the sanatorium there is a recreational reservoir on the Wieprz River and an inactive quarry with a viewing tower on top. Cycling and strolling paths have been created in the area, inter alia, for Nordic walking. Janusz Korczak Rehabilitation Sanatorium, ul. Sanatoryjna 1, 22440 Krasnobród, tel. 81 660 71 02; [email protected], www.sanatorium-krasnobrod.pl On a Nordic Walking route in Krasnobród, photo by W. Sachajko 169 Other attractions Chapter 9 170 Other attractions fairs in the sanctuary in Wąwolnica). Currently the railway operates during the tourist season (each Sunday from May to September), carrying tourists along the route from Karczmiska to Opole Lubelskie (or from Karczmiska to Poniatowa) with a stop at the forest clearing with a bonfire. Apart from the regular Sunday journeys, special trips can be arranged by school, business or family groups. Section of the Vistula Narrow-Gauge Rail, ul. Opolska 2, 24-310 Karczmiska, tel. 81 828 70 18, 506 346 639; www.nadwislanskakolejka.pl White Fleet in Kazimierz Dolny The tourist camp on the Vistula narrow-gauge railway trail, photo by J. Opiela-Basińska Vistula Narrow-Gauge Rail The only operating narrow-gauge railway in the region which provides an opportunity for a retro-style journey along the Nałęczów Plateau and the Chodelka River Valley. The first narrow-gauge rail was constructed in the late 19th century by the Kleniewski family of landowners to ease the transport of sugar beets and lime to the local sugar factories. Freight wagons drawn by horses travelled on wooden tracks. In 1911 an iron narrow-gauge track was constructed with a width of 750 mm from Nałęczów through Wąwolnica and Karczmiska to Opole Lubelskie, and later to Poniatowa. The original station with numerous elements of rolling stock can be viewed in Karczmiska (Railway Memorial Exhibition Chamber). In the interwar period and in the times of People’s Republic of Poland, narrow-gauge rail was the primary mode of transporting goods (mostly sugar beets to the sugar factory in Opole) and passengers (especially on market days in neighbouring villages and church In Kazimierz Dolny, which used to be one of the key ports on the Vistula, tourists can take cruises on the White Fleet ships. Each of them has its own characteristics and often a rich history. The largest of the ships, “Kazimierz Wielki”, built in 1900, is the oldest sternwheeler in Europe still in operation. The two-deck “Marzanna” is much more popular, also among filmmakers; it starred, i.a., in the video for a song by Kayah and Goran Bregović. Among the ships docking in Kazimierz are ships with a highly historic style – “Wiking”, “Pirat”, “Lew”. A White Fleet levee in Kazimierz Dolny, photo by M. Tarajko In the tourist season – from spring to autumn – there are regular hour-long cruises up the river to the Cow Island Reserve, during which tourists can see the Małopolska Vistula River Gorge with a panoramic view of Kazimierz Dolny, the quarry and the Albrechtówka Hill, the Męćmierz summer resort village, and, on the other side, Janowiec, with the castle ruins towering over the village. When requested, the ships also dock in the Janowiec marina. Vistula narrow-gauge rail, photo by J. Rosły 172 Passenger Cruises, ul. Słoneczna 39, 24-120 Kazimierz Dolny, tel. 81 881 01 35; www.rejsystatkiem.com.pl 173 Other attractions A Goth village in Masłomęcz, photo by Gotania Goth Village Masłomęcz, a village in the Hrubieszowska Valley, became famous after many years of archaeological research as a result of which numerous Goth settlements and burial grounds from the 2nd-4th centuries were discovered. This Scandinavian tribe, making a great journey south towards the Black Sea, found perfect conditions for settlement in the Hrubieszowska Valley. In Masłomęcz a Goth settlement has been reconstructed, with several spacious houses made of wooden logs and intertwined wicker covered with clay or semi-dugouts sunk into the ground. In the houses tourists can view not only everyday items but also a loom workshop and a potter’s kiln. The Masłomęcz “Goth Village” Association deals with organising shows and fests, among which is the yearly Archaeological Feast featuring spectacular fights between Goths and other tribes