Transcript A short introduction to the guidebook

Daleszyce - historical background
and general information
 Historical background
 Daleszyce was established at the beginning of the
13th century. According to the chronicles of Jan
Długosz, Iwo Odrowąż, the bishop of Cracow,
founded a church in Daleszyce under the
invocation of St. Michael Archangel. In the past
Daleszyce played an important role on
communication route. In 1569, king Zygmunt
August gave Daleszyce civic rights. Daleszyce
lost its civic rights for taking part in the January
insurrection in 1863. The citizens from Daleszyce
regained the civic rights for their village on
January 1st 2007 Daleszyce.
 General information
 Daleszyce is situated 18 kilometres from
Kielce city. Our village is situated in the heart
of Świętokrzyskie Mountains – the oldest
mountains in Europe. The travellers who visit
Daleszyce praise the beautiful location of the
village.
 The region of Daleszyce is proud of its great
touristic value. More than a half of the
commune’s area is covered by forests.
 The area is no destructed because we have not
got huge factories here. Apart from beautiful
landscapes and natural reserves, visitors can
also see a lot of interesting monuments and
learn a lot about the history of our region.
 The Baba Jaga Witch wearing traditional
clothes for Świętokrzyskie region and sitting
on a broom is the symbol of our mountains.
Local and regional costumes
 All Polish costumes were based primarily on fabrics created and decorated
by the local people. Most of the clothing was produced from linen, cotton
and wool, available in the community. Polish folk costume has been widely
recognized as an important part of the heritage of traditional peasant
culture. The costumes in different areas vary in their ornamentation and
coloration from village to village.
 At the turn of the XIX and XX century the traditional folk costume started
to disappear. First of all male costume “died”, the male one disappeared at
interwar period.
 But even today , the costumes are worn by folk dances at various festivals
throughout the year.
 We can distinguish two basic types of costumes for our region. The first
one is typical for Świętokrzyskie region, the second one was worn by
people who lived in villages in the vicinity of Kielce. This second type was
typical for citizens of Daleszyce.
 A traditional costume
typical for inhabitants of
Świętokrzyskie Mountains
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 Women’s clothing consists of a
stripped skirt, a white blouse and an
apron ( “zapaska”) – it was a form of a
broad shawl hang from the shoulders or
put on the skirt. “Zapaska” has red and
black stripes. For special occasions,
vests ornamented with beads, sequins,
and ribbons were worn. They also wore
headscarves and strings of beads.
 Men’s clothing – a white skirt made of
linen with a big collar and cuffs
ornamented with embroidery. Male
coat was brown.
The costume typical for
inhabitants of Daleszyce
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Men wore black or navy blue coats and pants
made of linen and dyed navy blue. From thinner
fabric skirts were sewn. For special festivals the
shirts had blue and red and black embroidery. The
costume was completed with a linen vest. They
had leather boots. Older men wore hats called
”wścieklica” or ”A cracked hat” rozłupana czapa”.
Younger boys wore a hat called “kaszkiet”.
Traditional female clothing was black and red and
navy blue. Later on, blue, green and yellow were
added. The most typical element of this costume
was “zapaska” with red and black stripes.
They also wore a vest and headscarves. To
emphasise their wealth they put on some skirts
(one on the top of the other). Sometimes they even
wore five ones.
Local and regional traditional cuisine
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bread with milk
“podpłomyki” – something similar to pancakes
dairy products
boiled potatoes with borsch
boiled potatoes with curds and whey
boiled potatoes and fried eggs
“goły” – milk soup with balls made of grated and squeezed out potatoes
oven roasted potatoes - salted potatoes, sprinkled with flour and roasted in the hot oven
homemade bread
sauerkraut with peas boiled together with crushed potatoes with the addition of cream and fried pork
fat cut into very small cubes. Salt and pepper should be added to make it tasty
dumplings made of potatoes with milk or millet
fried on the frying pan small cakes made of the mixture of grated potatoes, eggs, flour, salt and
pepper, served with sugar
minced meat in cabbage leaves
“zarzucanki” - kind of a cabbage soup
“zalewajka” – kind of borsch boiled with sausage or ribs and with potatoes cut into small cubes. By
the end of cooking a spoonful of cream and pork fat (cut into small cubes and fried) should be added
as well as salt and pepper.
muffins
Monuments of Daleszyce and places
of national memory
 In Daleszyce you can see lots of important
monuments and sites of national memory. The most
precious architectural monuments are: the church of
St. Michael Archangel from the 13th century, the
town structure, the cementary in Daleszyce from the
19th century, , the belfry in the church from 1833,
wooden cottages and lots of little chapels and figures
of Saints standing by the roads. There are also
numerous sites of national memory, because citizens
of Daleszyce took part in fights for national
independence. There are 24 such places, among the
others: The monument for the insurgents of the 1863
Uprising and partisans of the 1939 – 1945 years
The legend about Świnia Góra
About this huge mountain covered with woods there are lots of stories. There are several
versions of the legend but we present three of them.
