Stary Sącz is a small historic town in

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Lesser Poland Province (in pl, województwo małopolskie ), also known as Małopolska, is a voivodeship (province), in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). It was created on 1 ...

of southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. It is the seat of the Gmina Stary Sącz (commune), and one of the oldest towns in the country, having been founded in the 13th century.

Geography

Stary Sącz is located in bottom of the valley called Kotlina Sądecka, between two rivers -

Dunajec The Dunajec (); Goral dialects: ''Dónajec'') is a river running through northeastern Slovakia and southern Poland. It is also regarded as the main river of the Goral Lands. It is a right tributary of the Vistula River. It begins in Nowy Targ at t ...

and

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the te ...

, at an altitude of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

History

The history of the town dates back to the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the M ...

when Duchess Kinga ( Kinga of Poland) the daughter of the King

Béla IV of Hungary Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his fath ...

and the wife of Duke Bolesław V the Chaste, received the land called Sącz, together with surrounding villages, from her husband in the year 1257. It is assumed to be the date of the town foundation. Indeed, the Duchess must have loved the mountains very much, since she founded a Convent of the Poor Clares there in 1280 and she became its duchess herself. Almost at the same time, on the opposite slope of the Sącz hill, the seat of a Franciscan order was established also by Duchess Kinga. In the year 1358 the town received a privilege of the

Magdeburg law Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within c ...

, confirmed by King

Casimir III the Great Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He w ...

. An extremely advantageous location, on a very busy trade route to Hungary, fostered the town's rapid development. However the town was often damaged by disasters, of which fires were the most harmful. The town also did not manage to escape floods, plagues and wars. During the biggest fire, in 1795, almost the entire town burned down.

Tourism, recreation and sport

Visitors in Stary Sącz are provided not only with the town's rich history, unique medieval architecture and many monuments of ecclesiastical buildings. At the fork of the rivers

and

is a recreation area with a few ponds. (Their overall surface is 14 ha). These ponds contain plenty of fish. There are carp, trout and sanders among them. There are even rainbow trout in a special fishery. These fish attract many anglers. Miejska Góra (The town's Mountain) encourages hiking and cycling in beautiful wildlife surroundings. Stary Sącz, situated in the lag of the Poprad Landscape Park is also the seat of the Park Service. One of Poland's biggest landscape parks stretches all over the range of the mountains Radziejowa and Jaworzyna in the Beskid Sądecki region. There are many trails waiting for keen hikers. Some of them start in Stary Sącz. The most attractive are:
- The Yellow Route – from the railway station in Stary Sącz via Moszczenica, Przysietnica into the Radziejowa range, where, on the Przehyba summit (1175 m), it joins The Red Route heading towards Krościenko.
- The Blue Route – begins at the railway station in Barcice and via Wola Krogulecka climbs the Makowica summit (948 m).
A very popular bike route goes from Stary Sącz to the Przehyba summit via Gołkowice and Skrudzina. Stary Sącz is a place for many sporting events. Some of the most well attended are: - The Polish Volleyball Championship of Forest-Schools with competitors from

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

- The Open Mountain Cycling Youth Competition
- The International Motorbike Rally
- The Mayor's Cup Street Race
- The All-Polish Ecological Rally
- The New Year's Eve Race from Stary Sącz to

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; hu, Újszandec; yi, Tzanz, צאַנז; sk, Nový Sonč; german: Neu-Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. It ha ...

External links

Jewish Community in Stary Sącz
on Virtual Shtetl {{DEFAULTSORT:Stary Sacz Populated places established in the 13th century Cities and towns in Lesser Poland Voivodeship Nowy Sącz County Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795) Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)