|
Forty kilometres north of Krakow, JEDRZEJOW is, in most respects, another sleepy provincial outpost of Malopolska, a two-bit town used as a convenient stopping-off point on the main Krakow-Kielce road which bisects it. The reason most visitors, mainly Polish, come here is for the Muzeum Zegarow Slonecznych (Sundial Museum; Tues-Sun: May-Sept 9am-4pm; Oct-April 9am-3pm: compulsory guided tours on the hour every hour, last tour one hour before closing; 5zl), an eccentric setup housing one of the top three gnomonic collections in the world (the other two are in Chicago and Oxford), based on the notable collection of three hundred or so sundials amassed by local enthusiast Dr Tadeusz Przypkowski and left to the museum established in his house after his death in 1962. What sounds like a potentially less than thrilling proposal turns out to be well worth a visit. Dials of every shape, size and construction are gathered here, the oldest dating back to the early 1500s. Highlights of the collection include a group of attractive sixteenth- and seventeenth-century ivory pocket sundials, a set of Asian instruments and an eccentric piece from the mid-1700s that comes complete with a small cannon tuned to fire on the hour at one o'clock every afternoon. The rest of the museum is taken up with Przypkowski's more rambling collections of stuffy old furniture, books, art, clocks, watches and old bottles. The other object of note in town is the impressive Cistercian abbey about 2km west of the centre along ul. 11 Listopada. One of the group of Cistercian foundations established in the region in the early 1200s, the imposing twin-towered Romanesque basilica was remodelled a number of times over the centuries, the final product being the largely late-Baroque interior of today, featuring some ornate wall and altar paintings and lavishly carved choir stalls. Virtually the only feature reminding you of the church's architectural origins is the distinctive cross-ribbed vaulting developed by the Cistercians. Very little of the original monastic buildings survives, the main exception being sections of the Gothic cloisters, which the resident parish priest will show you on request. Among the abbey's former residents is Wincenty Kadlubek (1161-1223), bishop of Krakow and author of the Chronica Polonorum , the first written chronicle of Polish history. His remains are contained in a diminutive Baroque coffin housed in a side chapel off the abbey's southern aisle.
Your Tip for Jedrzejow
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Jedrzejow - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Jedrzejow - visit the main Jedrzejow forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Jedrzejow webguide section below! Thanks.
| 