or with a unit of Roman legionaries. Masłomęcz Goth troops, photo by Gotania 174 Masłomęcz Goths, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive Masłomęcz is the starting point of the Goth Trail, leading to a few other places which used to be connected with Goths – among others, Mieniany and Kosmów. After exploring the trail, it is worth visiting Hrubieszów, located nearby, to see the Fr. Stanisław Staszic Museum where you can view precious Goth exhibits found by archaeologists in the Hrubieszowska Valley. Masłomęcz “Goth Village” Association, Masłomęcz 99, 22-500 Hrubieszów, tel. 694 224 116, 691 758 911; www.wioska-gotow.pl Slavic Gord The “Slavic Gord” private Historical Park in Wólka Bielecka (the Łęczna District) popularises knowledge on the life of Slavs in the early mediaeval gord. It is a faithful (though three times smaller) reconstruction of a set of buildings from the 10th-13th centuries discovered by archaeologists in the nearby Klarów. A Slavic Gord, photo by D. Wolińska The gord houses shows 175 Other attractions Early mediaeval weapons presented in the Slavic Gord, photo by S. Turski and workshops providing insight into the life of the then Slavs. Tourists can also take part in workshops in pottery, weaving, jewellery-making and Old Polish cuisine, as well as participate in Slavic festivals and open-air shows called “Encounters with history”. The shows include ritual fights, tribal gatherings and alliances, fortune-telling, dancing with fire, and weddings. Children will have an opportunity to get to know the games and plays of the past, and adults can join in archery contests and spear throwing. “Slavic Gord” Historical Park, Wólka Bielecka 7, 21-020 Milejów, tel. 81 757 12 61, 693 191 808; [email protected], www.horodyszcze.lbn.pl Studzianka – a Tatar Village Located between the Polesie and Podlasie regions, Studzianka used to be inhabited by Tatars, who had these lands bestowed to them in the 17th Century by King John III Sobieski. Southern Podlasie holds more such places, including Ortel, Lebiedziew, Małaszewicze An imam at the Tatar cemetery in Studzianka, photo by T. Żaczek 176 The “Tatarzynowie” archery team from Studzianka, photo by Ł. Węda and Koszoły. During the partitions and World Wars I and II, many Polish Tatars left these lands, and the few that stayed assimilated into the local community. Today, the most evident remnants of the former Tatar presence are two Muslim cemeteries, or miziars, one in Studzianka, with ca. 150 gravestones, and one in Kolonia Zastawek near Lebiedziew, with ca. 40 gravestones. The beautiful and unique history of the Tatars, who once lived in the north-eastern parts of the Lubelskie Voivodeship, is documented and popularised by the Studzianka Development Society (SRMS). In a local rural community house, you can visit an exhibition presenting “330 years of Tatar settlement in Studzianka and its vicinity”. Another exhibition, illustrating their life, work, farm activities and former crafts, is open at the local Podlasie Heritage Museum, which organises various workshops, e.g. on how to make earthenware and wicker baskets. Studzianka – the „Tatarzynowie” archery team, photo by Ł. Węda 177 Other attractions Members of the „Tatarzynowie” team from Studzianka, photo courtesy of the SDS archive The Tatarzynowie Group, associated with the Society, hosts archery classes and tournaments. Particularly rich attractions accompany the Tatar Culture Days organised in the summer, where you can learn how to shoot the Eastern and Crimean Tatar bows, play the mediaeval game of Kubb, and watch a performance based on the historic heritage of this village. You can also taste the delicacies of the Tatar cuisine of old, such as Cheburieki cakes, Peremyachi dumplings and Pierekaczewnik, a moon-shaped cake. building of the former school the Regional Education Centre was established, offering a broad selection of workshops and lessons on disappearing professions, handicrafts, customs and local cuisine. At the centre there functions the “Rumenok” ceremonial band, which promotes the folklore of Polesie and the tradition of herb growing and making herbal products. In Hołowno you can also take advantage of a rural spa, housed in old wooden