WALKING AROUND SIEDLCE
Our walk begins with the most sumptuous relics of
the past, which come from the period of Duchess Aleksandra Ogińska's
ruling in Siedlce.
The town hall called "Jacek", being an architectural
triumph, is located in the centre of the town on Piłsudski Str.
According to the local legend the town hall was named after the
lackey of the Duchess Ogińska, who posed for the figure of Atlas.
The building was erected in 1763-1773 approximately
according to the design of an architect Jan Zygmunt Deybl. It
has been the first brick town hall in the history of the town,
which survived until present times after suffering damages and
many rebuilding. During one of the renovations in 1875, in the
sphere held by Atlas, there was found a document from 1784 listing
all the achievements of Aleksandra Ogińska for the town. The building
has never been the seat of the municipal authorities, although
in the past it was the centre of trade. The building is one of
the unique buildings in Poland. An individual characteristic of
it is the multi-storey, eight-walled tower rising over the one-floored
building. The four wall-clocks, each for one world's direction,
are located in the middle part of the tower, which is crowned
by Atlas holding the earth. The first lightning conductor in town
was installed on the sphere. The former town hall currently houses
the Siedlce Regional Museum.
There is a complex of buildings from the 18th
and 19th centuries on the west side of the town hall,
between Pułaskiego and Piłsudskiego streets. The oldest one is
the former guardroom, classicist building, topped with a characteristic
triangle. Now the buildings house the Municipal Cultural Centre
and the Municipal Library.
The Tadeusz Kościuszko memorial, erected by the
Siedlce inhabitants in 1917, sits on the square in the east of
the town hall.
The St. Stanisław church, the oldest in town, is
located opposite the town hall on Floriańska Street. Prince Kazimierz
Czartoryski, Castellan of Vilnius and his wife Izabella founded
the first brick church in Siedlce, which replaced the old, wooden
one. The church erected in the 1840s in baroque style and under
the direction of Duchess Ogińska later was reconstructed and enriched
in classicist elements by Stanisław Zawadzki, an architect. Side
altars are adorned by paintings from the 18th century
by a well-known painter Szymon Czechowicz. An old presbytery with
a beautiful attic roof from the 18th century adjoins
the church.
The remains of an old belfry or arch of triumph
built by the Duchess Ogińska is located next to the church on
its northern side. The belfry was destroyed in May 1941 because
it was in the way of the German army marching to the east.
We are going past the remains of belfry and are
walking along Starowiejska Str. to the east. On the left, next
to the municipal hospital there is a small classicist chapel under
the invocation of St. Cross. The chapel was designed as an eight-walled
building by Zygmunt Vogel and erected under the directions of
the Duchess Ogińska in 1791 on a former cemetary. The dome of
the building is topped by an open-work donne. The interior has
been arranged simply but with great artism. Duchess Ogińska, the
founder of this chapel, is burried here.
Countinuing the sightseeing town along Kościuszki
Street, at the end we can see the Ogiński family's palace magnate
residence at the turn of the 17th and 18th
centuries. Aleksander Zawadzki was the main designer. The palace
was erected about 1780 by Aleksandra Ogińska in the place of residencies
of former town owners. The palace played the role of the centre
of the cultural and social life in those years. Among many guests
at the palace were the great artists of the Polish Enlightenment.
A complex of buildings from the 18th
and 19th centuries is close to the palace. There were
stables and public buildings. Now the renovated buildings house
the Municipal Archives and schools.
The remains of the former romantic garden named
after its establisher "Aleksandria", adjoins the palace. It once
was one of the most beautiful parks in Poland in the past. Small
paths wind among thickets, a canal network, altars, artificial
grottoes and ponds with picturesque small islands created its
special charm. Due to the visit of the King of Poland about thirty
additional small buildings were erected in the park: altars, pigeon-houses,
a wind- mill, bathing rooms, mosque, small homes and many others.
There was a greenhouse, a gardener's house, an altar restaurant,
stage for an orchestra and summer theatre in the park at the beginning
of the 20th century. Today the park is the place for
walking and relaxing.
The classicist building of the post office, built
in the first half of 19th century according to an Italian
architect Antonio Corazzio, is located on the corner of Piłsudskiego
and Kościuszki Streets, in the place of an old inn. Father of
Aleksander Orłowski, an outstanding painter in the period of the
Warsaw Duchy, owned the inn, where Orłowski spent his young days.
The building of the Governor's Branch Office is
on 38 Piłsudskiego Street. In the back of it was a Jewish Synagogue
from 1858 to the Second World War. During the Nazi's occupation
there was a ghetto, where hundreds of the Jews were murdered.
A memorial commemorates their martyrdom.
Acontemporary memorial, erected in an honour of
a great Pole - Pope John Paul II by the town's inhabitants according
to the design of Marian Gardziński, is on the other side of the
street.
Abuilding worth seeing, in spite of its only 100
years history, is the Siedlce cathedral. To get to it we should
go along Piłsudskiego Street and turn onto Kochanowskiego Street.
This monumental neo-gothic church, with two huge towers, was built
in1905-1912 according to the design of Zygmunt Zdański, the Mayor
at that time.
We are coming back to Piłsudskiego Street, where
there is Bishop Curia at number 62/64. The building, erected in
1870s, was the seat of financial institution (Towarzystwo Kredytowe
Ziemskie). The bas-relief of a woman with a sheaf of grain in
the front of the building reminds us of its former use.
We are coming to the crossroads of Piłsudskiego
with Armii Krajowej and Wojskowa Streets. On the right is the
building of National Polish Bank built in 1924 according to the
design of Marian Lalewicz. The object is in the style of academic
classicism, typical for the state edifices from the inter-war
period.
On the opposite side of Piłsudskiego Street is a
historical complex of prison buildings. The main building was
designed by Henryk Marconi, an outstanding designer and professor
of architecture at the Warsaw School of Art. The complex was erected
in the first half of the 19th century. A bas-relief,
located on the triangle top of the main building on Armii Krajowej
Street, shows the allegory of Justice. Great many patriots and
revolutionists were imprisoned here.
Atrade hall is on the corner of Armii Krajowej and
Pułaskiego Streets. The hall, built in the early years of the
20th century, played a role of important trade centre
in past days.
Walking along Pułaskiego Street we are coming to
Kilińskiego Street, which took on the character of municipal promenade
after the last renovation. A New Town Hall, erected in 1892, was
on this crossroads till the last World War. The town authorities
worked in the another building located next to the New Town Hall.
Both buildings were damaged in 1939 and have not been rebuilt.
Agarrison church is the next building in view. This
church came as the result of the reconstruction of the Orthodox
Church in 1918 after regaining independence by Poland. The Orthodox
Church had been built in 1868- 1869 by engineer Jakimowski.
Many tenement houses, erected at the turn of 19th
and 20th centuries, are on Sienkiewicza Street, which
branches off the church roundabout. "Ekler" the first cinema in
town was opened here in 1908. The cinema changed names several
times but the most it is known as "Odrodzenie", presently housing
small shops under the name "Ajax".
When you are tired with walking please take a break
and have coffee or something to eat in many town's coffee shops,
bars or restaurants.
