Bejsce is a village in

Kazimierza County __NOTOC__ Kazimierza County ( pl, powiat kazimierski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish loc ...

Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship The Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, also known as the Świętokrzyskie Province, and the Holy Cross Voivodeship ( pl, województwo świętokrzyskie ) is a voivodeship (province) of Poland situated in southeastern part of the country, in the histo ...

, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

(administrative district) called Gmina Bejsce. It lies about east of

Kazimierza Wielka Kazimierza Wielka () is a town in Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, about northeast of Kraków. It is the administrative seat of Kazimierza County (''powiat kazimierski''). With a population of 5,848 (2005), it is the smallest county seat ...

and south of the regional capital

Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the bank ...

. Bejsce belongs to

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a s ...

, and has a long history, which dates back to the early years of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities *Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 *Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exist ...

. In the 10th century, a defensive gord probably existed here, with a chapel, which later was expanded into a church. First mention of Bejsce comes from the year 1063, in a document by Bishop Lambert of

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. In 1190, the new church was blessed by another bishop of Kraków, Fulko. The St. Nicholas church was funded in 1340 by a local nobleman, Ostasz Firlej. Throughout the centuries, the church was remodelled and expanded several times. Its oldest part consists of a presbytery with a

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

. A late Renaissance-style chapel was added circa 1600. In the presbytery, there are fragments of Gothic

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

, which present Byblical scenes. The 1600 chapel was built as a tomb for

Voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

of Kraków Mikołaj Firlej and his wife Elżbieta née Ligęza. It was modelled after

Wawel The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established on ...

’s

Sigismund's Chapel Sigismund's Chapel ( pl, kaplica Zygmuntowska) is a royal chapel of the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland. Built as a funerary chapel for the last members of the Jagiellonian Dynasty, it has been hailed by many art historians as "the most beautifu ...

, and the Bejsce chapel is regarded as one of the finest examples of Renaissance chapels in Poland. Apart from St. Nicholas church and chapel, Bejsce has a neoclassical palace, built in 1802 by architect

Jakub Kubicki Jakub Kubicki (1758–1833) was a renowned Polish classicist architect and designer. Biography Born in Warsaw in 1758, into a bourgeois family, Jakub Kubicki graduated from the Jesuit College, at the same time that he was taking lessons fr ...

for Marcin Badeni, Minister of Justice in the Governments of the

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...

and

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

. The palace has been used as a senior citizen house for a period of time.

References

{{Coord, 50, 15, N, 20, 37, E, region:PL_type:city, display=title Bejsce Kielce Governorate Kielce Voivodeship (1919–1939)