|
| |
|
The Commune of Polanka Wielka
Polanka Wielka lies on the northern edge of the Osiek Prominence (a part of the Wilamowice Foothills), which occupies the area between the valleys of the Soła, Skawa and Vistula rivers. The commune has 2400 ha of surface area and 4000 inhabitants. The commune consists of only one village - Polanka Wielka. Agriculture is here the basis of economy, alongside with services - mainly transport and construction.
The name "Polanka" (originally "Polenka") derives from a free space in the forest, namely a clearing (Polish: polana). Traces of settlement in the vicinity of Polanka, left mainly by groups of hunter-gatherers, date back to the Stone Age. The first written record of Polanka appeared in 1326. The current name, Polanka Wielka, became established at the turn of the 19th c.
The commune has high sightseeing value - great views, nature monuments, beautiful ponds, trim fields and forests, as well as several noteworthy monuments. The latter include St Nicholas's church and a palace ensemble with a park - currently a nature monument.
St Nicholas's church dates probably from the early 16th c., although it had a predecessor, since the first mention of the parish dates from the early 14th c. A masoned part of that older building - a fragment of a wall in a former sacristy - has been preserved to this day. This is official data; however some claim that the church dates from the 13th c. and only the tower, which was added later, is from the 16th c. The tower is topped by a classical obelisk-shaped cupola. Originally referred to as "Polenka" in the 14th c., Polanka extends in a six-kilometre stretch on the northern edge of the Osiek Prominence. Polanka owes its early-fifteenth-century monuments to its first landlord, Mikołaj from Myszków, bearing the Jastrzębiec coat of arms. The church had to be restored several times because of its location on marshy terrain - it was refurbished in 1658 by carpenter Wojciech, and then twice in the 18th and 19th c. As a result of these restorations the church lost its original character, although extensive refurbishment of the interior carried out in 1877 refreshed the polychrome. The restorations were so significant that a black marble plaque was set in the wall to commemorate them. Inside there are two altars: the main one and two side altars in the Rococo style (which were plundered by burglars) and two historic benches of the church founders. Until recently, the members of the congregation could make their confession in two Baroque confessionals. A wooden tower, also serving the purpose of a belfry, houses a bell from 1413, cast in Jan Freudenstat's bell foundry in Krakow.
The palace, and especially its oldest, middle part dates from the early 17th c. The construction, or alteration, of the oldest middle part of the palace, which then assumed a villa character, is attributed to Aleksander Myszkowski - the then steward of the estate. Extension was not commenced until 1734. The wings of the building were then linked with the middle part by means of galleries. In the 19th c. the then owner of the palace, Apolinary Żeński, raised the wings of the palace to the first floor level and made the front elevation uniform, which caused it to look like a harmonious whole today. During the Second World War Luftwaffe headquarters were located here. Then the palace housed a hospital, and - for a short time - a primary school. After that the palace was taken over by a communal cooperative, which turned it into ruin within a few years. Since 1974 the palace has been a property of Thaddeus Kosciusko's Agricultural Production Cooperative, and its president, Paweł Jarosz, rescued it, intending it at first for a hotel. The interiors were thoroughly refurbished and restored to their former glory under the supervision of an interior conservator. It is undoubtedly the smartest historic palace in the O¶więcim Region.
Other notable places are: a parish cemetery from the 19th c., a few roadside shrines and a monument in honour of the fallen in the First and Second World Wars.
One-family homesteads are located along a well developed network of local roads. Landscape points on hiking trails provide superb views over The Krakow and Silesian Uplands, the O¶więcim Basin and ranges of the Little Beskid Mountains. In 2000, in the centre of Polanka, the construction of a new amphitheatre was begun, and its site is attractively situated in an old park, amid several-century-old oaks.
At a depth of 300 metres, in Carboniferous rocks, relatively rich seams of hard coal have been discovered. Carboniferous rocks are covered with Miocene sea oozes, and these in turn with glacial and riverine-glacial sediments.
Other sites worth seeing:
 St Nicholas's church;
a palace ensemble with a park (numerous nature monuments);
an old parish church from 1847;
small forest complexes with precious headwater vegetation in the southern part of the commune, which are planned as ecological sites.
POLANKA WIELKA COMMUNAL OFFICE
ul. Długa 61, 32-607 Polanka Wielka
tel. 033 848 80 08, 848 82 77, fax 033 848 80 09
e-mail: gmina@polanka-wielka.iap.pl
http://www.polanka-wielka.iap.pl
|
| |
|
|