According to the legend, at the top of this mountain, there is a mysterious dungeon with
a trunk full of gold and silver. The person, who sees three bushes of hazel (the green one,
the white one and the yellow one), will find the entrance to the dungeon. Then he or she
should dig in this place to find the trunk with the treasure.
A long, long time ago it was a place where Jesus’s Mother used to appear. From this time,
especially in periods of epidemic, there were processions to this place. Jesus’s Mother
stopped to appear herself when a peasant was going by a carriage . The carriage was very
heavy because it was loaded with heavy material. Suddenly the horses stuck in the swamp
and were not able to move. Instead of calling the Mother of Jesus, he called the devil.
What is more, he called the mountain Świnia Góra.
The moral: Mind your words in order not to be ashamed by them.
Inside the mountain there is enchanted virgin. Once a boy grazed his cattle on the slop of
the mountain and by the chance he found the entrance to the underground. He was very
curious about what was in the dungeon. He saw there a trunk full of gold an silver. Next to
it a young woman was sitting. She was wearing a white long dress and holding a red flower
in her hand. Giving it to a peasant, she told him gently to take the handful of money. The
peasant was scared so he run away. Then the voice reverberated: “You fool, if you had took
this flower, you would take me to your world. Maybe this virgin has been waiting for her
rescuer till now...
The map of places which are worth visiting in
Świętokrzyskie mountains
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The Paradise cave was originated in calcium carbonate.
Despite its small size it is regarded as one of the most
beautifully decorated caves in Poland. There are 200
stalactites hanging from every square metre of the ceiling.
You can also admire columns, waterfalls and stalagmites
there.
It belongs to the very few caves that are illuminated and
open for tourists under guide's protection. The length of
tourist route inside the cave is 150 metres. Archaeological
discoveries proved that people lived there 50.000 years
ago. It is also possible to see the tools they used in the
past. There are also remains of prehistoric animals like
mammoths, cave bears and hairy rhinoceros. In the cave
there is also reconstructed place where Neanderthal family
had lived with three life – sized figures. In the cave there
is a special microclimate.
Temperature: about +9
Humidity: 90%
Depth: 9,5 metres
Length: 240 metres ( of which 150 is available to be
toured )
Height: 250 – 256 metres above the sea level
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The castle was built during the reign of king
Kazimierz the Great. During the reign of
Władysław Jagiełło the castle was a meeting
place for knights. King Jagiełło met his troops
there before proceeding to the battle of
Grunwald. The castle was also a royal prison.
During the reign of king Zygmunt The Old and
his son Zygmunt August, the castle’s owner was
Bona Sforza, Zygmunt The Old’s wife and
Zygmunt August’s mother. Her apparition as the
“White Lady” is rumoured to appear and walk in
the ruins on cloudless night.
The castle’s history as a fortress came to an end
during the Swedish Deluge when the castle was
conquered and destroyed.
Now the ruins of the castle are available to be
toured. Tourists can admire beautiful sights
from the top of one of the towers.
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Tokarnia- the outstanding museum of folk
architecture. It includes a few dozen
objects especially from 18th and 19th
century of folk and regional architecture.
The unique buildings like manor house
from Suchedniów, granary from Góry,
windmill, old cottages and many others are
situated on an area of more than 70
hectares. Inside the buildings one can see
special exhibitions presenting basic living
aspects of village and small town
communities. Visitors can see tools used in
traditional crafts such as brewing
woodcarving, herbal medicinal
preparations and candle-making.
You can admire 19th-century pharmacy,
tailor’s workshop, a small shop, cottages
of herbalist, shingle manufacturer and lots
of others.
 “Bartek” oak is the oldest and the most
famous tree in Poland. It grows in
Zagnańsk in Świętokrzyskie
mountains. It is about 700 years old.
The 30 – metres tall tree measures 13,5
metres in girth near the ground and its
crown spreads about 40 metres.
 There is a legend which says that Jan
III Sobieski, one of the greatest kings
of Poland, had a rest under this tree
when he was returning from Vienna
after he had conquered the Turks. It is
also said that he hid a Turkish saber
and a bottle of wine inside the oak.
 The old oak is not in very good
conditions now.
 The Kadzielnia nature reserve is situated
in the centre of Kielce city. It was formed
by Devonian limestone. Within this small
area there are almost 20 caves. It is the
biggest concentration of caves in our
region. The caves are not open to visitors.
In the past it was a quarry. The hairy
rhinos and cave bears used to live here.
Their bones were founded here.
 Among the rocks a beautiful amphitheatre
was built and from the spectators’ terrace
you can observe the Świętokrzyskie
Mountains panorama. Nowadays the most
famous musicians play concerts here.
 It is a village which is
situated 18 kilometres
from Daleszyce. In the
past local people from this
village specialized in iron
smelting. In Nowa Słupia
there is the Museum of
Ancient Metallurgy. Each
year in September it holds
a live show of iron
smelting the way it was
done 2.000 years ago.
 The Świętokrzyskie
mountains are among the
oldest in Europe. There are
650 milion years old. The
peaks are not very high.
You can visit the famous
Łysa Góra (Bare mountain)
– a legendary location of
witches’ Sabbaths.