granaries, where you will enjoy relaxing baths, curative massages and physical therapy and aromatherapy. Studzianka Development Society (SRMS), Studzianka 71, 21-532 Łomazy, tel. 501 266, 672, 83 341 73 79; www.studzianka.pl Land of Chamomile – Active Polesie Lubelskie Association, Hołowno 66, 21-222 Podedwórze, [email protected], www.krainarumianku. pl, tel. 695 993 378, 510 641 258 Land of Chamomile Land of Honey The Hołowno village in Polesie (the Parczew District), in the past known for its flax and herb plantations, particularly famous for chamomile growing, has established a tourist and cultural product on this tradition, known as the Land of Chamomile. In the renewed Pszczela Wola, a town near Lublin, is a truly special place, not only for those with a taste for honey. The town is home to the only Apiarian Vocational Secondary School worldwide. Next to the school, on the premises of a manor park formerly belonging to the Rohland Family, there is an open-air apiarian and beekeeping museum. You The Land of Chamomile – a rural SPA in Hołowno, photo by REC Hołowno 178 The chamomile village Hołowno – teenagers having fun during the chamomile harvest, photo by M. Onisk The Rohland Manor House in Pszczela Wola, photo by S. Turski 179 Other attractions A museum room in Pszczela Wola, photo by S. Turski can visit museum rooms with rich collections of historic exhibits, including several-hundred-year-old beehives, and take a tour around an apiary to see beekeepers at work. Each year, visitors from all around the world come to Pszczela Wola for the Honey Festival. All enthusiasts of apiarian history should also visit the nearby Hańsk in Polesie, which holds annual Beekeeper Days to honour Jan Dolinowski, who was born here, a Uniate priest and the inventor of the movable-frame beehive, For anyone with a sweet tooth for honey, a visit to Okszów near Chełm during the Bug River Bee Festival is a must. Unforgettable experiences, especially for young tourists, are offered by “Ulik” an apiarian farm in the Roztocze region, with a friendly Ms Bee as a tour guide. Visits to the apiary and the openair museum are always followed by honey tasting. There are over a Pszczela Wola – the open-air beekeeping museum, photo courtesy of the Strzyżewice Commune Office archive 180 The “ULIK” Apiarian Farm in Roztocze, photo courtesy of the ULIK archive dozen types available, including bean, dandelion, rape and fir honeydew honey, which are entered in the List of Traditional Products. Beekeeping Open-Air Museum in Pszczela Wola Agricultural School Complex (ZSR), Practical Education Centre (CKP), Pszczela Wola 9, 23-107 Strzyżewice, [email protected], www.pszczelawola.edu.pl, tel. 81 562 80 76, 562 87 73 “Ulik” Apiarian Farm, Mokrelipie 85, 22-463 Radecznica, tel. 84 681 80 70; [email protected], www.ulikroztocze.pl Magical Gardens The family theme park in Trzcianki near Janowiec, set up in a garden of over ten hectares according to an originally crafted scenario, where guests are transported to a world of fairy tales and fantasy. Open from spring to autumn, the park attracts numerous tourists, especially families with little children. The Magical Gardens - the Carrot Field, photo by Magical Gardens 181 Other attractions The entrance to the Magical Gardens in Trzcianki, photo by Magical Gardens This beautiful garden, with its rustling streams and waterfalls, has been planted with thousands of rosebushes, lilacs, peonies and other blooming plants. Various creatures dwell in each of its fairylands – the brave Dwarves, the mischievous Mordols, Bulwiaki the brownies, magical birds, huge caterpillars and dragons. Anyone venturing there will not only meet their fairytale residents, but can join in a variety of plays and field games, and afterwards have some rest in a meadow or on the beach or have something to eat at the restaurant or the cake shop. Magical Gardens, Trzcianki 92, 24-123 Janowiec, tel. 503 983 135, 502 223 349, [email protected], www.magiczneogrody.com The Park of Labyrinths and the Park of Miniatures A unique place to enjoy some leisure and entertainment with your family is to be found in Rąblów, a town nearly midway between Nałęczów and Kazimierz Dolny, within the Kazimierz Landscape