Historic sites

Romanesque Relics in Wiślica

Beneath the collegiate church in Wiślica, a small town in the Ponidzie region with over a thousand years of history, survive the foundations of two Romanesque churches that stood here before the Gothic basilica founded by Casimir the Great was built. The underground is open to visitors through the Archaeological Museum in Wiślica.

The Slab of Orants

The older church dates from the 12th century. It is small, single-nave, with an apse, and its most precious element is the Slab of Orants — a 12th-century gypsum floor depicting figures, most likely Casimir the Just with his wife and sons, and Henry of Sandomierz. Beside it are the relics of a larger church from the 13th century with a two-tower façade. In the soil layers around the churches burials are visible — the former inhabitants were buried directly beside the churches.

St Nicholas church and the stone basin

The museum tour also includes the ruins of the Romanesque church of St Nicholas, discovered in the 1950s during waterworks construction. A stone basin was found at the time, at first interpreted as a baptismal font linked to the legend of the baptism of the Vistulans around 880, described in the Life of St Methodius. Research showed, however, that the basin comes from the 11th century, like the ruins of the church and the adjoining funerary chapel.

Context

The Gothic basilica of the 14th century has held the title of minor basilica since 2005, and in 2018 it was entered on the list of Historic Monuments, confirming the importance of the whole complex.