Kielce Travel Guide

Kielce

Kielce Travel Guide - Kielce in south central Poland in the province of Świętokrzyskie with a population of about 204,900 inhabitants as of June 2009 reducing to 195,942 by 2016". It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Voivodeship) since 1 January 1999. It was previously in the Kielce Voivodeship from 1919 to 1939 and 1945 to 1998.

The city is located in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, also known as the Holy Cross Mountains, on the banks of Silnica river, in the northern part of the historical Polish province of Lesser Poland.

It was Once an important centre of limestone mining with sandstone and marble from nearby quarries, and is now a centre of trade and commerce with factories such as spark plug and bearing makers, a paper mill and chemical industries.

In the nearby mountains copper, lead and iron ores have been mined since the Middle Ages and the first technical college in Poland was set up by Stanislaw Staszic, a politician and scientist, called the Mining Academy.

The Cathedral of the Assumption, opposite the castle, was once a Romanesque church but was transformed into a Baroque place of worship in the 17th century.

Accommodation in Kielce

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 Kielce Travel Guide please contact me.

Activities & Attractions in Kielce

Bishops' Palace

Many of the buildings in Kielce were constructed after the second World War and are a bit dull but one that is worth visiting is the Bishops' Palace standing out like a Jewel.

Built in the period 1637 to 1641 for Jakub Zadzik, the then Bishop of Cracow, as a personal monument most likely by the royal architect Giovanni Battista Trevano (born in Lugano, Switzerland, died 1644 in Krakow, Poland, was an Italian-speaking architect who worked in Poland as a royal architect for King Sigismund III Vasa, of the Vasa dynasty, which ruled Poland at that time) is undocumented but is attributed to Trevano, though Tomasso Poncino, another Italian working in Poland but mainly as a building contractor, is credited with carrying out the construction and working out some of the architectural detail.

The palace stands out in Poland in retaining its original features virtually unchanged and is described  as a well preserved aristocratic town house of the first half of the 17th century with early Baroque façades having four corner towers. The rooms are also well preserved with the marble doorways and beamed ceilings all being original.

Jakub Zadzik born in 1582 at Drużbin, Poddębice County and died on 17 March 1642. He was a Polish Great Crown Secretary from 1613 to 1627, Bishop of Chełmno from 1624, Crown Deputy Chancellor from 1627, Great Crown Chancellor from 1628 to 1635, Bishop of Kraków from 1635, a diplomat, szlachcic (a legally privileged noble class) and a magnate in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. Jakub Zadzik was in charge of the Republic's foreign policy and was attributed with the success of making peace with their neighbour Russia and establishing a ceasefire with Sweden. However, his work as a Bishop was less convincing as he contributed in the condemning of Polish Brethren during the Sejm of 1641.

The events of the period have been illustrated on the ceilings that were painted in 1641 and are now part of Poland's National Museum. You will also find other paintings on show at the Bishops' Palace.

The present cathedral is next to the Bishops' Palace and is on the site of an earlier church that was built around the time of Jakub Zadzik.

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 and visiting attractions, 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 the activity or attraction please contact the 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 or attraction you run, you can advertise it on Kielce Travel Guide.

Geography of Kielce

The region of Kielce is located in the northern part of Little Poland, situated between the rivers Vistula and Pilica. Because of the geologically features, it can be divided into the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, which are the culmination of the Kielce-Sandomierz Upland in the north and in the south the Nida Basin.

The Świętokrzyskie Mountains are a number of latitudinally stretching ranges. The most important ones are: Łysogóry – the central range with the highest hills: Łysica (612 m) and Łysa Góra (595 m); Jeleniowskie – the highest hill is Szczytniak (552 m); Klonowskie – Bukowa Góra (483.6 m); Masłowskie – Klonówka (472.6 m); Tumlińskie – Góra Wykieńska (400.7 m), Oblęgorskie – Góra Sieniewska (448.8 m); and the ranges: Dobrzeszowskie, Orłowińskie, Cisowskie, Ociesęckie.

The central part of the Nida Basin is a wide valley, delimited by the Solec Basin and Szaniec Plateau in the east and by the Jędrzejów Plateau and Miechów Upland in the west.

The main rivers in the region are the Nida (151 km), with its tributaries: Łośna, Bobrza and Mierzawa, and the Kamienna (138 km).

Its characteristic feature is the substantial difference of ground levels ranging from 260 to 400 metres. Within the boundaries of the city there are a greater variety of geological formations than in any other European city. There are five nature reserves in Kielce: Ślichowice, Kadzielnia, Wietrznia, Biesak (inanimate nature) and Karczówka (a landscape reserve). Near the northern border of Kielce is a semi-reserve Sufraganiec.

History of Kielce

The first known settlement was in the 11th century and achieving town status in 1360. Until 1789 Kielce was owned by the bishops of Cracow (Krakow) who ruled from the Cracow Bishop's Palace, a castle on top of the hill. The Palace was transformed from the Renaissance to Baroque in the 17th century and it now houses the National Museum including a gallery of Polish paintings by artists A. Gierymski and J. Pankiewicz and others. It was used as a prison in World War II and also by the Soviet regime.

Museums in Kielce

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, whether it be a folk, military, science, skansen, transport or any other type.

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.

Accept a free advert about your museum and include it below by writing an article about it 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 Kielce Travel Guide at no cost.

Places to Eat in Kielce

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

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 cafe, restaurant or bar on Kielce Travel Guide please advise me.

Tourist Information in Kielce

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 Kielce 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 Kielce

There are no international airports in the Świętokrzyskie region at the present time, with the nearest located in Kraków-Balice, Warsaw-Okecie and Rzeszów-Jasionka.

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

Websites of Kielce

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 Kielce Travel Guide as I may be interested in including it.