Kazimierz Dolny () is a small historic town in eastern
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, on the right (eastern) bank of the
Vistula
The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
river in
Puławy County,
Lublin Voivodeship
The Lublin Voivodeship, also known as the Lublin Province ( Polish: ''województwo lubelskie'' ), is a voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in southeastern part of the country. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, C ...
. Historically it 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 ...
, and in the past it was one of the most important cities of the province.
Now a tourist destination, the town enjoyed its greatest prosperity in the 16th and the first half of the 17th century, due to the trade in grain conducted along the Vistula. It became an economic backwater after that trade declined, and this freeze in economic development enabled the town to preserve its
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
urban plan and appearance. Since the 19th century it has become a holiday destination, attracting artists and summer residents.
Kazimierz Dolny is an art center in Poland. Many painters retreat to this small town to paint and sell their work. Galleries can be found in almost every street, offering for sale sculptures,
stained-glass,
folk art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...
, and
fine art
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...
.
The town is one of Poland's official national
Historic Monuments (''
Pomnik historii
Historic Monument ( pl, pomnik historii) is one of several categories of objects of cultural heritage (in the singular, '' zabytek'') in Poland.
To be recognized as a Polish historic monument, an object must be declared such by the President ...
''), as designated September 16, 1994 and tracked by the
National Heritage Board of Poland.
Location
Kazimierz Dolny is located on the eastern bank of the Vistula (Wisła), at the edge of historical
Lublin Upland
Lublin Upland () is a geographical region in southeastern Poland, located in Lublin Voivodeship, between the rivers Vistula and Bug, around the city of Lublin.
Its area is about 7,200 km² and its highest elevation 314 m above sea level. It ...
extending further east from
Małopolska Upland to the west. It owes its picturesque location to the
Lesser Polish Gorge of the Vistula
The Lesser Poland Gorge of the Vistula (Polish: ''Małopolski Przełom Wisły'') is a geographical region located in central-eastern Poland, which administratively belongs to three Polish voivodeships – Lublin, Masovian, and Świętokrzyskie. ...
. The town is part of the so-called tourist triangle
Puławy
Puławy (, also written Pulawy) is a city in eastern Poland, in Lesser Poland's Lublin Voivodeship, at the confluence of the Vistula and Kurówka Rivers. Puławy is the capital of Puławy County. The city's 2019 population was estimated at 47,4 ...
– Kazimierz Dolny –
Nałęczów
Nałęczów is a spa town (population 4,800) situated on the Nałęczów Plateau in Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland. Nałęczów belongs to Lesser Poland.
History
In the 18th century, the discovery there of healing waters i ...
. It does not have a rail connection, the nearest station is located in Puławy (Puławy - Miasto).
History
The history of Kazimierz Dolny dates back to the 11th century, when on one of the local hills there was a Benedictine settlement called Wietrzna Gora. In 1181, Prince
Casimir II the Just handed the settlement to Norbertine nuns from
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 ...
’s district of Zwierzyniec. The nuns changed its name to Kazimierz, in honor of the prince. For the first time, the name Kazimierz appears in chronicles in 1249. Later on, the adjective Dolny (Lower) was added, to distinguish the town from the Jewish town
Kazimierz - now a district of Kraków. In the early 14th century, the village became a royal possession, and King
Władysław I the Elbow-high Władysław is a Polish given male name, cognate with Vladislav. The feminine form is Władysława, archaic forms are Włodzisław (male) and Włodzisława (female), and Wladislaw is a variation. These names may refer to:
Famous people Mononym
* ...
founded there a parish church in 1325.
The foundation of the town is attributed to Władysław's son, King
Casimir III the Great
Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He ...
, who granted the town rights in the first half of the 14th century. Later, King
Władysław II Jagiełło
Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło ()He is known under a number of names: lt, Jogaila Algirdaitis; pl, Władysław II Jagiełło; be, Jahajła (Ягайла). See also: Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło. ...
modernized Kazimierz Dolny, creating a modern town, with a market square and streets. At that time, the decision was taken not to build any houses on the northern side of the market square, so as not to obstruct the view of the church and the
castle.