Rąblów – the Park of Miniatures, photo courtesy of the PoM archive 182 The Park of Miniatures in Rąblów, photo courtesy of the PoM archive Park. Rąblów, known so far for one of the most popular ski slopes in the region, and in the summer for the recreational complex of pools, has two theme parks in store – the Park of Labyrinths and the Park of Miniatures. In the former, consisting of a few dozen exhibits in the 1:25 scale which present the most beautiful villas, mills, cottages and windmills of Nałęczów and Kazimierz Dolny, and many other elements of wooden architecture within the area of the popular tourist triangle of Kazimierz Dolny – Nałęczów – Puławy. Nearby there are is the Labyrinth Park, with five routes demarcated by the vegetation. Visitors can have plenty of creative fun outdoors by participating in quests and by hunting for treasures hidden in the labyrinths. The five labyrinth routes have varied difficulty levels – from the easiest, running through grass and strawberries, followed by the fragrant flower and rosary labyrinths, to the most demanding, lined with emerald arborvitae across the whopping distance of 4 km (!). In the Park of Labyrinths in Rąblów, photo courtesy of the PoL archive 183 Other attractions The Park of Labyrinths in Rąblów, photo courtesy of the PoL archive The ropes course in Janów Lubelski, photo courtesy of Zoom Natury archive Tourists who enjoy active leisure can take advantage of the special services offered by the parks – bike and Nordic-walking poles rental. It is also a place of integration and relaxation – the park village with a tipi tent, a playground and a picnic meadow. The Park of Labyrinths and the Park of Miniatures of Wooden Architecture, Rąblów, 24-160 Wąwolnica, tel. 605 951 355; www.park-miniatur.com.pl, www.park-labiryntow.pl ZOOM Natury A recreation, leisure and education park located in a forest area at the Janów Lubelski Reservoir. In an area of 10 ha, with a positive energy square featuring illuminated fountains and strolling lanes, there are several facilities which, in line with the principles of environmentally friendly architecture, were made of natural Zoom Natury – the positive-energy square, photo by Zoom Natury 184 materials (stone, wood) and blend with the natural forest landscape. The buildings house state-of-the-art laboratories which allow everyone to come, in an interactive and often amusing way, into direct contact with nature. A closer look (“zooming”) at places normally closed to our eyes is possible thanks to special lens and cameras which give an overview of life in an ant colony or a bird nest. The Main Laboratory, besides the ant section, houses an insect section, affording cross-sectional views of soil with earthworms and wood with carpenter beetles. And then there’s a terrarium and its collection of native and exotic amphibians and reptiles, and an aquarium inviting everyone to the underwater world of fish, complete with a piece of the coral reef. Visitors can view the fascinating enlarged 3D images of plants and animals, in particular the beautifully coloured dragonflies, of which as many as 80 species are found in the Janów Lubelski Forests, constituting a national record. The zip line by the Janów Lubelski reservoir, photo courtesy of Zoom Natury archive 185 Other attractions Open-air fun in Zoom Natury, photo courtesy of Zoom Natury archive The multimedia exhibitions in other laboratories of “Zoom Natury”, devoted to the Underbrush, the Avifauna and Troposphere, and the Energy and Recycling, are no less fascinating and original. ZOOM Natury also provides an infrastructure for recreation and sports, among others cycling paths, outdoor gyms, a boulodrome and an impressive rope course offering several different routes and a “power tower”, from which you can slide down over a beautiful beach with an attractive bathing site and a water park. “Zoom Natury” Recreation Park, ul. Turystyczna 10, 23-300 Janów Lubelski, tel. 15 872 43 07, 784 529 688; [email protected], www.zoomnatury.pl “Dinosaurs” Educational Trail in Krasnobród In the forest surrounding this town in Roztocze, on the road to St. Roch’s Valley, the first educational trail in the region was created to acquaint tourists with the