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WACHOCK |
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The only reason for going to WACHOCK , 44km north of Kielce (and
getting there certainly constitutes something of a detour from the main
Radom-Warsaw road) is to visit the town's Cistercian abbey . One of the
major Cistercian centres in Poland, the monastery is also widely
regarded as one of the finest and best-preserved monuments of Romanesque
architecture in the country. Built by the group of Burgundian monks who
settled here in 1179 at the invitation of Gedko, bishop of Kraków, the
complex was completed in 1239, probably by Italian masons whose leader,
Maestro Simon, carved his name on the facade of the church. The monks of
the Cistercian community give guided tours round the abbey, mostly to
prearranged tourist groups, which you are welcome to tag along with:
otherwise the brothers are happy to let people come in and look around
the church and main sections of the cloister during specified opening
hours (Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 1-5pm, Sun 2-5pm).
Just five minutes' walk from the main square, entrance to the complex is
through the main abbey door, where you'll need to make yourself known at
the reception desk. Opposite is a small museum devoted to the history of
the place, including its role in the exploits of the Polish insurgents
who fought Russian troops from their bases in the surrounding hills
during the failed 1863 Uprising against tsarist rule. The original
Romanesque interior design of the basilica-shaped abbey church , topped
with a high tower, has largely been submerged under a mass of florid
Baroque ornamentation, though the cross-ribbed vaulting characteristic
of Cistercian architecture is still in evidence. On into the adjoining
monastic complex, the most notable features are two well-preserved
original Romanesque sections of the cloisters , much of which was
remodelled in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The chapter house
, in the eastern section, is the real showstopper. Its exquisitely
proportioned cross-ribbed vaulting is divided into nine sections
interspersed with a sequence of arches supported by four columns, whose
capitals are ornamented with intricately carved floral decoration, also
gracing the surrounding walls. On the south side of the cloister, the
refectory also features more soothing cross-ribbed vaulting and
decorative carved stonework, the atmosphere of the place suggestive of
the calming rhythms of the monastic life practised here for centuries.
For places to stay, the only current option in town is a summer-only
youth hostel , ul. Koscielna 10, while for a bite to eat, there are a
couple of basic restaurants/cafés on and around the Rynek, none of them
memorable. There's a reasonably frequent though slow-paced bus service
to and from Kielce, terminating at Wachock's Rynek.
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