Sandomierz - Surprises

Sandomierz

I drove south from Warsaw to Kolbuszowa with Gosia reading the map and sign posts; me trying to pronounce the words; her correcting my impossible Polish. It was hot and we were parched, so when we came upon the little town of Sandomierz, it was time to take a break. We found a cafe overlooking the square and sat under bright red and white umbrellas, giving us respite from the heat of the day. There was lots of activity in the square as people were preparing a huge performance tent and stage for an upcoming concert of Sea Chantys. It would have been nice to hang out a while, but there were miles yet to travel, find the hotel we had booked, and finally get to Kolbuszowa. We made a plan to return on our way north after our mission involving my heritage was finished.

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At that time there were no hotels in Kolbuszowa, but Gosia had located a business hotel attached to a little castle known as Baranow Castle. Surrounded by beautiful formal gardens, there is an additional modern building with hotel rooms and conference center. As we checked in at the desk, the clerk apologized that his modern rooms were full but could give us a room in the castle itself. What!? No apologies necessary and we hustled over to find the door to enter. It opened to the biggest room I’ve ever slept in… with huge round wooden table in the center of the room, couches, chairs, a couple of beds and enough extra space to include a marching band. We howled in joy and laughed at our absolute good fortune. Our window opened to the courtyard with archways and columns, reminiscent of the Wawel Castle in Krakow. The following day there were wedding groups arriving for photographs here and there and we loved seeing a happy bride and groom waltzing outside our window.

After touring the castle, dinner and a good night’s sleep, we pushed on to Kolbuszowa to explore a few leads we had found since our last trip. More on Kolbuszowa later.

It was time to head north again and returning to Sandomierz, we had time to drive past the 14th Century stone Sandomierz Royal Castle which can be toured, but we only took time for two of Gosia’s favorites. A church with stained glass windows depicting beautiful flowers rather than saints and crosses… and then the Diocesan Museum, which was in an ancient house left to the church. Gosia’s interest in going there was to see Queen Jadwiga’s gloves which were on display. Gosia knew the legend connected to the gloves and really enjoyed the opportunity to see them first hand. Traveling by car with me was a treat for her, enabling her to see things she normally wouldn’t be able to enoy because she traveled only by train for business and she’s never driven a car. So into the intimate little museum we went.

More about the museum and Queen Jadwiga’s gloves - Click below

https://www.domdlugosza.sandomierz.org/dom-d%C5%82ugosza---r%C4%99kawiczki-kr%C3%B3lowej-jadwigi

In the Museum

No AC in this mideival structure, so I didn’t last very long. I caught a little breeze in the entrance hall and sat on a wooden bench opposite a young priest waiting for Gosia to complete her tour. When she joined me, she was struck by what she saw just behind me. There was a a book with only one name on the cover. ANTONI RZASA. Dumbfounded to have searched so long and here we accidentally happened upon it. The priest picked up on our surprise and conveyed to Gosia (in Polish) that the exhibit which was here was the work of the artist with that name. His exhibit was in its last day, so we got there just in time.

Antoni Rzasa

Of course we returned to the exhibit and reviewed each piece with more personal interest. Antoni Rzasa carved his sculptures with an ax if you can imagine such a thing. Chisels and skill must have played a big part. The intricacy he achieved was astounding and the emotion they evoked was dramatic. We learned that he created a school and gallery in the house he built in Zakopane up in the Tatra Mountains. Now we had a new location to add to our list of places to explore in my search.

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Antoni Rzasa

We felt very fortunate to have stumbled upon the work of this artist with my family name, especially in the final hours before the exhibit would be taken away.

I bought the book which holds a place on my shelf with the many books I’ve collected and read on Poland over the years.

We babbled for some time with the priest and each other as we walked out the path to the sidewalk and turned up the street. As we chattered about such an amazing circumstance, I looked to the ground where a feather lay right in my path. How we laughed and Gosia had to admit there must be something to all those feathers! (If you haven’t read the book, you may be confused about the feathers.)