here is the market square of Sandomierz... |
...a town with history from the stone ages... |
...but significantly built up from the 14th to 17th centuries |
we've hired a guide to show us around |
we start with the Opatowska Gate, a surviving fortress gate and tower |
the view from here is excellent... |
...over the Wisla river... |
...from the city's perch on a hill |
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in the distance, the Pepper Mountains |
our guide explains to Witek and Marla about the city fortifications |
then we pass by the former synagogue (now a city admin building)... |
...and thru the city wall at the Needle's Eye |
several types of wooden buildings are still found in this area |
here's the city's famous ravines, a set of passages thru the hills around town |
this one takes us to the Dominican church... |
...one of the oldest brick churches in Europe |
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the early 20th-c. glasswork is especially lovely |
the monastery is also the site of a 13th-c. martyrdom of 48 monks |
now back in the steep ravines... |
...to take a shortcut to the castle |
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our guide tells us some legends about the ravines |
up again at street level, we pass more historic wooden houses |
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a view along the Wisla |
looking back at the Dominican church... |
...and up at the medieval castle and city museum |
the castle is only a quarter of its former size, having been blown up by pesky Swedes in the Deluge |
flint is plentiful in the area... |
...including an interesting spotted type... |
...and the world-famous striped flint |
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a very early (12th-c.) chess set |
16th-c. stonework by Master Benedict |
folk art from the region |
typical households... |
...and workshops |
in the arts section: a recollection of the writer Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz |
a special exhibit on Jacek Malczewski and his son Rafal |
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back on the street... |
...we next visit the Diocesan Museum in the former house of Jan Dlugosz |
Mary and Catherine by the elder Cranach |
a kind of relic sampler |
Mary, Agnes, and Clara by a local 15th-c. artist |
Mary pierced by pain, originally in the Dominican church |
curios... |
...like this Jericho rose |
a sandstone madonna from the 13th century |
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a library of wood types! |
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here's the Sandomierz cathedral, re-styled in the Baroque era |
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a last look up before we go... |
Sandomierz panorama from the Opatowska Gate |