Old towns & squares

Market Square in Opatów

An elongated rectangular square in the heart of the town, with a town hall from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries in the eastern frontage and an underground tourist route about 400 m long, laid out in the medieval cellars beneath the pavement.

A town hall with turbulent roles

The present seat of the town and commune authorities was most probably built on the initiative of Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki. The brick town house has preserved its characteristic arcaded pilaster loggias. In the 19th century, during the partitions, the building held barracks, later an Orthodox parish church of the Protection of the Mother of God, and in the 20th century the county office and county council. In front of the town hall stands a monument to Colonel Ludwik Topór-Zwierzdowski, commander of the insurrectionary Cracow Division of 1864.

The town beneath the pavement

Beneath the square survives a complex of old merchants' cellars dating back to the Middle Ages, now open to visitors as an underground tourist route. Like its Sandomierz counterpart, the Opatów square sits on loess, which makes it prone to damage — and at the same time made the digging of underground corridors easier.

Next door

About 300 m from the square stands the Collegiate Church of St Martin, the most precious monument of Opatów — a Romanesque temple built from the second quarter of the 12th century, designated a Monument of History on 2 February 2023. The square (Plac Obrońców Pokoju) is accessible around the clock.