Regional Museum in Pińczów

The Regional Museum in Pińczów is the best starting point for exploring the Ponidzie region – and a showcase of a town whose history was shaped by the Reformation, the Polish Brethren and its Jewish community. It occupies a baroque former Pauline monastery at ul. Piłsudskiego 2a, and also looks after a Renaissance synagogue, the Arian House, the Garden Tower and a lapidarium in the cemetery. The tourist information centre is in the same building.

History: a monastery turned museum

The museum was founded in 1963 and at first was given a single room in the former Pauline monastery. More rooms followed gradually, and since 1970 it has staged exhibitions. The monastery itself dates back to 1431–1449; it acquired its present four-winged form around a central garth during a rebuilding in 1630–1642.

What to see

The permanent exhibitions fill five rooms and a corridor. They cover the prehistory of Ponidzie, the history of Pińczów, the two world wars, the town's Jewish community and the region's geology. The most valuable part of the collection is the manuscripts and memorabilia of Adolf Dygasiński, a writer and naturalist linked to the area. In 2022 the museum acquired the belongings of Józef Kwiecień, a soldier killed defending the Royal Castle in Warsaw during the Second World War.

Branches around town

• The Old Synagogue – built in 1594–1609, most likely to a design by Santi Gucci; one of the oldest surviving synagogues in Poland.
• The Arian House – a Renaissance house from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries in the former Mirów district, traditionally linked with the printing house of the Polish Brethren; reopened after renovation in 2021.
• The Garden Tower on ul. Nowy Świat.
• The lapidarium of funerary sculpture in the parish cemetery – the first lapidarium in a working cemetery in the former Kielce province, with a monument from 1803 regarded as the oldest of its kind in the Świętokrzyskie region.

Tripto tips

From 1 October to the end of April the museum and its branches are open Tuesday–Sunday 8:00–16:00 and closed on Mondays. A museum ticket costs PLN 20 (reduced PLN 15); a combined ticket for the museum, synagogue, tower and Arian House costs PLN 55 (reduced PLN 45). On Tuesdays individual visitors enter the museum free (not valid for the synagogue, tower or St Anne's Chapel). It is best to book the synagogue, tower and Arian House in advance by phone or at the museum. Allow an hour for the museum alone and half a day for the full circuit.