8 Magnificent Architectural Monuments in Sandomierz
Sandomierz is a picturesque town on the River Vistula in southern Poland. It has a long history going back as far as the 10th century and is abundant with fabulous historical architecture. Let’s take a tour of some of the buildings you shouldn’t miss.
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Cathedral Basilica in Sandomierz, photo: Paweł Małecki / Agencja Wyborcza
Officially known as the Cathedral Basilica of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sandomierz, the city’s cathedral, located in 1 Katedralna Street, is definitely one of its most important buildings. Its history dates back all the way to the early 12th century when a Romanesque prayer house stood in its place. In the 14th century, thanks to the support of Poland’s king Casimir III the Great, this building was rebuilt into a Gothic church. This resulted in the appearance of an impressive three-nave, brick structure with details of white stone. It’s estimated that its construction was completed between the years 1360-1382. In the second half of the 17th century, the building’s western façade was remodelled in a baroque fashion, receiving two small side towers and a triangular pediment topped with a statue of Holy Mary with Child. In 1818, the church gained the status of a cathedral.
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St. Jacob’s Church in Sandomierz, photo: Paweł Małecki / Agencja Wyborcza
Another significant prayer house in Sandomierz is St. Jacob’s Church at 3 Staromiejska Street. This Romanesque building raised in the 13th century is the oldest church in town. It was built of brick on the spot of an even older church and its southern side is adjacent to a historical monastery. The northern façade of the three-nave St. Jacob’s Church is the most decorative part of this building’s exterior. It includes a broad frieze with an interlace motif in the upper section as well as an eye-catching portal (with a frieze of its own) serving as the main entrance.
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The biggest treasure of the Romanesque church is the portal divided by a column and topped with a trillium embellishment. Both the portal and its arcade frieze reference the art of northern Italy.
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From swietokrzyskie.travel, trans. MK
In the 17th century, the interiors of St. Jacob’s Church were remodelled in a baroque style. But in the early 20th century, after a fire damaged the building, a renovation brought back the church’s 13th century look. Among the many interesting things in the interior you can find the wooden sarcophagus of Princess Adelajda Kazimierzówna. She lived in the 12th and 13th centuries and is believed to have funded the prayer house that originally stood on the spot of St. Jacob’s Church. Interestingly, her 17th-century baroque sarcophagus was crafted from a single piece of oak wood.
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The former synagogue in Sandomierz, photo: Paweł Małecki / Agencja Wyborcza
Next up we have another building raised as a house of worship – the Sandomierz synagogue at 4 Żydowska Street. It was built in the year 1758 on the spot of a wooden synagogue that had burnt down. Its north side is adjacent to the building of the kahal (the Jewish community) which appeared in the first half of the 19th century.
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The synagogue was built in a late baroque style. The brick building was erected on a near square plan. The whole complex is covered by a dual pitched roof.
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From sztetl.org.pl
The sightly Sandomierz synagogue is considered one of the best externally preserved Jewish monuments in the Świętokrzyskie voivodeship, the administrative region of Poland in which Sandomierz lies. Among the building’s most characteristic elements are its high-placed windows with half circle tops. Inside the synagogue are remnants of amazing polychromes dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. These were repainted in the early 20th century and show things like zodiac signs and biblical scenes. Sadly, the synagogue was devastated by the Nazi Germans in World War II. It was rebuilt after the war and since the 1970s has been housing a state archive.
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Opatowska Gate in Sandomierz, photo: Jarosław Kubalski / Agencja Wyborcza
Right next to the north end of the aforementioned Żydowska Street stands the Opatowska Gate, one of the most important landmarks in Sandomierz. Located in Opatowska Street, this gate overlooks the main route leading to Sandomierz’s picturesque Old Town. Opatowska Gate was built around the year 1362 when the town gained new city walls. It is the last remaining of the four gates that used to lead into Sandomierz (a historical passage leading through the walls known as the Eye of a Needle has also made it to our times). The Opatowska Gate was erected as a gothic building and in the 16th century it was topped with a renaissance attic:
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Opatowska Gate was built on a rectangular plan measuring 9 by 9.75 metres. […] Currently it is about 30 metres high, but it used to be smaller – it ended at the height of the first cornice and was covered by a conical roof. The part above this cornice, sporting the rounded niches, as well as the […] crest were funded in the 16th century by Stanisław Bartolon, a famous Sandomierz doctor. The attic consists of an arcade wall and a cresting with ornaments in the shape of swallow tails, which are separated by an openwork lattice of brick.
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From bramaopatowska.eu, trans. MK
Interestingly, there’s an exit on the east side of the gate’s first storey. In the olden days, you could use it by employing a rope or ladder to leave the town after the city gates were closed. Today Opatowska Gate is open to visitors and its roof offers a splendid view of Sandomierz.
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Długosz House in Sandomierz, photo: Paweł Małecki / Agencja Wyborcza
The next item on our list is another structure raised in a gothic style – Długosz House. This residential building at 9 Długosza Street is named after its funder, the noted Polish historian and clergyman Jan Długosz who lived in the 15th century. Długosz House was raised around the year 1476 as the residence of mansionaries or vicar priests.
