Nowy Wiśnicz: Castle Town in Małopolska

Po polsku: Nowy Wiśnicz

Can a town of fewer than 3,000 people have such a long and layered history? Nowy Wiśnicz does. It lies in Małopolska (Lesser Poland), the region around Kraków, on a blue hiking trail that starts in Bochnia. A castle rises above the town, and below it the old centre gathers around the market square (rynek), with a town hall and a 17th-century church.

A short history

The first mentions of the town come from the 13th century. According to tradition, the settlement was first called Wiśnice or Wiśniewice and was the village of Klemens of the Gryf coat of arms, from Kraków. In 1242 it passed to the Benedictine nuns’ convent in Staniątki. In 1254 King Bolesław the Chaste (Bolesław Wstydliwy) allowed the nuns to found the village under Magdeburg law (a German town law used in medieval Poland). It stood where Stary Wiśnicz (Old Wiśnicz) is today.

At the start of the 14th century Wiśnicz came to the knightly Kmita family. In 1352 the owner was Jaśko Kmita. After him the estate went to his son Jan, a starosta (royal official) of Sieradz and Ruthenia and a co-worker of King Casimir the Great (Kazimierz Wielki). Jan began building the castle, and the work went on for the next 200 years.

The family reached its peak in the 16th century, when the lord of Wiśnicz was Piotr V Kmita, Grand Marshal of the Crown and voivode of Kraków. A large estate of 28 villages and one town (Lipnica Murowana) worked for the castle at that time.

After the death of the last Kmita, Wiśnicz passed to the Barza family. In 1593 Stanisław Barza sold the castle and the surrounding lands to Sebastian Lubomirski. The rule of his son, Stanisław Lubomirski, began the best period in the town’s history. He had a new town founded beneath the castle and named it Nowy Wiśnicz (New Wiśnicz).

A planned town

In 1616 King Sigismund III Vasa (Zygmunt III Waza) gave the town its founding charter. It included three yearly fairs and a depot for goods from Hungary. The king also freed Wiśnicz merchants from paying customs duties in the kingdom.

The town was planned on a layout close to a square. In the middle was a large market square. Two main streets led off it: Bocheńska, running towards the road to Bochnia, and Zamkowa (also called Grodzka), leading towards the castle. By 1633 the town had 12 streets, a town hall, a town weighing house and several dozen houses.

A good share of the residents were Jewish. Under Lubomirski’s protection they built a synagogue (bożnica) and a school. A parish was created in 1620, and soon after the baroque church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John the Baptist was built. Lubomirski also founded a monastery of the Discalced Carmelites (karmelici bosi) opposite the castle, as thanks for the victory at Chocim in 1621.

Hard times

Lubomirski’s death in 1649 ended the town’s golden age. In 1655 Wiśnicz was taken and plundered by the Swedes, and later by the Bar confederates, the Russians and the Austrians. In 1783 the Austrian emperor Joseph II closed the Carmelite monastery and turned it into a prison.

In 1863 a great fire destroyed almost all of the town’s wooden buildings. In 1933 Nowy Wiśnicz lost its town rights. It got them back in 1994.

During the German occupation, three quarters of the inhabitants were murdered, most of the houses were destroyed, and the synagogue and the monastery church were pulled down. After the war the Lubomirski estate was divided up and the castle was taken over by the state. Soon a secondary school of fine arts (Liceum Sztuk Plastycznych) was set up there.

What to see

• Kmita Castle (Zamek Kmitów) with its fortifications
• The Discalced Carmelite monastery (now a prison)
• The church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• The town hall (ratusz)
• The house of Maciej Trapola, from the 17th century

Nature around the town

Nowy Wiśnicz lies in the Wiśnicz-Lipnica Landscape Park (Wiśnicko-Lipnicki Park Krajobrazowy). There are several protected natural sites nearby:

• The Kamień-Grzyb nature reserve, with a boulder about 7 metres high
• The Kamienie Brodzińskiego natural monument, a group of interestingly shaped rocks made of Istebna sandstone
• Skałki Chronowskie (the Chronów rocks)

Hiking trail

The blue trail runs from Bochnia through Nowy Wiśnicz, Kamień Grzyb and Paprotna (next to Kamienie Brodzińskiego), all the way to Tymbark.

My tip: if you plan to walk any part of it, wear comfortable shoes and check the weather first.

Two small facts

• Jan Matejko often stayed in Nowy Wiśnicz, because his wife, Teodora née Giebułtowska, came from here.
• Juliusz Kossak was born in Wiśnicz.

Nearby: the Bochnia Salt Mine. All guides: Kraków & Małopolska in English.

Łukasz, Niezwykła Małopolska