Places to visit in the Holy Cross Province

The Holy Cross Monastery on a peak of Bald Mountain is the most important site in the Świętokrzyskie voivedship. Firstly, because it gave a name to the whole province and mountains. Secondly, because its cultural and religious influence cannot be underestimated. For over thousand years travellers and locals were fascinated by this mountain. An origin […]

The castle in Chęciny as seen from a lower town square and Władysław Łokietek street. At the foot of Castle Mountains there is a silhouette of the Saint Bartholemew church and above three towers as well as windows from a place where Great House once was. This view attracts attention of drivers and passengers travelling the ring road around Kielce to Cracow or Warsaw […]

Kielce is a capital of the Świętokrzyskie voivedship. It was only the last two centuries that determined the town’s development into the biggest one in the province. Before it was just the small municipality in a shadow of royal towns of Sandomierz and Chęciny. Despite that then-owners of Kielce, bishops of Cracow, erected many magnificent […]

Łysica moutain is the highest peak (614 metres above the sea level) of the Bald Mountains and of the whole Holy Cross Mountains. A translation of the name to English is a little bit tricky because it bears resemblance to Bald Mountain (Łysa Góra) where the Holy Cross monastery is situated. Although if we meet in person someday I will try to explain those differences in detail
Łysica along with the Bald Mountains, is a part of Holy Cross National Park that has an area of 77 square kilometres with a primary focus on protection of fir forests and the Cambrian quartzite sandstone that builds the mountain range […]

The grandest tree in Poland grows in Świętokrzyskie. Bartek, which is a diminutive, childish form of a Bartholemew, is an oak tree that remembers times of the first polish dynasty, the Piasts. Moreover, legends associate its beginning with the first ruler of Poland, Mieszko.
The first look at Bartek’s wide limbs spreading for almost 40 metres shows us that it is an extraordinary tree. Stories and legends connected to him only confirm this opinion. It hides secrets […]

Sandomierz is without a doubt the most beautiful town in the whole Świetokrzyskie province. Founded in times of a legendary Sudomir, the settlement served a vital role at a beginning of the polish state back in Xth and a XIth century. It was called one of the main residence of kings together with Cracow and […]