Nowy Sącz

Nowy Sącz is a town in the South of Poland. It was founded in 1292, which means it is one of the oldest towns in the Małopolska region. It used to be a royal city, which means that it belonged to the king and not to a noble family or a bishop.

Nowy Sącz is located at the intersection of three rivers - Dunajec, Poprad and Kamienica. The hill between them has obviously a great strategic significance.

King Kazimierz the Great, the one who has founded the Jewish district in Kraków, has ordered for a castle to be built there. In this castle Władysław Jagiełło and his brother Witold were preparing the startegy for the Battle of Grunwald.Today only a few walls remain from the castle that was almost entirely destroyed in 1945.

Nowadays, the heart of the town is of course on the Market Square, surrounded by many nice residential buildings.

In the middle you will find the  Town Hal, built at the end of the nineeenth century.

The tall building in the back is the basilica of Saint Margaret.

It was built in thirteenth and fourteenth centirues, in the gothic style.

Let's enter inside.

The basilica has two main treasures. The first one are polichromes, being a special type of colourful paintings. They are believed to be painted in 1360. Unfortunately only a part of them remained as over time they were covered with white paint.

The second treasure is the painting in the main altar, representing the Transfiguration of Jesus.

The painting is believed to bring miracles. Therefore, you can see next to it many proofs of gratitude.

If you want to see the basilica of Saint Margret closer then I recommend that you take a virtual tour inside. Obviously this is not the only church in town. Just next to it you can see the church of the Jesuit order, devoted to the Holy Spirit.

Also here you can have a virtual walk inside. I will only show you the main altar now.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a longer period surely remember that a hundred years ago Poland was a melting pot for many cultures and religions. You will not be then surprised to find in Nowy Sącz also a protestant church.

And yes, there is a synagogue as well! It is no longer used for religious services however.

In fact durign World War II the German Nazis organised in Nowy Sącz a ghetto. The border line was going close to the Protestant church.

Most of the jewish citizens of Nowy Sącz were murdered during the war.

Now I propose that we go and rest a bit. Let's take the Jagiellońska street. You can walk freely, it is a pedestrian lane.

It is bordered by nice residential buidings.

We will just step a tiny bit on the left to see the church of Saint Kazimierz, the son of one of the Polish kings.

Just next to it you will see a bulding that used to be the nest of the oldest youth organisation in Poland - the gymnastic society Sokół (falcon). The building has been recently refurbished and houses today a culture center.

Finally, we arrive to our last destination. The Planty park.

We can walk through the nice lanes or sit on a bench and listen to the fountain.

Those who are not tired yet can always take a little dance with these nice young people from the royal city of Nowy Sącz.