Highlights of Tarnow

Pearl of Renaissance

That is how Tarnow's Old City is spoken about by art connoisseurs. In the epoch of Renaissance Tarnów was one of the most beautiful towns in Poland. Beautiful parish church, magnificent town hall, rich polychrome finish of the fronts of townsmen houses constructed in an interesting style - all contribute to Tarnów's impressive outlook. At the beginning of 16th c. Tarnów had ca. 1,200 inhabitants. The city had its fortified walls, water supply and sewage system. Well-to-do inhabitants were engaged in craft and trade. The then owner of Tarnów was a remarkable politician, well-educated and travelled man, royal great noble, hetman Jan Tarnowski. He resided in his inherited castle located at the top of St. Martin's Mountain, about 2 km away from the town centre. In the 1620s Tarnów was surrounded with new fortified walls, which were partially renovated in the 1960s and can be seen today.

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The Market Square

The Market Square began to take form during the development of the city in 1330 and was later improved with the addition of the surrounding Renaissance tenement houses erected between the 16 th and 18 th centuries.
The House no. 20 was founded in 1565 under Renaissance influence and belonged to wealthy Scottish merchants at this time. In the 17 th century it became the location of an Arian's chapel until the end of the 18 th century when it was the loza masonska. Currently, the Tarnow Regional Museum occupies this historical structure.

The House no. 21 was built at approximately 1568 in the Renaissance style; it also currently serves as a component of the Tarnow Regional Museum.

The Town Hall is a Gothic building rebuilt under Renaissance influence at the end of the 16 th c. The main structure is 18 meters high and supports a 30 meter tower that has a staircase at its southern face.

The Half-Bastion is the semi-circle shaped tower built in the first half of the 16 th century that composes part of the lower outer city wall.

The Florentine House was founded at the end of the 16 th century and it stands as an example of urban Renaissance architecture with an overhanging front fasade.

The Cathedral

Erected in the second half of the 14th century, it serves as a parish church under the invocation of the Nativity of Our Lady. The Cathedral was renovated during the 15th century and once again at the beginning of the 19th century. During the years 1889-1891 it was reconstructed in the Neo-Gothic style. The Cathedral is a quite impressive structure with gorgeous lierne vaults, late Gothic style portals and a tower that reaches towards the heavens. Six Renaissance sepulchral monuments commemorating members of the Tarnowski family (16th century) and the statuary monuments of Ostrogski princes (1620) remain in its interior.

Wooden Churches

St. Mary Church is a Gothic wooden church that was consecrated in 1440. Above the altar there is a painting of Our Lady of the Scapular that was re-painted in approximately the 13 th century.

Holy Trinity Church was constructed in Gothic wooden architecture in 1595-97. Above the main alter is an enchanting painting called the Throne of Grace, depicting God the Father with a left hand of six fingers (equal to the number of days of the Creation), and Jesus Christ resting on his lap with the Holy Spirit hovering above them.

Old Catholic Cemetery

Old Catholic Cemetery - Founded in the year 1790 in Zablocie (currently Konarskiego Street), it is the largest necropolis in Tarnow. There are about 4000 graves and a few hundred sepulchar monuments of significant historic and artistic value. Among others there are monuments of the insurgents from 1831 and 1863, the victims of the peasant riot of 1846, and from the period of WWII. In addition to the various headstones and memorials, there is a Neo-Gothic chapel of the Sanguszko princes. The oldest sepulchral monuments date from the end of the 18 th century and are those of Anna Maria Radziwillowa from the Lubomirski family and of bishop Florian Janowski.

General Joseph Bem's Mausoleum

Designed by the architect Jan Szyszko-Bohusz and constructed in the year 1929, this memorial sits in the norther part of the city park. The Mausoleum's sarcophagus, holding the General's remains, is supported by six columns.

The Castle

The Castle is actually ruins of a castle built in 1329-31 on St. Martin Mountain by Spycimir Leliwita. Originally the castle was made of brick and stone and it was composed of a massive tower, a small residential area, and a wall and gate. In the first half of the 16 th century, the castle became the residence of the Tarnowski family. At this time the castle was expanded and consequently consisted of a high and low castle surrounded with a bastioned fortification. At the end of the 17 th century the castle fell into decline.

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