Earth’s prehistory. Walking down the path (individually or with a guide) will let you become familiar A prehistoric predator on a trail in Krasnobród, photo by Dinosaurs-Krasnobród 186 A horned Ceratops in Krasnobród, photo by Dinosaurs-Krasnobród with life on Earth – from early life forms (fish-amphibians from the Devonian period in the Palaeozoic) up to the reign of dinosaurs (the Jurassic and the Cretaceous periods in the Mesozoic). The most-fascinating exhibits presenting the prehistory of the world of animals are, among others, fish-amphibians from the Devonian period, the Tiktaalik and Ichthyostega genera, the giant Meganeura dragonfly from the Carboniferous period, the Mastodonsaurus resembling a crocodile from the Triassic period, and many more dinosaurs from the Triassic and Jurassic periods – Vulcanodon, Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Iguanodon, Troodon, Albertosaurus and Triceratops. Even more fun awaits at the playground which has been modelled on “The Flintstones”, where children can dig for a 13-metre skeleton of Tyrannosaurus, the king of dinosaurs. “Dinosaurs” Educational Trail, St. Roch’s Valley, 22-400 Krasnobród, tel. 664 966 533, 694 789 450; www.dinozaury-krasnobrod.pl Strolling through the woods of Middle Roztocze, photo by K. Łagowski 187 Events calendar Chapter 10 188 Events calendar EVENTS CALENDAR JANUARY MARCH – APRIL • International Eastern Slavic Christmas Carol Festival, Terespol, Lublin, www.mfkw.pl • Marshal Holiday Fair, Lublin, www.lubelskie.pl • Christmas Carol and Traditional Ukrainian New Year’s Eve Song Festival on the Bug River, Włodawa, www.wdk.wlodawa.pl • Hetman Run (cross-country skiing), Tomaszów Lubelski, www.lozn.org.pl APRIL • Lublin Jazz Festival, Lublin, www.lublinjazz.pl • Susiec Fair, Susiec, www.roztoczewita.pl May-Day Picnic with B. Prus, photo by P. Maciuk • May-Day Picnic with B. Prus, Nałęczów, www.zamek-lublin.pl • Archaeological Meetings in Chodlik, Chodlik (Karczmiska Commune), www.gokkarczmiska.pl The ski championships in Tomaszów Lubelski, photo by J. Opiela-Basińska FEBRUARY APRIL – MAY • Roztocze Cross-Country Skiing Cup, Tomaszów Lubelski, www.lozn.org.pl • Roztocze Bicycle Rally: Lubycza Królewska–Rawa Ruska –Lubycza Królewska, www.lubycza.pl • Cavaliada Lublin (International Riding and Show Jumping Competition), www.cavaliada-lublin.pl • Inter-Voivodeship Rural Theatre Assembly, Tarnogród, www.tok.lbl.pl MAY • Roztocze May-Day Picnic, Krasnobród, www.krasnobrod.pl • Meetings with Archaeology, Grodzisko Żmijowiska, www.zmijowiska.pl • Night of Museums in Zamość, Zamość, www.muzeum-zamojskie.pl • Festival of Traditional and Avant-garde Music CODES, Lublin, www.kody-festiwal.pl • The Eastern Poland Tourist Trade Fair, Lublin, www.lrot.pl • „Jazz in Kresy” Festival, Zamość, www.kosz.zam.pl • Nationwide Meetings of Puppeteers, Puławy, www.pok.cad.pl • “W Krainie Pierogów” (In the Land of Dumplings) Nationwide Festival, Festival Bychawa, www.bychawa.pl • Roztocze Cup Roller-Skating Street Racing Championships, Tomaszów Lubelski, www.tuksroztocze.org.pl • Pożegnanie sitarzy, co się nazywa… żałosne (A sorrowful bid farewell to the sieve-makers), Biłgoraj, www.bck.lbl.pl, www.kresy2000.pl • May-Day Picnic in Zawieprzyce, www.powiatleczynski.pl • Annual Nationwide Street Run “Grzmią pod Stoczkiem armaty” (Cannons are thundering near Stoczek), Stoczek Łukowski, www.stoczek-lukowski.pl FEBRUARY – MARCH • Lublin Winter Flying Competition, Radawiec k. Lublina, www.aeroklub.lublin.pl MARCH • Student Film Confrontations, Lublin, www.ack.lublin.pl 190 A bicycle rally from Lubycza Królewska to Rawa Ruska, photo by M. Basiński A spring outing in Zawieprzyce, photo by A. Floryszek-Kosińska 191 Events calendar Event in Open-Air Village Museum in Lublin, photo by A. Koziara Festival of Wine in Janowiec, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive • „Roztocze Trout” Nationwide Spinning Championships, Józefów, www.ejozefow.pl • Festival of Wine, Janowiec, www.winiarzempw.pl • Lublin-Nałęczów Bicycle Parade, www.lrot.pl MAY – JUNE • Historical Reenactment of the Zamość Stronghold Storm, Storm, Zamość, www.bractworycerskie.zamosc.pl • Days of Chełm “Fair with the Bieluch Ghost’’, www.chelm.pl • Nałęczów