Serwis – a village near the Holy Cross Monastery

Location of Serwis

Serwis village lies at the foot of The Bald Mountains in a buffer zone surrounding the Świętokrzyski National Park. Serwis is placed between two exclaves of the Park. On west there is Serwis-Dąbrowa, on east Chełmowa Góra (Chełmowa Hill). The latter is one of the first nature preserve in Poland, established in 1920. A subspecies of a larch tree, polish larch, is protected here.

We enter Serwis via the road number 756, shortly after we exit Nowa Słupia town, where tourists often began their trek through a fir forest to the peak of Holy Cross Mountain. Next to Serwis there is also Rudki village known for its XXth century iron and pyrite mine. The iron ore from that place was also used in ancient times in furnaces called bloomeries.

In Serwis two rivers join their waters. Near a bridge over the road 756 the Słupianka feeds the Pokrzywianka, which flows further for several kilometres until it enters the Wióry dam built on the Świślina river. Yes, all of these rivers names sound beautiful in Polish language, although they are hard to pronounce;)

History of Serwis

For centuries Serwis is strongly connected to the former Benedictine abbey rising on the top of The Holy Cross Mountain. The village is mentioned in written sources in years 1351-1374. Back then it was known as Wola Pluskana. The XVth century archives confirm that it was a property of the convent of abbey’s monks.

The name of the village was often changed and written in many different ways. In 1427 the place was called Wola circa molendinum which means in Latin that a mill stood there. In half of XVIth century, apart from the water one, there was also a fulling mill used to cleanse clothes from oil and glues used by weavers.

Another name, that appeared in sources in the following century, is Vola dicta Serwicaptur, which resembles a coat of arms “Zerwikaptur” used by a knight named Longinus Podbięta. He was a fictional protagonist in a famous polish novel “With Fire and Sword” written by a Nobel Prize winner Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Probably from variations of this name, such as Serwiszkaptur, a current form Serwis came from.

At the end of XVIIIth century an ex-great chancellor of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Jacek Małachowski visited Serwis. He was already known from many investments in the Świętokrzyskie province – in Końskie town or Bodzechów village where he lived and died. Famous porcelain factory in Ćmielów was also erected by him.

Małachowski wanted to establish a similar manufacture near Chełmowa Góra. He even built barracks for workers who supposed to work in the factory, but a lack of a basic ingredient of porcelain – kaolin forced him to abandon his plans for Serwis.

Serwis remained the abbey’s property until 1819. It this year the Benedictine monastery was dissoluted on orders of Russian authorities during the Period of Partitions, when Poland was no longer an independent state.

In 1889 Geographic Dictionary of Polish Kingdom mentioned marl rocks mined in Serwis. They were used as building stones. The book also contains information about 102 people who lived in the village in 16 houses at that time. Today’s population is 317.

What else can history hide?

Since the village is situated by the main road, next to Nowa Słupia town, Polish soldiers fighting in January Uprising must have travelled through Serwis, followed by Russian troops led by their commander Xavery Czengiery.

The same route was certainly used during WWII by Polish partisans who also took part in a similar game of life and death with overwhelming forces of the German occupiers.

What about earlier centuries? Who knows? Maybe a famous female brigand Barbara Rusinowska hid here with her band after an unsuccessful attack on Słupia town?

Inspirations

The story of the place, rivers flowing here, a proximity of Świętokrzyski National Park, the view on The Bald Mountains and Chełmowa Góra. All of the above makes me think that if I lived here I would become… the tour guide of the Holy Cross province. One more time;)

At your service, not only in Serwis.

Gallery

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