Szydlow

Szydlow has about a thousand inhabitants and around seven hundred metres of surviving fourteenth-century stone wall, built under Kazimierz Wielki, with the Krakow Gate standing to full height - a proportion of circuit to population that no other Polish settlement matches, and the reason it too gets called the Polish Carcassonne. Inside are the ruins of the royal castle with its great hall, a Gothic parish church, and the synagogue of about 1600, one of the older stone synagogues in Poland, restored and open with a small museum. Szydlow lost its town rights in 1869 and only regained them in 2019, so for a century and a half a walled medieval town was formally a village. It is also known for plums: the surrounding orchards supply a long-standing plum industry and there is an annual plum festival in August, which is when the place is busiest.

History

Szydłów is first mentioned in 1191, as a royal village on the Vistula merchant road, and it received town rights on 1 July 1329. In the mid-14th century Casimir III the Great built a castle and the Church of Saint Ladislaus and ringed the town with a wall with three gates, the Kraków, Opatów and Water Gates; in the 16th century it was a centre of cloth-making, with waterworks and bath houses opened in 1528 and 180 houses counted in 1564 (Wikipedia, Szydłów).

The main sights

• Seven hundred metres of wall - fourteenth-century stone, with the Krakow Gate intact.
• Royal castle ruins - the great hall, inside the walls.
• A synagogue of about 1600 - one of the oldest stone ones in Poland, restored.
• Plum orchards - the local industry, with an August festival.

When to go

May to September; August for the plums. Half a day.

Before you go

It is a village, not a town - services are minimal. The castle is ruin. The synagogue museum keeps limited hours. The Carcassonne comparison is a marketing line used by several Polish towns.

Nearby

Kurozweki palace is nearby; Sandomierz is east.

Key facts