Historical Mural in Pyzdry

On the wall of the sports hall in Pyzdry a priest hovers in mid-air with a hole in his belly. He is Mikołaj, parish priest of Biechowo, struck by a stone ball during the siege of Pyzdry in 1383 – the first documented use of gunpowder artillery on Polish soil. The three-dimensional mural, over 30 metres long and 12 metres high, tells the story of this former royal town in more than a dozen scenes, from the young Prince Casimir's escape from the Teutonic Knights to a battle of the 1863 January Uprising against Russian rule.

How it came about

The north wall of the hall on ul. 3 Maja is a prominent part of the town's skyline seen from the Warta river. For years it carried a banner celebrating the town's 750th anniversary, and a climbing wall was also considered. In the end the idea of Michał Czerniak, director of the Pyzdry Regional Museum, won: paint the town's history. The design came from architect and Poznań University of Technology lecturer Radosław Barek – creator of the well-known mural in Poznań's Śródka district – and the painting was done by the Poznań art group Murall under his supervision. The outlines were projected onto the wall and the image painted by brush with silicate paints. It was unveiled on 25 June 2016.

The illusion extends beyond the wall: a stone path in front leads towards the painted town gate, and balls imitating cannon shot have been fixed to the mural. The buildings were based on historical and literary sources and archaeological descriptions, though some are the artist's imagination.

Buildings that are gone

In the background stands the royal castle built on the orders of King Casimir the Great after 1333, two years after the Teutonic Knights burned Pyzdry. Its weathervane shows a star – the symbol of the silver penny struck in the Pyzdry mint. Nearby are the Franciscan church, an idealised Gothic parish church, the wooden Holy Cross church (destroyed by fire in 1779), a synagogue and a wooden town hall bearing two dates: 1257, when the town was founded, and 1795, when Prussia took over. A brick wall with a gate and three wooden post mills complete the scene.

Figures and stories

• Casimir the Great emerging from a tunnel – according to local legend, the future king escaped the Teutonic Knights on 27 July 1331 through a secret passage under the Warta. Next to him sit spiders: in Polish, the garden spider is called krzyżak, the same word as a Teutonic Knight.
• Knights at a cannon and the floating priest – in 1383 a gunner fired a stone at the town gate, killing the priest of Biechowo standing behind it. It is the first documented use of gunpowder artillery on Polish soil.
• Witches – recalling a trial on 4 May 1699 after which four women, Anna, Jagata, Katarzyna and Regina, were burned at the stake.
• General Edmund Taczanowski with insurgents – on 29 April 1863 his unit won an eight-hour battle against Russian troops near Pyzdry.
• Mayor Karol Ogrodowicz, a pilgrim on the Way of St James, three figures holding vine branches from the town's coat of arms, and little Zosia with her doll peeping out from behind the gate.

Tripto tip

The mural is free and accessible at any time. Allow 20–30 minutes to read the scenes – first from a distance, from the square in front of the hall, then up close for the details. Look for the cannonballs stuck to the wall and the date 1795 on the town hall. Keep walking: the hall mural inspired further paintings in Pyzdry – on the former power station, on the steps to the Franciscan monastery and on a fence by the Warta. In July Pyzdry holds “Wystrzałowe Pyzdry” (roughly “Pyzdry with a Bang”), with a re-enactment of the 1383 siege, and in late August the Casimir Run.