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OPATÓW |
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Some 60km east of Kielce on the Lublin road, beyond the outer
reaches of the Swietokrzyskie Mountains, the little town of OPATÓW is as
somnolent a place as you would expect in these parts. Yet the town has
known better days, originally developing out of its position on one of
the major medieval trading routes east into Russia. Badly mauled during
the Tatar raids of Poland (1500-1502), Opatów was purchased and
subsequently fortified by Chancellor Krzysztof Szydlowiecki. The Stare
Miasto complex grouped around the long square at the top of the hill and
surrounded by walls is what remains of the chancellor's development of
the town.
As often, the most notable building is the parish church on the main
square, dedicated to St Martin, a towering three-aisled Romanesque
basilica raised in the mid-twelfth century and remodelled in later
centuries. A few features of the original Romanesque decoration survive,
notably the main doorway, the dual windows in the south tower and some
frieze decoration on the facade. These aside, the thing to look out for
is the group of Szydlowiecki family tombs , especially that of
Chancellor Krzysztof. Executed, like the others in the group, in the
1530s by a duo of Italian architects from the court at Wawel, the tomb
has a powerful bronze bas-relief of the citizens of Opatów mourning the
chancellor's death - a moving tribute to a man whose family name had
died out by the end of the century owing to a persistent failure to
produce male heirs.
One section of the square is crisscrossed by a honeycomb of underground
tunnels and cellars , a throwback to the town's merchant past,
originally used for storing goods sold in the local market. It's now
possible to visit the cellars - ask at the PTTK office on the square,
which organizes guided visits underground when demand is sufficient. Ten
minutes' walk away, back down the hill, through the Brama Warszawska
(Warsaw Gate) and across the River Opatówka, is the Bernardine church ,
an ornate late-Baroque structure with a fine high altarpiece that
replaced the earlier fifteenth-century church destroyed by Swedish
troops during the invasions of the mid-1650s.
The bus station , in the centre of town, has good connections to nearby
Sandomierz and reasonable ones to Kielce. The only accommodation options
to speak of are a basic PTTK hostel, ul. Obronców Pokoju 16 (tel 015/868
2778; under 60zl/£11/US$15) and a seasonal youth hostel at ul.
Cmielowska 2 (tel 015/868 2374), while for simple meals there are a
couple of restaurants on the main square.
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