Siemiechów, Lesser Poland Voivodeship
| Siemiechów | |
|---|---|
  Siemiechów | |
| Coordinates: 49°51′0″N 20°55′0″E / 49.85000°N 20.91667°E | |
| Country |
 Poland |
| Voivodeship | Lesser Poland |
| County | Tarnów County |
| Gmina | Gromnik |
| Village rights | September 29, 1326 |
| Government | |
| • Village Leader (Sołtys) | Zbigniew Damian |
| Population (2003) | |
| • Total | 1,873 |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 33-181 |
| Area code(s) | +48 014 |
| Car plates | KT |
| Website | unknown |
Siemiechów [ɕɛˈmjɛxuf] is a village located in the low Carpathian mountains of southeastern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It lies approximately 4 kilometres (2 mi) northwest of Gromnik, 22 km (14 mi) south of Tarnów, and 74 km (46 mi) east of the regional capital Kraków. The population was 1,873 as of 2003.
Location
Siemiechów, or Siemichów, is a village in the Wielicki Highlands situated between the Wału and the Suchy mountain ranges, in the county of Tarnów along the main road from Zakliczyn to Gromnik. Its elevation varies from 245 to 260 meters above sea level. The village includes the areas of Góry Wielkie, Góry Małe, Łęk, Moszczenice and Wiesiołka. The area of greater property shares three other segments: Siemiechów, Leśniczówkę and Dybówkę. In 1890, the entire settlement consisted of 247 houses (11 in the area of greater property) and a total of 1,595 residents (769 males, 826 females), out of which 1,547 were Roman Catholics and 48 were Jews. The area of greater property consists of 579 morgs of fields, 6 morgs of meadows, 14 morgs of pastures and 511 morgs of forest whereas the area of lesser property consists of 1,687 morgs of fields, 132 morgs of meadows, 310 morgs of pastures and 307 morgs of forests.
History 1200–1800
During the Tartar invasion of 1241, the Tatars, on their way to Tuchów (22 kilometers North-East of Siemiechów), murdered seven monks ("siedem mnichów"), among other people. The origin of the name "Siedmichów" came from this. It was later changed to "Siemiechów". The village was officially established on September 29, 1326 by King Władysław Łokietek "na surowym korzeniu" ("from fresh roots" or "from the ground up") under German law and equally began to form a parish on "dwoma łanami ziemi" ("2 łanow of land).
In 1581, in 'Sziemichow' (Pawinśki, Małopolskie, 118) there was a 'sołtys' (village administrator) belonging to Siemiechów, who counted in the village: 1 wealthy farmer owning 25 'łanow' of land, 10 small farms without fields, 3 bailiffs who own cattle, 8 bailiffs without cattle, 4 craftsmen, and the village administrator who owns 11⁄2 'łana' of land.
To the west of the village is Faściszowa, to the east is Gromnik, to the south is Brzozowa, and to the north, past a large beech forest, is Lubinka.
Located in the province of Krakowskie, district Biecki, according to records of the treasury from 1770, it was noted that the village of Siemiechów in the province and three 'folwark' (granges), during that time was owned by Ignacy Krasiński and he paid an annual military tax of 1266 złoty and 17 groszy, and a winter military tax of 458 złoty and 12 groszy.
Ignacy, the third son of Jan (castellan of Wizna, near Łomza) and Ewa Trojanowska, brother of Adam (a bishop) and Michał Hieronim Krasiński (great-grandfather of world famous Polish poet, Count Zygmunt Krasiński). In 1769, he received governorship of Siemiechów, in the district of Biecz, from his first wife, Maryanna Krasińska Jordanów (kancl. 40 f. 14). Due to the Office of Assessments court assessors, he resigned in 1788 (M. 301 f. 46). He became a bachelor (got divorced) from the order of St. Stanisław which he received in 1786. The heir of the Oblas of Radom, he got married for the second time in 1774 to Agnieszka Potkańska, castellan of Radom, and had a daughter, Anna, whose first marriage was to Kazimierz Walicki, governor of Sochaczew, and second marriage to Mikołaj of Oplów Bronikowski, general major in the royal military, in which he wrote his life testimony in 1795 (DW. 110 f. 1299 i 111 f. 826). Amelia, one daughter of Bronikowski, got married to Count Roman Załuski. During the period of the ruling Austrian government in 1772, the administration stole the entire estate from Krasiński and then forced him to buy it back from them in 1789 at a very high price.
Parish church
In the village there is a wooden parish church and a public school. The first mention of the existence of the parish was in 1349 and the school was established before 1596. The sacred Gothic wooden church, "Matki Boskiej Gromnicznej" ("The Virgin Mary of Candles") was built before 1470. It was rebuilt in 1585 from contributions donated by 'Jan of Mstowa'. The church is hand-crafted and contains one nave, and in a closed trilateral presbytery. Adjacent to it on the southern side is the Late Baroque brick chapel, square with rounded angles, the interior set with a flat ceiling, on the entrance is a gothic carpenter's portal in "oślimi grzbietami" (curved arch style), and was built in 1800. Inside the church, most of the furnishings came from the 15th- to 17th-century period, which includes: a statue of the 'Virgin Mary' from 1480, a stone font containing the coat of arms of Pilawa and Gierałt from the 15th century, a 15th-century crucifix, two monumental bells from the 16th century, built in the workshop of Szymon Haubicz in Brno, and old fixtures and locks. The interior polychrome walls of the 16th/17th century, were painted by Łukasz Wadowski in 1643, and in 1726, the furnishings of the 16th – 18th centuries. The Church later underwent prime restoration from 1955 to 1956. From 1929 to 1953, a new brick parish church, "Ofiarowania Wszystkich Świętych i Wniebowstąpienia Pana Jezusa" ("Offering in the Temple and Ascension of Our Lord Jesus"), was constructed in the Neo-Renaissance style. In the war cemetery stands a brick chapel which was built in 1915.
The parish belongs to the Tarnowski diocese and Tuchowski deanery. According to Jan Długosz (L. B., III, 216), the village of 'Szemychów' had a parish at an early time and belonged to the Abbey of Tyniec (near Kraków) by virtue of privilege of King Casimir III in 1354, however, Spytek of Melsztyn took away the monastery by force, shortly before the Battle of Worskła in 1398, in which he then died "...and fair justice was served for what was taken, that which belonged to somebody else...". Later, in his second reference (II, 276) Długosz quietly mentions that Siemiechów belongs to the Abbey of Tyniec.
Sources
- Sulimierski, Filip (1890). Słownik Geograficzny Królestwo Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich (in Polish). p. 543.
- Boniecki, Adam (1908). Herbarz Polski (in Polish). pp. 209–210.
- Kurii Diecezjalnej w Tarnowie, Nakładem (1967). Rocznik Diecezji Tarnowskiej (in Polish). p. 411.
- Kruczek, Zygmunt (1983). Województwo Tarnowski: Vademecum Turystyczne Tarnów (in Polish). p. 87.
- Krupiński, Andrzej B. (1989). Urbanistyki i Architektury-Województwa Tarnowskiego (in Polish). p. 54.
- Matuszczyk, Andrzej (1995). Pogórze Karpackie: Wielickie, Rożnowskie i Ciężkowickie (in Polish). p. 299.
- Markow, Eugene J. History of Siemiechów.
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