Chrzanów Travel Guide

Chrzanów

Chrzanów Travel Guide a place in south eastern Poland in the province of Małopolska. Chrzanów is a town located in the western part of the Małopolska voivodeship (province) with a population of 39,704 as of 2006.

It has been part of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1 January 1999 and is the capital of Chrzanów County. It is situated on the border of the Silesian Upland and the Cracow – Częstochowa Upland and lies halfway between the regional capitals, Katowice and Cracow (Krakow). The A-4 Motorway is situated to the north of the town.

This town has many social and interesting events going on through-out the year, see “Activities”, for more information.

Economy in Chrzanów

The company Hydro Aluminium Chrzanów Sp. z.o.o. has an extrusion plant in Chrzanów and the plant has two extrusion presses. The use of aluminium extrusions is growing rapidly worldwide. Hydro offers extruded aluminium profiles, semi-manufactured components, systems and finished products.

Accommodation in Chrzanów

You will find the full range of accommodation in this town from the most luxurious five star hotels with up to date and modern amenities to pensions (a type of guest house or boarding house) and rooms or apartments at very reasonable prices. Some of the larger towns and cities will also have hostels.

If you prefer to stay in a more rural location there are a number of “Agro” style of accommodation places on farms and in the countryside plus there may be camp sites nearby.

If you see something you like or wish to know more about please contact the accommodation directly as I do not take commission and I take the attitude that their own website will have more up to date details on what they offer than if I were to include it here.

If you wish to advertise your accommodation on Chrzanów Travel Guide please contact me.

Activities in Chrzanów

The town's UNIVERSITY OF CHRZANÓW is a mini-university under the patronage of the Mayor of Chrzanów and Director of the Public Library. Meetings are held once a month, from October to April.

The aim of the mini university is to provide education about the regional history and culture of the area around Chrzanów.

It aims to familiarise students with the history, architecture, archaeology, geography, customs and traditions, as well as with the social and economic achievements and current problems of the town.

Events taking place through out the year include:

January – “HERODS”MAŁOPOLSKI REVIEW OF CAROLLERS

January – NATIONAL POETIC CONTEST FOR CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS “NO BORDERS”

February – NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS OF INDOOR MODEL GLIDERS for the Chrzanów Mayor’s Cup – Spectator and Sports Hall MOKSiR

February – WINTER IN THE TOWN ACTION

February/March – SHROVE TUESDAY (MARDI GRAS) IN CHRZANÓW

March/April – FESTIVAL OF SCHOOL CHILDREN’S CULTURE

April/May – NATIONAL INTEGRATION DANCING AND SINGING FESTIVAL “ARTISTIC LOCOMOTIVE OF CHRZANÓW”

May – THE GREAT MAY PICNIC

May – FESTIVAL OF CHILDREN’S CULTURE

May – NATIONAL POETIC CONTEST “FOR THE COAT OF ARMS OF CHRZANÓW TOWN”

May/June – OPEN-AIR PAINTING WORKSHOPS “CHRZANÓW IMPRESSIONS”, with the post-workshop exhibition in “Na Styku” Gallery

June – BALLET PERFORMANCE ON CHILDREN’S DAY

June – CHRZANÓW DAYS

June – CYCLING RALLY ON CHILDREN’S DAY

July/August – SUMMER WITH MOKSiR ACTION

August – CHRZANÓW CYCLING MARATHON

September – WŁADYSŁAW MAMOT CYCLING RALLY

August/September – HARVEST FESTIVAL

September – NATIONAL MODEL CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR THE CHRZANÓW MAYOR'S CUP AND KAZIMIERZ STRYCHARSKI MEMORIAL

October – PARISH FESTIVITIES

October – Papal Concert

October/November MULTIGENERATIONAL REVIEW OF CHORAL GROUPS with the Mayor of Chrzanów as its patron.

