Old towns & squares

Market Square in Kazimierz Dolny

The market square in Kazimierz Dolny is the central square of the town, laid out in the Middle Ages — probably at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. Town status came under Casimir the Great, and in 1406 Władysław Jagiełło moved the town from Polish to Magdeburg law, establishing weekly markets. The present image of the square, however, was shaped by the rebuilding after the fires of 1560 and 1585, when arcaded brick townhouses were raised.

The Przybył brothers' townhouses

The most famous facades of the square belong to the twin townhouses „Under St. Nicholas" and „Under St. Christopher" from the 17th century — Mannerist in decoration, with a three-arch arcade at ground level and tall attics. The owners, brothers Mikołaj and Krzysztof Przybył, placed figures of their patron saints on the facades. The townhouses were rebuilt after the war — the drawings of Michał Elwiro Andriolli served as the point of reference. On the square also stands the Baroque Gdańsk townhouse, a keepsake of trade with Gdańsk, when Kazimierz was called „little Gdańsk".

The first monument to a mongrel in Poland

In the middle of the square stands a well, and by it the monument to the dog Werniks from 2000 by Bogdan Markowski — the first monument to a mongrel in Poland. Werniks was a stray adopted by the artists who, years later, returned to Kazimierz „to pose for the monument"; tourists stroke his nose so eagerly that it shines.

In practice

The square is open around the clock, entry is free, and car parks nearby are paid. From the well you can see the parish church, the castle ruins with the tower and the Hill of Three Crosses, while the boulevard on the Vistula is 300 metres away. In the late afternoon the townhouses shine best in the sun's rays.