Divertimento, Nałęczów, www.nok.pl • Pure-Blood Arab Horse Youth Spring Show, Białka k. Krasnegostawu, www.bialka.arabians.pl JUNE • Hetman Fair, Zamość, www.zdk.zamosc.pl • Eastern-Borderlands Festival of Sieve-making, Biłgoraj, www.bck.lbl.pl • Nationwide Cycling Race across the Biłgoraj Land, Biłgoraj, www.bsk-bilgoraj.pl The Lublin Bicycle Parade, photo courtesy of the LRTO archive 192 The Zamość Harlequin Culture Festival, photo by A. Koziara "Arte Cultura Musica E..." festival in Zamość, photo by A. Koziara 193 Events calendar Land Art in Zwierzyniec Park, photo by Zwierzyniec TH • Bug-River Bicycle Rally, Sławatycze, www.rajd.nadbugiem.pl A folk arts-and-crafts fair in Kazimierz Dolny, photo by J. Olejniczak • Nationwide Festival of Folk Groups and Songsters, Kazimierz Dolny, www.wok.lublin.pl • Zoom Natury – The Days of Janów Lubelski, Janów Lubelski, www.jokjanow.pl, www.zoomnatury.pl • Zamość Harlequin Culture Festival „Arte, Cultura, Musica, E…”, Zamość, www.zdk.zamosc.pl • Festival of the Land of Chamomile, Hołowno (Podedwórze Commune), www.krainarumianku.pl • Land Art Lublin Festival, www.landart.lubelskie.pl • Central Europe Theatre Festival “The Neighbours”, Lublin, www.festiwal-sasiedzi.pl • Bicycle Rally along the Central Roztocze Geotourist Trail, Józefów, www.jkr.org.pl • Firlej Fair, Dąbrowica near Lublin, www.gokis.jastkow.pl • Chełm Bike Marathon “With the Bieluch Ghost”, www.rower.chelm.pl/maraton • Manufaktura Smaków (The Flavours Workshop), Opole Lubelskie, www.opolelubelskie.pl • Bicycle Festival, Lubartów, www.swietoroweru.pl • Lublin Marathon, Lublin, www.maraton.lublin.eu/pl • Night of Culture, Lublin, www.nockultury.pl • “OPEN CITY” Public-Space Art Festival, Lublin, www.opencity.pl JUNE – JULY • Nationwide Smithery Workshops, Wojciechów, www.kowale.com.pl • Theatre Summer in Zamość, Zamość, www.zdk.zamosc.pl The Open City Festival in Lublin, photo by A. Koziara JULY • “FART” Festival of Film and TV Artists, Janów Lubelski, www.fartfilm.janowlubelski.pl • International Polesie Summer with Folklore, Włodawa, www.wdk.wlodawa.pl • Tatar Culture Days, Studzianka, www.studzianka.pl • EUROFOLK International Folk Festival, Zamość, www.zdk.zamosc.pl Experimental Archaeology Workshops in Żmijowiska, photo courtesy of the KDVM archive 194 The Smithery Workshops in Wojciechów, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive • Hola Fair, Open-air village museum in Hola, 195 Events calendar The Night of Culture in Lublin – a performance by the Voskriesenia Theatre, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive (Stary Brus Commune), www.skanseny.net/skansen/hola • Street Band Festival, Łęczna, www.ck.leczna.pl • Nationwide Pottery Meetings, Pottery Fair, Łążek Garncarski, www.osgmuzeum.pl, www.powiatjanowski.pl • International Folk Meetings, Lublin, Nałęczów, www.zpit.lublin.pl • “Kresy” Vintage-Motorcycle Night Rally, www.nocnyrajdweteranow.pl • Festival of Klezmer Music and Tradition, Kazimierz Dolny, www.kazimierz-dolny.pl • “Roztocze – Biłgoraj” Nationwide Motorcycle Rally www.automobilklubbilgorajski.pl • International Jazz Workshops, Puławy, www.pok.cad.pl • Beekeeper’s Day, Hańsk, www.gokhansk.pl • “New Cooperation” Jazz Festival, Zamość, www.kosz.zam.pl • Archaeological Feast, Masłomęcz, www.wioska-gotow.pl International Folk Meetings in Lublin, photo by I. Pazura 196 "Inne Brzmienia" Festival in Lublin, photo by UMWL archive • “Inne Brzmienia” (The Different Sounds Art’n’Music Festival), Lublin, www.innebrzmienia.pl • Tatar Culture Days, Studzianka, www.studzianka.pl JULY – AUGUST • Two Riversides Film and Art Festival, Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec, www.dwabrzegi.pl • Carnaval Sztuk-Mistrzów (The Magicians’ Carnival), Lublin, www.sztukmistrze.eu • Sheatfish Festival, Prehoryłe (Mircze Commune), www.gokmircze.pl, www.pzw.org.pl AUGUST • Summer Equestrian Gala, Janów Lubelski, www.jokjanow.pl, [email protected] • “Gryczaki” Buckwheat Festival, Janów Lubelski, www.jokjanow.pl • Bicycle Festival, Lubartów, www.swietoroweru.pl • Summer Film Academy, Zwierzyniec, www.laf.net.pl • “Disappearing Professions” Pawłów Fair, Pawłów, www.pawlow.org.pl The Bicycle Festival in Lubartów, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 