November/December – CONTEST OF CHILDREN’S AND TEENAGERS’ SONGS

November/December – ARTS CONTESTS: “SPIDERS AS TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS”, “CARNIVAL AND TRADITIONAL MASKS, CAROLLERS’ ACCESSORIES”

December – FAIRS of CHRZANÓW “ON SAINT NICHOLAS DAY”

December – SANTA CLAUS BALLET PERFORMANCE FOR CHILDREN

December – CHRISTMAS EVE ON CHRZANÓW MARKET

December – NEW YEAR’S EVE UNDER THE STARS

Conclusion! Chrzanow Knows how to party and put on events. Find out more details from the towns website.

Poland is a country with a large variety of landscapes, a place where you can experience all four seasons. This provides the visitor with many opportunities for adventure and different activities, whether you enjoy the mountains, lakes, rivers or the beaches you will find something that suits you.

If you see something you like or wish to know more about please contact the activity provider directly as I do not take commission and I take the attitude that their own website will have more up to date details on what they offer than if I were to include it here.

What ever activity you run, you can to advertise your activity on Chrzanów Travel Guide.

Attractions in Chrzanów

Poland is a country with a large variety of attractions for the tourist to visit, a place where you can experience all sorts of places to see. This provides the visitor with many opportunities for learning about Polska, whether you enjoy the many monuments, historic churches or buildings, history of places, or more modern attractions, you will find something that suits you.

If you see something you like or wish to know more about please contact the attraction provider directly as I do not take commission and I take the attitude that their own website will have more up to date details on what they offer than if I were to include it here.

What ever attraction you run, if you wish to advertise your attraction on Chrzanów Travel Guide please let me know.

Geography of Chrzanów

Awaiting details.

History of Chrzanów

Early History of the town

It is impossible to establish a reliable date when the town was formed but what is known is that on the site of the present town a stronghold existed way into the past and sometime in history it was raised to the rank of a castellany (A castellany was a district administered by a castellan. Castellanies appeared during the Middle Ages and in most current states are now replaced by a more modern type of country subdivision). The word derived from castle literally means, the extent of land and jurisdiction belonging to a given castle. The earliest documents which corroborate the existence of Chrzanów castellany are from the late 12th century around 1178. Chrzanów castellany was annexed to Silesia by Duke Casimir II the Just. In the second half of the 13th century it was reunited with the Duchy of Cracow and in 1241 the wooden stronghold of Chrzanów was destroyed by fire by Mongol hordes invading Poland from the east.

The town of Chrzanów was established according to the Magdeburg Law (Magdeburg Rights or Magdeburg Law were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted with it by a local ruler. Modelled and named after the laws of Magdeburg developed during many centuries of the Holy Roman Empire, it was possibly the most important set of Germanic medieval city laws) in the mid-14th century during the reign of King Casimir III the Great. It is believed that Chrzanów was an open town with no defensive walls. Since the time of its construction in the 14th century until 1640 the town was known to be the property of the Ligęza family. In mid-15th century Chrzanów had a population of about 430 residents growing to about 600 by the 17th century. A parish school existed next to Chrzanów's Church of St Nicholas properly from the 15th century.

A number of trades were active in Chrzanów such as: weavers', tailors', shoemakers', smiths' and butchers'. Chrzanów was known for trading cattle, and there was a customs house for exporting cattle to Silesia, Ore was mined and smelted by Chrzanów's burghers. In 1640 Chrzanów was taken over by Andrzej Samuel Dembiński and in 1649 it was passed to his granddaughter, Katarzyna Grudzińska on his death. In 1675 the town was owned by the Stadnicki family and by 1731 it was in the hands of Józef Kanty Ossoliński. 1654 saw King John II Casimir bestow upon Chrzanów the privilege of holding extra fairs and in 1781 a similar privilege was bestowed on the town by King Stanislaus II Augustus. The second half of the 17th century was a particularly hard period in the life of the town as a result of wars it was looted on several occasions by the Swedes (1655-1657) and the Austrians who fought against them (1657), by the Transylvanian army of Prince George Rákóczi and also by the Polish army. During the Great Northern War Chrzanów was plundered and put to the torch by Swedish troops of King Charles XII. During the Polish-Russian war which broke out in 1792, Chrzanów was occupied by Russian (1792-1793) and Prussian troops (1793-1795). In 1795, following the third partition of Poland-Lithuania, Chrzanów was annexed to Galicia in the Habsburg Empire.