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It’s a two storey, brick building with lofty gables and a gable roof. Above the southern entrance there’s a stone tablet commemorating the erection of Długosz House, sporting the Wieniawa coat of arms, an inscription and the date of 1476.
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From sandomierz.eu, trans. MK
It’s worth adding that the coat of arms in the aforementioned historical tablet features a buffalo head and was used by Jan Długosz. Another characteristic element of Długosz House are the brick embellishments in the façades. The building’s walls are made up primarily of red bricks but feature appealing diamond shapes composed of well-fired, dark brown brick known as zendrówka.
In the 17th century, during the Swedish invasion of Poland, Długosz House was damaged and had to be renovated. The building kept serving as a church residence until the 1930s when it was adapted into a museum. Since 1937, it has housed the Diocese Museum in Sandomierz which has an amazing collection of paintings, sacral sculptures, ceramics, furniture and more. One of the most significant objects that can be found at this museum is the 13th-century Madonna of Goźlice – a beautiful Romanesque sculpture showing Holy Mary with baby Jesus.
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Collegium Gostomianum in Sandomierz, photo: Franciszek Mazur / Agencja Wyborcza
Just next to Długosz House, at 7 Długosza Street, there’s a sizeable edifice known as Collegium Gostomianum. This impressive renaissance building is rather picturesquely located as it stands on top of a slope facing the River Vistula (as does Długosz House, by the way). Collegium Gostomianum was built in the year 1615 as a Jesuit secondary school. It has been serving educational purposes for centuries and today houses a Sandomierz high school. The building is credited with being one of the oldest secondary schools in Poland.
The name Collegium Gostomianum appears to echo the surname of its funder, the local government official Hieronim Gostomski. The edifice was built on a rectangular plan and has six storeys, including two underground ones. Most of the top storey was intriguingly concealed by the massive frieze of Collegium Gostomianum’s attic which features pilastered pillars topped with spheres. However, in the north end of the building, the top storey is different as it sports eye-catching baroque gables. Also, in the edifice’s interior you can find a unique feature – an elliptical stairwell from the 17th century, said to be the first stairwell of its kind in Poland.
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Sandomierz Castle, photo: Wojciech Pacewicz / Forum
Another important Sandomierz monument overlooking the Vistula is Sandomierz Castle at 12 Zamkowa Street. Located on a hillock near the river, this sightly building has a long history dating back at least to the 12th century when a wooden castle stood in its place. In the 14th century, the aforementioned Casimir III the Great had the wooden structure rebuilt into a brick gothic castle which became the seat of local government officials. Another reconstruction took place in the 16th century when the gothic structure was remodelled into a renaissance castle with three wings. Sadly, Sandomierz Castle was badly damaged in the following century:
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[…] In 1656, during the Swedish invasion of Poland, the castle was blown up by the retreating Swedish forces. The east and south wings were destroyed. The unfinished western wing was damaged the least. Poland’s king Jan III Sobieski had it rebuilt into a standalone palace-type building whose general form has been preserved for the most part until our day.
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From zamek-sandomierz.pl, trans. MK
After Sobieski’s reconstruction the castle served, among other things, as a court. In the 19th century the building was turned into a prison and its eastern façade was given a stern classicist look. The prison was shut down in 1959 and in 1986, after a large scale renovation, the castle became the seat of the District Museum in Sandomierz. Today at this splendid institution you can enjoy exhibits about things like the folk culture of the Sandomierz area or the noted writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz’s ties to the town.
A characteristic element of the architecture of Sandomierz Castle is the tower known as the ‘hen’s leg.’ It’s located on the southern side of the building and dates back to approximately 1480, which makes it the oldest preserved part of the edifice.
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City Hall in Sandomierz, photo: Paweł Małecki / Agencja Wyborcza
The final building on our list is the fabulous city hall located in the middle of the market square in Sandomierz’s Old Town. It’s surrounded by charming, historical tenement houses and is said to be among the most beautiful renaissance city halls in all of Poland. Without a doubt, this brick structure is one of Sandomierz’s main attractions.
It was originally built in the 14th century as a gothic building with a near square plan. The city hall was expanded a century later and that’s when it gained its current rectangular shape. In the 16th century, the building was remodelled in a renaissance style and was topped with an impressive attic which features, among other things, blind arcades and four likenesses of human heads in its corners. These heads are said to symbolise the estates of clergy, knights, peasants and burghers. An especially eye-catching element is its baroque tower built in the 17th century:
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The building’s shape is dominated by the cupola-topped tower, which is quadrangular up until the attic’s cresting and octagonal from there on. The tower’s second storey can be accessed via a wooden, roofed staircase adjoining one of the city hall’s walls.
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From zabytek.pl, trans. MK
Today the historical city hall no longer serves its original purpose. In the building you can find a pleasant restaurant and the Sandomierz registry office.
Now it’s time to end our tour of Sandomierz’s architectural monuments. If you ever have a chance to visit this wonderful town, you should definitely take it. Seeing the aforementioned historical buildings in person is a real treat!
Written by Marek Kępa, Aug 2021