197 Events calendar Nationwide Smithery Workshops in Wojciechów, photo by UMWL archive An open-air screening during the Two Riversides Festival, photo by A. Koziara • ”Bolkowanie – the Bug-River Academy of Taste” Festival, Hniszów (Ruda – Huta Commune), www.gok-rudahuta.pl • „W kręgu Wojsława” (In the Wojsław circle) Festival, Wojsławice, www.wojslaw.eu • “Kresy 92” International Open-Air Art Workshops, Wola Uhruska, www.wolauhruska.pl • European Days of Good Neighbourliness, Zbereże-Kryłów-Korczmin, www.kordony.net/pl Hola Fair, photo courtesy of the LRTO archives A concert during the European Festival of Taste, photo by J. Opiela-Basińska 198 • Anniversary of the Battle of Komarów, Komarów, www.bitwapodkomarowem.pl • Zamość Film Festival, Zamość, www.filmowelato.com • International Jazz Vocalist Meetings, Zamość, www.kosz.zam.pl • Historical Re-enactment of the 1813 Siege of Zamość, Zamość, www.muzeum-zamojskie.pl • Lake Run – Lakes: Łukcze and Krasne, www.uscimow.org.pl • Royal Carp Day, Maliniec (Potok Górny Commune), www.lesnykrag.pl • Lublin Meetings with Hunting Tradition and Culture, Zwierzyniec, www.zwierzyniec.info.pl, www.lubelskie.pl The Carnaval Sztuk-Mistrzów in Lublin, photo by A. Koziara 199 Events calendar The Pride of Poland in Janów Podlaski, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive • “Pride of Poland” Arab Horse Days, Janów Podlaski, www.janow.arabians.pl, www.prideofpoland.pl • Ecological Culture Festival (including a bike rally),, Józefów, www.jkr.org.pl • Bike Marathon across the Parczew Land, Parczew, www.rowerowyparczew.pl • International Hot-Air Balloon Championships, Nałęczów, www.balony.spanaleczow.pl, www.balony.zlun.pl • „Tarka” Małopolska Horse Stud Farm, Wólka Wieprzecka, www.gminazamosc.pl • “Chmielaki” Nationwide Festival of Hop-growers and Beer-makers, Krasnystaw, www.kdkkrasnystaw.pl • Jagiellonian Fair, Lublin, www.jarmarkjagiellonski.pl SEPTEMBER • Nationwide Pottery Meetings, Urzędów, www.urzedow.pl • “Gwiaździsty” (Starry) Bicycle Rally up Polak Hill, www.wzgorze-polak.pl Nałęczów – The International Hot-Air-Balloon Championships, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 200 The Jagiellonian Fair in Lublin, photo by M. Pietrusza • From the Homestead to the Town Fair, Lublin, www.skansen.lublin.pl • Cranberry Harvest, Łążek Garncarski, www.powiatjanowski.pl • Horse Fair, Lublin, www.skansen.lublin.pl • “From the forests, fields and gardens” Festival of Autumn, Kazimierz Dolny, www.muzeumnadwislanskie.pl • European Festival of Taste, Lublin, www.europejskifestiwalsmaku.pl • ”Preserving Them in Memory” – The Anniversary of Battles near Tomaszów Lubelski, Lubelski Tomaszów Lubelski, www.tomaszow39.com • Powitanie sitarzy, co się nazywa… radosne (A joyful welcome to the sieve-makers),, Biłgoraj, www.bck.lbl.pl, www.kresy2000.pl • Jastrzębia Zdebrz Nationwide Bicycle Rally, www.roztoczezachodnie.pl • Nationwide Roller Skiing Championships, Tomaszów Lubelski, www.tuksroztocze.org.pl • International Jazz Vocalist Meetings, Zamość, www.kosz.zam.pl The European Festival of Taste, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 201 Events calendar The Festival of Three Cultures in Włodawa, photo by A. Koziara • Festival of Three Cultures, Włodawa, www.ftk-wlodawa.pl OCTOBER • Nationwide Polish Village Theatre Gathering, Tarnogród, www.tok.lbl.pl • “Theatre Confrontations” International Theatre Festival, Lublin, www.konfrontacje.pl • “Oldest Songs of Europe” International Festival, Lublin, www.npe-festiwal.pl • Świdnik Jazz Festival, Świdnik, www.mok.swidnik.pl “Gryczaki” Buckwheat Festival in Janów Lubelski, photo by A. Koziara NOVEMBER • International Dance Theatres Festival, Lublin, www.dancefestival.lublin.pl DECEMBER • International Festival Jazz Bez, Lublin, www.warsztatykultury.pl • Mikołajki Folkowe (Folk Music Festival), Lublin, www.mikolajki.folk.pl • Marshal Holiday Fair, Lublin, www.lubelskie.pl • New Year’s Eve Run, Nałęczów, www.naleczow.com.pl "Chmielaki" beer festival in Krasnystaw, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive The “Mikołajki” Folk Music Festival in Lublin, photo by A. Koziara European Days of Good Neighbourliness, photo by A. Koziara 202 203 