Museums in Chrzanów

The Irena and Mieczysław Mazaraki Museum has been operating since 1960. It holds many valuable and rich collections, which are exhibited in the main building of the Museum at ul. Mickiewicza 13, a former mansion granary.

There are also temporary exhibitions from time to time and these are shown in the Branch Museum “Urbańczyk’s House” at al. Henryka 16.

Polska is full of history and the Polish are great lovers of knowledge of the past so you will find many museums in the country.

Poland has a long history and has been an important trading route that has been invaded by many different groups over the past 1,000 years. Museums are a great way to explore the nations history about the inhabitants of the land in the past, their lives and customs.

Some of the museums shown below may have an article about them here on David's Travel Guides. Follow the link for the article. For the rest, if you see something you like or wish to know more about please contact the museum directly as I take the attitude that their own website will have more up to date details on what they offer than if I were to include it here.

What ever museum you run, you can advertise it on Chrzanów Travel Guide at no cost.

Places to Eat in Chrzanów

There are many restaurants covering the usual pizza to those offering local Polish traditional and regional cuisine.

What Wikipeda says about Polish Cuisine

Polish cuisine (Polish: kuchnia polska) is a style of cooking and food preparation originating from Poland. It has evolved over the centuries due to historical circumstances. Polish national cuisine shares some similarities with other Central European and Eastern European traditions as well as French and Italian similarities. It is rich in meat, especially pork, chicken and beef (depending on the region) and winter vegetables (cabbage in the dish bigos), and spices.

It is also characteristic in its use of various kinds of noodles the most notable of which are kluski as well as cereals such as kasha (from the Polish word kasza). Generally speaking, Polish cuisine is hearty and uses a lot of cream and eggs. The traditional dishes are often demanding in preparation. Many Poles allow themselves a generous amount of time to serve and enjoy their festive meals, especially Christmas eve dinner (Wigilia) or Easter breakfast which could take a number of days to prepare in their entirety.

The Polish national dishes are bigos; pierogi; kielbasa; kotlet schabowy (type of breaded cutlet); gołąbki (type of cabbage roll); zrazy (type of roulade); roast (Polish: pieczeń); sour cucumber soup (Polish: zupa ogórkowa); mushroom soup, (Polish: zupa grzybowa) (quite different from the North American cream of mushroom); tomato soup (Polish: zupa pomidorowa); rosół (variety of meat broth); żurek (sour rye soup); flaki (variety of tripe soup); and barszcz among others.

If you see something you like or wish to know more about please contact the place to eat directly as I do not take commission and I take the attitude that their own website will have more up to date details on what they offer than if I were to include it here.

If you wish to advertise your place to eat on Chrzanów Travel Guide please let me know.

Tourist Information in Chrzanów

David's Travel Guides This web site will eventually have tourist information on most of the places in Polska. Being a web site you will be able to access the information on most digital platforms, including your laptop, personal computer or a mobile phone.

Tourist organisations are welcome to contact me for details on how to display their information on Chrzanów Travel Guide.

PTTK Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society is a non-profit organisation that you will find in many places in Poland.

It is one of the oldest tourist societies in Europe and was was created by the merger of two societies: Polish Tatry Society (1873) and Polish Country Lovers Society (1906).

Official Tourist Information Centres in Poland are divided into 1*, 2*, 3* and 4* Certified and Non-Certified. All Certified Tourist Centres provide information in one or more foreign languages and have an expanded range of services as compared to the Non-Certified.

Transport in Chrzanów

Awaiting details.

Here are some useful websites to help you find your way to this place.

Websites of Chrzanów

If you have a website that is an official one linked to this town, or you administer a local community or an important trade site please contact me here at Chrzanów Travel Guide as I may be interested in including it.