In 1501, Kazimierz Dolny became the home of a
starosta, and the town was passed over to the noble Firlej family, remaining in its hands until 1644. The Firlejs twice rebuilt the town and the
castle, after the fires of 1561 and 1585. They cared about privileged status of Kazimierz Dolny, as a merchant town, located along the busy waterway of the Vistula. In 1628, Franciscan friars settled in Kazimierz, building a monastery and expanding the church.
The town's golden age ended in February 1656 (see
Deluge
A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood.
The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis.
Deluge may also refer to:
History
*Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Com ...
), when Swedish troops under King
Charles X Gustav burned and ransacked it. The number of inhabitants declined, and King
John III Sobieski tried to improve the situation, by allowing in 1677 Armenian, Greek and Jewish merchants to settle there. Meanwhile, the profitable Vistula river trade came to an end, as there was no demand for Polish grains in Western Europe. In the late 18th century, as a result of the
Partitions of Poland, Kazimierz Dolny was cut from the port of
Gdańsk and turned into a town of minor importance.
From the late 19th century, more affluent residents of Lublin and Warsaw started to build properties in the area. Spas and villas were constructed, and in 1927, already in the
Second Polish Republic, Kazimierz Dolny once again became a town. Partly destroyed in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, it was rebuilt, and on September 8, 1994, its center was officially recognized as a historical monument.
Jewish life
A small
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
community was present in the city from the time of
Casimir III the Great
Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He ...
in the 14th century. The king granted the Jews a writ of rights which caused the town to become a focal point for Jewish immigration. When
John III Sobieski became King in 1674, he granted the Jews of Poland a respite from taxes. Sobieski also reconfirmed for the Jews all the rights they had been granted by previous kings. During his reign, the housing restrictions were abolished and the Jewish community began to flourish again.
In the 19th century,
Yehezkel Taub, a disciple of the
"Seer of Lublin", founded the
Hasidic dynasty of
Kuzmir in the town.
Between the First and Second World Wars, the Jewish population was about 1,400, half the total population of the town. The town's picturesque surroundings were chosen to film scenes for the
shtetl
A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...
-based 1937
Yiddish film ''
The Dybbuk
''The Dybbuk'', or ''Between Two Worlds'' (russian: Меж двух миров �ибук}, trans. ''Mezh dvukh mirov ibuk'; yi, צווישן צוויי וועלטן - דער דִבּוּק, ''Tsvishn Tsvey Veltn – der Dibuk'') is a play by ...
''.
The Germans invaded Kazimierz Dolny in September 1939. The population at that time included about 1800 Jews, slightly less than 40 percent of the population. During the occupation, a
Judenrat
A ''Judenrat'' (, "Jewish council") was a World War II administrative agency imposed by Nazi Germany on Jewish communities across occupied Europe, principally within the Nazi ghettos. The Germans required Jews to form a ''Judenrat'' in every c ...
(Jewish Council) was established in the town which was forced to oversee the German requirements of forced labor of the town's Jews. This included road reconstruction, rock quarrying, and menial tasks serving the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
. They were forced to pave roads using tombstones from the local Jewish cemetery. In 1940, the Germans established a
ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...
, bringing all the Jews from the surrounding
Puławy County to live in the ghetto. In 1942, those Jews who had survived hunger, disease and slave labor were taken to
Belzec where they were gassed on arrival. At the end of 1942, the town was officially declared "free of Jews". Fewer than twenty of Kazimierz Dolny's Jewish inhabitants are thought to have survived the war. After the Holocaust, a memorial wall was erected using tombstones from the Jewish cemetery that survived.
One of the most famous Jewish residents of the town was the painter and sculptor
Chaim Goldberg.
