159/365: Karst springs in Tomaszów Mazowiecki

159/365: Karst springs in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

June 8th

There isn't a better remedy against a bad mood than a long and exciting bike ride. This time I decided to take a train South-East to Tomaszów Mazowiecki and tour the area, which is very picturesque with the Pilica river winding through it.

The picture above is of the karst springs in Tomaszów, the so-called Blue Sources. The light didn't lend itself to making the blue show up in photos, but the sand at the bottom, pushed out by the spring geysers, gives an idea of the colour.

There were also swans with their swanbabies!!

This was actually my last stop on the tour, right after the Pilica River Open Air Museum, where, among old millstones and river barges I saw these:

On the left, the T-34/85, supposedly the best of its kind in WW2 warfare. On the right, a rare prototype vehicle from the Luftwaffe, recovered from the bottom of the Pilica where it sank in 1945. It's the only one in existence, and it still works! The museum plans to give rides in it at some point.

They also had an old train station:

and a model of a floating mill:

The part of my trip that was supposed to be the most exciting turned out to be a bust- although a bust with a promise. The 14th century castle ruins in Inowłódz are no longer ruins- they are being reconstructed!

Which also meant that I couldn't walk onto the site and visit it. So, I took a walk around the little town and saw, instead, the church of St Idzi:

Or St. Gilles, if you will.Said to be built in 1086 by Prince of Poland Władysław Herman in gratitude for the conception of his son, Bolesław Wrymouth, but other sources say it is more likely to have been funded by Bolesław himself, around 1138. A statue of said father and son stands nearby:

Done with that, I went to seek out traces of the Jewish community in Inowłódz. Before the war they made up a third of the locals...before the war. Four hundred people, all gone.

This is a horrifying reality I keep encountering while touring my country- mere traces of a people who were once very much at home here. We all know about it, but...

Well. A curious memento of Jewish presence is an early 19th century synagogue:

It was badly damaged during the war, and used as a storage facility until its renovation in the early 80's. From then on, it was a library, and finally it was sold to a private owner who turned it into a store.

Yes, a grocery store.

The polychrome inscriptions are the only thing remaining from the original decor, and they are unique in being prayers for the Russian Tsar (the building dates back to times when Poland was partitioned and this area belonged to Russia). The southern wall has an inscription in Hebrew, the northern wall in Russian. The names of new tsars were painted over the old ones upon succession.

I asked the owner about the controversy of keeping shop in an old prayer-house. He claims to have spoken to authorities of the Jewish community in Poland about it, and that they do not consider it a holy place anymore since the Torah scrolls were removed from the building long ago. However, the synagogue is on the list of national artefacts and so the building and inscriptions must be preserved.

With a little help from the local librarian, I found my way through the forest and terrains belonging largely to a chalcedonite mine to another sign of Jewish presence in Inowłódz: the cemetery.

Built in 1820, it is now abandoned and difficult to locate in the forest- you have to do some mild trespassing. Most of it was destroyed by the Germans in WW2.

After the cemetery I took a shortcut (which, proverbially, made for a long delay) through the forest to the amazing bunker in Konewka:

The Anlage Mitte, another memory of the war, was built as an operative HQ for the Nazis. It was never used as such, but it's impressive nevertheless. The railway bunker is 380 metres long, and was meant to house two of Hitler's personal trains.

I suffered from a lack of tripod, but plan to come back again. The tour is kind of crazy, it leads down a ladder into the service duct, which besides being creepy, is dank, dark and dirty:

All in all it was a very nice ride, and I want to do it again- in better weather, light, and perhaps with some company...

On the map, as usual, the planned route is in red, the actual ride in blue:

View Okolice Pilicy in a larger map

151/365: The castle ruins in Besiekiery

151/365: The castle ruins in Besiekiery, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 31st

What a sight. I read about these ruins in a guidebook to castles in the Lodz voivodship, and decided to make them the destination for my first 100+ km bike trip. (yes, it hurt, and yes, it was worth it.)

The village of Besiekiery itself is very small- a few houses, a small school, but it dates back to the 13th century. The name suggests that its original settlers were Scandinavian- viking mercenaries in the service of our first dynasty of kings, the Piasts. 'Besiekr' is a nordic word meaning 'man wearing a bear skin'. But in Polish, 'siekiera' means axe, and so there is also a legend about the devil Boruta (who also dipped his claws in the history of the nearby Royal Castle in Łęczyca) striking a deal with a local noble that would allow him to collect the man's soul if first he built him a castle without the use of an axe- without a siekiera. In Polish: Bez siekiery!

What the poor devil didn't know was that one of the labourers was named Siekierka...

But that's only a legend. The castle is a little younger than the settlement, having been built around the year 1500. It used to have a large tower which held the main gate and a chapel, an open courtyard and a three storey house in the back. It was modified several times over the years, but has been abandoned since the mid-19th century.

