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Kazimierz Dolny
The small town, referred to as the gem of the Polish
Renaissance, delights its guests with the beauty of the landscape
and the splendour of the architecture. Its panorama is dominated
by monuments situated on the hills: the ruins of a tower erected
in the 14th century by Władyslaw Łokietek (Wladyslaw the
Short), the ruins of a stone castle from the times of Kazimierz
Wielki (Casimir the Great), the parish church, and a monastery.
As early as in the 11th century, the site where the monastery
now stands was occupied by a settlement called Wietrzna Góra
(Windy Mountain), located near the Vistula crossing. Towards
the end of the 12th century Kazimierz Sprawiedliwy (Casimir the
Just) handed it to the Norbertine nuns, who named it after their
benefactor. For the first time the name appeared in a document
of that king in 1249. Located on the trade routes leading to
Rus, to the West and to the country of the Teutonic Order, the
settlement developed rapidly. Casimir the Great granted it
a city charter and Wladyslaw Jagiello - Magdeburg Rights. At
the time the marketplace was formed, with three dense frontages
of wooden houses and, after the fires of 1561 and 1585, also of
brick tenements.
Kazimierz flourished the most in the 16th century and in the
first half of the 17th century, which was due to trade in grain
and forest-based products with Western Europe. Several dozen
granaries with decorative gables were built at that time, eleven
of which have survived in various states of preservation. The
patrician tenements (of the Przybyło, Górski and Celej families)
located by the marketplace were formed in the Renaissance
style, topped with attics concealing the roofs, and their facades
were decorated with reliefs with religious motifs (the images of
Saint Nicholas and Saint Christopher).
In the 17th century the Polish-Swedish Wars and epidemics
initiated the city's decline, which became even more dramatic
after the partitions. In 1869 Kazimierz lost the city charter not to
regain it until 1927. Both World Wars caused severe damage to
the city.
In the interwar period the city was rebuilt under the direction
the architect Karol Siciński. After the Second World War he
carried out the undertaking according to his own project. He
managed to restore the city's unique atmosphere thanks to
the reconstruction of the houses in the marketplace and other
buildings, and visionary creation of urban space.
Significantly higher than other buildings, the parish church
counts among the greatest architectural monuments in Kazimierz.
Originally a small stone temple it was given its present shape in
the years 1610-1613. Along with other churches - the Reformati
church and the hospital church - it forms a picturesque enclosure
around the historical town centre. The synagogue, erected in
1536, is a reminder of the town's Jewish inhabitants, who made
up the majority of the population from the close of the 18th
century until the Holocaust during World War II.
The charm of Kazimierz was valued as early as the end of
the 18th century and the 19th century by artists like Zygmunt
Vogel, king Stanislaw August's painter, Wojciech Gerson, Elwiro
Andriolli or Jozef Brandt. In 1909 the first open-air painting
workshop took place there, and since 1923 regular workshops
were held by Tadeusz Pruszyński, professor at the School of Fine
Arts in Warsaw and founder of the Society of Friends of Kazimierz,
which still exists today.
Many artists have chosen to settle in Kazimierz. Maria
Kuncewiczowa made it a theme of her work. An illustrious
photographer, Edward Hartwig, revisited the town repeatedly,
such was his admiration for the nature and the architecture.
Nowadays Kazimierz is a Mecca not only for artists but also
for tourists from all over the world, who are attracted by the
town's scenic location, monuments, magical atmosphere as
well as cultural events (festivals of cinematography, folk bands
and songsters, klezmer music and tradition, and organ music
concerts organised in the parish church). Each year the town of
3000 inhabitants is visited by 1.5 million tourists, and the fact is
beginning to worry the conservators.
By the Order of the President of the Republic of Poland of
8 September 1992, Kazimierz was deemed a historical
monument.
Joanna Czaj