Pilica Market Square

The trapezoid-shaped square in Pilica keeps the layout laid out when the town was chartered at the end of the 14th century – streets still leave from its corners exactly where the old roads to Kraków, Lelów, Żarnowiec and Sławków began. In the middle of Pilica Market Square, today Adam Mickiewicz Square, stands a small town hall rebuilt on foundations uncovered by archaeologists, with a roofed well beside it. It makes a good starting point for exploring one of the lesser-known small towns of the Polish Jura.

History: a town at the source of the Pilica

Pilica is first mentioned in the early 13th century, but the settlement then lay elsewhere – on St Peter's Hill, about a kilometre from today's centre. It moved down into the river valley in the 14th century and probably received Magdeburg town rights in 1393. That is when the square and street grid that survive today were laid out. During the 17th-century Swedish invasion known as the Deluge, retreating Swedish troops burned the town, and Pilica burned many more times afterwards – which is why the houses around the square date mostly from the late 19th and 20th centuries.

In 1870, a few years after the January Uprising against Russian rule, Pilica lost its town status by order of the Tsar. It regained it only in 1994.

What to see

• The town hall – a reconstruction on foundations uncovered during archaeological research: a white building with a shingled roof, a clock turret and wooden outdoor stairs.
• The town well – recreated, with a roof on stone pillars.
• The parish church of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist west of the square – the most valuable monument in the centre; its towers are visible from the square.
• St George's Church on ul. Krakowska, a former hospital church that originally stood outside the town.

Did you know?

• Besides the town hall, the old square once held a public weigh house, butchers' stalls and market booths – it used to be densely built up.
• On St Peter's Hill, where Pilica began, a wooden bell tower, altar and brick sacristy survive from a church that burned in 1945. Open-air Mass is celebrated there once a year, on 29 June.

Tripto tip

The square is open around the clock and free of charge; allow 30–45 minutes for a walk and a look into the church. You can park around the square. The palace complex with its 17th-century bastion fortifications is a few minutes' walk away, and the springs of the Pilica River are close by.