Tourist information Chapter 11 204 Tourist information TOURIST INFORMATION The Land Art Festival at the Polish-Ukrainian border, photo by J. Koziara En route - the Bug-River Bicycle Rally, photo by M. Dąbrowski BIAŁA PODLASKA BIŁGORAJ Tourist and Cultural Information Centre Tourist and Cultural Information Point 21-500 Biała Podlaska, ul. Warszawska 11, tel./fax 83 341 62 89, www.bialapodlaska.pl, [email protected] 23-400 Biłgoraj, ul. Kościuszki 41/43, tel./fax 84 688 00 00, www.muzeumbilgoraj.pl, [email protected] CHEŁM Chełm Tourist Information Centre 22-100 Chełm, ul. Lubelska 63, tel. 82 565 36 67, tel./fax 82 565 41 85, www.itchelm.pl, [email protected] HRUBIESZÓW Transboundary Tourist Information Centre 22-500 Hrubieszów, ul. 3 Maja 15, tel. 84 696 23 80, www.miasto.hrubieszow.pl, [email protected] A sightseeing group in front of Lublin Castle, photo by M. Dąbrowski 206 JANÓW LUBELSKI Tourist Information Point 23-300 Janów Lubelski, ul. Zamoyskiego 59, tel. 15 871 75 75, www.janowlubelski.pl JÓZEFÓW Tourist Information Point 20-460 Józefów, ul. Kościuszki 37A, tel. 84 687 81 33, www.ejozefow.pl, [email protected] KAZIMIERZ DOLNY Tourist Information Centre 24-120 Kazimierz Dolny, Rynek 15, tel. 81 881 07 09, www.kokpit.com.pl, [email protected] KRASNOBRÓD Tourist Information Point 22-440 Krasnobród, ul. Tomaszowska 25, tel. 84 534 28 42, www.it.krasnobrod.pl, [email protected] KRASNYSTAW Tourist Information Point 22-300 Krasnystaw, ul. Sobieskiego 3, tel. 696 473 423, www.lotkrasnystaw.pl, [email protected] Lublin Airport, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive 207 Tourist information A marina on the Vistula in Puławy, photo by S. Turski LUBLIN Lublin Tourist and Cultural Information Centre 20-113 Lublin, ul. Jezuicka 1/3, tel. 81 532 44 12, www.lubelskietravel.pl, www.lublintravel.pl, [email protected] ŁĘCZNA Tourist Information Centre 21-010 Łęczna, al. Jana Pawła II 95a, tel. 81 752 64 78, www.turystyka-pojezierze.pl, [email protected] NAŁĘCZÓW Tourist Information Centre 24-150 Nałęczów, Al. Kasztanowa 2, RADZYŃ PODLASKI OPOLE LUBELSKIE Tourist and Cultural Information Point Tourist Information Point 21-300 Radzyń Podlaski, ul. Jana Pawła II 2, tel. 83 352 15 60, www.krainaserdecznosci.pl, [email protected] 22-600 Tomaszów Lubelski, ul. Kościelna 9, tel. 84 665 85 05, www.roztoczewita.pl, [email protected] Tourist Information Centre 24-300 Opole Lubelskie, ul. Strażacka 1, tel. 81 475 50 10, [email protected] www.opolelubelskie.pl/turystyka PUŁAWY Tourist Information Centre 24-100 Puławy, ul. Królewska 4, tel. 81 887 96 04, www.domchemika.pl, [email protected] By the pond in the Spa Park in Nałęczów, photo by S. Turski 208 Kayaking down the border Bug river, photo by M. Pomietło tel. 81 501 61 01, www.kraina.org.pl, [email protected] SUSIEC TOMASZÓW LUBELSKI URSZULIN Tourist Information Point Polesie National Park 22-672 Susiec, ul. Tomaszowska 100, tel. 84 665 44 10, www.susiec.pl, [email protected] 22-234 Urszulin, ul. Lubelska 3a, tel. 82 571 30 71, www.poleskipn.pl, [email protected] The Western Roztocze landscape, photo by M. Grum 209 The Wyspa Wisła recreation centre in Stężyca, photo courtesy of the MOLV archive WŁODAWA Tourist Information Point 22-200 Włodawa, ul. Kościelna 7, tel./fax 82 572 20 69, www.informacja.wlodawa.pl, [email protected] Tourist Information Point 22-200 Włodawa, ul. Partyzantów 25, tel. 82 571 70 730, [email protected] ZAMOŚĆ Zamość Tourist Information Centre 22-400 Zamość, Rynek Wielki 13, tel. 84 639 22 92, www.turystyka.zamosc.pl, [email protected] Zamość Tourist Information Centre (ZCIT) 22-400 Zamość, ul. Łukasińskiego 2e, tel. 84 538 17 33, [email protected] ZWIERZYNIEC Roztocze National Park 22-470 Zwierzyniec, ul. Plażowa 3, tel. 84 687 20 66, tel./fax 84 687 22 86, www.roztoczanskipn.pl, [email protected] "Szum" Trail in Roztocze, photo by K. Łagowski 210 Tourist attractions of the Lubelskie Region ww w. lu be lsk ie. pl TOURIST ATTRACTIONS OF THE LUBELSKIE REGION – tourist guide TOURIST ATTRACTIONS OF THE LUBELSKIE REGION WOJEWÓDZTWO LUBELSKIE Editorial co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the framework of Regional Operational Programme of the Lubelskie Region 2007–2013. tourist guide