Points of interest
Notable historical buildingslocated in Kazimierz Dolny include:
* Parish church of St Bartholomew and
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
(1586-1589), with 1620 organs, and 1615 pulpit,
* St Anne's Church (1671) and Holy Spirit hospital (1635),
* St Mary's Church (1589) and monastery (1638–68),
*
Ruins of the castle (14th-16th century),
* Defensive tower (13th or 14th century),
* Several houses by the architect Karol Siciński, including one built by Kazimierz Ołdakowski
* Tenement houses (early 17th century),
* Several historic
granaries
A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals ...
(16th and 17th centuries).
* Synagogue.
Film and Art Festival
Kazimierz Dolny is also a place of a prominent Two Riversides Film and Art Festival ("Festiwal Filmu i Sztuki Dwa Brzegi") which is held every year during the month of August drawing many film lovers from around the world. The town has been the location of several films.
Gallery
File:Rynek w Kazimierzu Dolnym - 20150518 6293.jpg, Market Square with Church of the Annunciation in the background
File:Alians PL SpacerPoKazimierzuDolnym Jesien,02 10 2008,PA020009.jpg, Historic well at the Market Square
File:A 833 Bóżnica (XVIII), ob. kino Mały Rynek 6 miasto Kazimierz Dolny 2.JPG, Old Synagogue
File:Kamienica "Pod Św. Krzysztofem i Św. Mikołajem " ul. Rynek 12 e83.jpg, St. Nicholas (left) and St. Christopher (right) townhouses
File:Kazimierz Dolny, Kamienica Celejowska - fotopolska.eu (176633).jpg, Celejowska townhouse
File:Kazimierz Dolny, ul. Senatorska 1-3, e83.jpg, Senatorska street
File:Kościół par. p.w. śś. Jana Chrzciciela i Bartłomieja nr5 e83.jpg, Parish Church of St. John the Baptist
File:Kazimierz Dolny Muzeum Przyrodnicze P815 2009-09-04.jpg, The Ulanowski Granary
File:KazikZachod.JPG, Panorama of the town
File:Kazimierska uliczka.jpg, Town centre
File:Janowiec, zamek (HB1).jpg, Janowiec Castle
Janowiec Castle - a Renaissance castle built in between 1508 and 1526, on a steep Vistulan hillside in Janowiec (14,5 km south of Puławy), Lublin Voivodeship, in Poland.
History
The castle was most likely built by Mikołaj Firlej at the beginn ...
File:Alians PL KazimierzDolny Jesien,02 10 2008,PA020054.jpg, Vistula River in Kazimierz Dolny
Twin towns
Kazimierz Dolny is
twinned with:
*
Szklarska Poręba
Szklarska Poręba (german: Schreiberhau) is a town in Jelenia Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. The town has a population of around 6,500. It is a popular ski resort.
An important regional and national centre fo ...
(
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
)
*
Hortobágy
Hortobágy is a village in Hajdú-Bihar County in eastern Hungary. It lies on the banks of the river, which is crossed at Hortobágy by the Nine-arched Bridge, one of the principal man-made monuments of the Hortobágy National Park. The park c ...
(
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
)
*
Staufen im Breisgau (
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
)
*
Berlin-Steglitz (Germany)
*
Pahiatua (
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
)
See also
*
Tourism in Poland
References
External links
Information from About.com: Eastern Europe TravelPictureof the Holocaust memorial wall
of the town from the site of
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
, the Jewish Holocaust memorial organization
Home pagefor noted journalist, S. L. Shneiderman
Home page of the painter Chaim Goldberg, who was born in the village and who made its depiction during the period of 1930-1939 his life's mission. He painted from memory after that.
*https://kazimierzdolny24.pl/ Kazimierz Dolny events page
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Lublin Voivodeship
Puławy County
Lesser Poland
Lublin Governorate
Lublin Voivodeship (1919–1939)
Historic Jewish communities in Poland