Market Square in Pyzdry

In 1383, during the siege of Pyzdry by the troops of Duke Siemowit IV of Masovia, chroniclers recorded the first use of a cannon on Polish soil. Since January 2024 a sculpture of three medieval gunners with their cannon has commemorated the event on the market square. The broad square with its green lawn is a good starting point for a walk around one of the oldest towns in Greater Poland – a former royal town on the Warta river where decisions of national importance were once made.

A town at the centre of events

Pyzdry is first mentioned in 1232. The charter has not survived, but the town was founded under Magdeburg law, most likely by Duke Bolesław the Pious, and in the 1280s it even had its own mint. In 1318 King Władysław the Short called an assembly here that decided to ask the Pope for permission to crown him, and on 6 June 1346 King Casimir the Great proclaimed the legal statutes for Greater Poland in Pyzdry. The town then received walls and a four-sided castle. From the Middle Ages until 1846 it was a district seat with noble law courts.

What to see on the square

• The gunners sculpture – three figures preparing a cannon to fire, by sculptor Dariusz Guńka. Its unveiling, marked by a cannon shot, completed the renovation of the square.
• The arcaded house (Rynek 17) – a single-storey timber house of 1768, gable end to the square, with an arcade on four posts. For several years it housed the regional museum, which now uses it for temporary exhibitions.
• Memorials of the town's 700th anniversary and a monument to Bolesław the Pious, regarded as the founder of Pyzdry.
• Church towers – from the square you can see the brick parish church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and the former Franciscan church, among the town's most valuable monuments.

Did you know?

Pyzdry burned many times: the Teutonic Knights set it on fire in 1331, the Swedes occupied it in 1655, and in 1768 a great fire was started by Russian troops pursuing the Bar Confederates, a noble movement fighting Russian influence. The year 1768 is also when the arcaded house was built – one of the few survivors of the old timber town. In the late 16th century the town had 181 craftsmen and traders, including 21 shoemakers and 20 innkeepers. Musters of the noble levy of the Kalisz province were also held near Pyzdry.

Tripto tip

The square is free and open at all times. Pyzdry stands on the high right bank of the Warta, on regional road 442 between Września and Kalisz. The square itself takes 20–30 minutes, but it works best as the start of a loop: from the gunners to the arcaded house, on to the former Franciscan church and down to the river – about an hour. The exhibitions in the arcaded house are not open every day, so check current dates with the Pyzdry Land Museum or on the town's website.