Burgher Houses on Sandomierz Market Square

Sandomierz Market Square is not flat: between its upper and lower corners the difference in height reaches 15 metres, so the houses around it stand as if on steps. Beneath them run cellars and passages dug into the loess, and in one of the houses – according to tradition – Protestants concluded the "Consensus of Sandomierz" in 1570, described as the oldest ecumenical act in Europe. The square, roughly 110 × 120 m, is part of the historic ensemble of Sandomierz, listed as a Monument of History since 2017.

History: merchants, nobles and Jesuits

The centre of the square is taken up by the Gothic town hall from the 14th century, and the frontages around it were built up with merchants' and burghers' houses. Many changed their appearance after great fires – such as the one in 1757 – but the plot layout and arcades still reveal the old rhythm of the town. Owners came from far away: one house belonged to Jerzy Kojszor, a Greek, another to Lazarczyk, a Hungarian.

In 1623 Jakub Bobola, cup-bearer of Sandomierz, founded a boarding house at the Jesuit college for 12 young noblemen from poor families and endowed it with 15,500 Polish złoty. In 1635 he gave his house on the square as the boarders' home – the "Fundatio Boboliana" survived until the dissolution of the Jesuit order.

Addresses worth knowing

• Oleśnicki House (Rynek 10) – set forward from the frontage, with a two-arched arcade and a Baroque gable topped with vases, regarded as the finest in town. The Oleśnicki family gave it its present form after a fire, probably in 1770–1780. This is probably where the Consensus of Sandomierz was signed in April 1570.
• Bobola Boarding House (Rynek 5) – the house endowed for pupils of the Jesuit college.
• House under the Wings (Rynek 4) – with a Renaissance portal.
• House of Kojszor the Greek (Rynek 23) – named after a former owner.
• House of Lazarczyk the Hungarian (Rynek 27) with an arcade on the southern frontage, and the Dutreppe House (Rynek 31).

Under the square: cellars in the loess

Tradition has it that underground passages existed as early as the 13th century, but most of the cellars were dug in the 15th–16th centuries as merchants' storerooms. They were cut into the loess without any support, and some went as deep as 15 m. In the 20th century water began to soften the loess and threatened to make the old town collapse, so in 1964–1977 miners from Bytom, guided by specialists from the AGH University in Kraków, secured the underground. The Underground Tourist Route has been open since 1977, entered from the courtyard of the Oleśnicki House. The cellars are linked to the legend of Halina Krępianka, who is said to have outwitted the Tatars.

Tripto tip

The square is free to visit at any time. The Underground Tourist Route has its own tickets; according to its website, outside the summer season (mid-September to April) it is open daily 9:00–17:00, last entry 16:00. Allow 1.5–2 hours for the square, the underground route and a coffee in one of the houses. Look out for the 16 glass benches from 2018 commemorating figures of Polish cinema and the huge anchor in the south-west corner of the square. The best photo of the frontages is taken from the upper part of the square, looking down towards the town hall.