Currently, the municipality is gathering funds to revitalise the ruins and make them a safe and welcoming tourist attraction. So far they've strengthened the remainders of the main house and rebuilt the moat. There's a little beach, but swimming isn't a good idea as there is a lot of duckweed and leeches. Yuck!

Oh, another interesting thing about this castle is that it's home to a pair of storks.

They come every year to build their nests on top of the ruins. Storks are very popular in Poland, we consider them to be one of our national symbols.

The stork is a bird that brings luck, and it's very good to have one on your property- they say lightning will not strike where a stork has his nest. And because storks like high places, many landowners will set up a special post or build a platform on top of the barn roof, or in the branches of a dead tree, to encourage storks to make their nest there.

I saw more than one stork on my way to the village. It's the season!

On the map, red is my planned route, blue is the actual path I took. Some of those roads weren't roads at all! Google Maps doesn't know everything ;)

View Łódź - Besiekiery in a larger map

108/365: The Kościuszko Mound

108/365: The Kościuszko Mound, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 18th

This hill is an artificial mound erected in 1823 in honour of Tadeusz Kościuszko (Thaddeus Kosciusko for you American types), and it is modeled after the legendary burial mounds of King Krak and Princess Wanda. It's just over a thousand feet above sea level, and you can see the whole city from the top.

When construction first began, most of Poland was under foreign occupation and split into three territories, between Russia, Prussia and Austria. Cracow itself was a Free City, in theory an independent and neutral miniature country, though in reality it remained under the control of the three occupants and was represented by them in all foreign matters. The monument was financed and built entirely by donated money and effort of patriots from the occupied territories- you can see how symbolic the construction would have been to Poles living under foreign rule. Note that among many of Kościuszko's great deeds was the insurrection of 1794, a revolt against the Russian and Prussian occupation. It failed, but was a great and valiant movement of the people.

Soil was brought from many areas to add to the great mound, among them Polish and American battlefields where Kościuszko fought. In the picture you can see St. Bronisława's chapel, the site chosen for the mound being a hill already dedicated to her. A few decades later, the Austrians built a citadel around the mound and used it as a strategic lookout. Part of that citadel still remains and now houses a museum dedicated to Kościuszko.

76/365: Rainbow rocket

76/365: Rainbow rocket, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 17th

The Palace of Culture and Science. I also posted this on torc365.blogspot.com, a collaboration 365 with some Tolkien forum friends of mine. Below is a copy of what I wrote for that post:


The Palace of Culture and Science is the tallest building in Poland, and a controversial Warsaw landmark. It was built between 1952 and 1955, the materials and 3500-strong Soviet workforce provided as a kind gift by Joseph Stalin. In hindsight, we know the true meaning of such gestures- there are several similar skyscrapers in other Eastern countries which were under Soviet control. It's like a stamp of ownership; a brand, and hated by many since the blueprints. I've heard people call it very rude things indeed, I wouldn't dream of repeating them here.

It didn't help that in order to secure space for the construction, one of the most vibrant and quickly recovering parts of the city center was torn down anew (note: Warsaw was utterly destroyed toward the end of WW2, and that is not a hyperbole). Many surviving citizens claimed the appearance of the Palace disrupted the original flow of their city.

Today, there are still people who want the Palace destroyed. But it has been with us for so many years, and has been adapted for many useful purposes. A viewing terrace, a concert hall, a cinema, several museums, theatres, youth workshops, book fairs, the Palace has seen all of these, and though its design doesn't lend itself well to any of these events, tearing it down would be a logistic nightmare. And after fifty-six years, doesn't it deserve to be left alone?

At least we no longer call it the Palace of Joseph Stalin. His name was removed from the front entrance a long time ago.

Oh, and the rainbow hues? They are part of a new illumination system set up last Christmas. Since the Palace is in the very centre of the city, and the tallest building besides, it's often used as a canvas for art, announcements, and commemorating historical events.

More about the Palace on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Culture_and_Science,_Warsaw

and at the Official Site:

www.pkin.pl/historia

with some great archival photographs of the construction where you can see the ruins of other buildings in the background:

www.pkin.pl/historia/galeria_zdjec_historycznych

50/365: Dwarf at the Cholera Well

50/365: Dwarf at the Cholera Well, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 19th

In 1841, an epidemic of cholera broke out along the Elbe. Through some fortune, it never touched Dresden. In gratitude to God for sparing the great city, the local baron Eugen von Gutschmid commissioned a Neo-Gothic fountain of granite and sandstone. The architect of this piece was Gottfried Semper (author of the eponymous Semperoper which stands across the street). The fountain looks like a church spire, with four figures on its four sides: Wittekind ,an 8th century Saxon prince, St. Boniface , the first apostle of the Germans, John the Baptist, and St. Elisabeth of Hungary. The basins are supported by dwarves, and green lizards climb over the edges.

49/365: The Golden Rider

49/365: The Golden Rider, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 18th

Goldener Reiter, a golden statue of Augustus the Strong, a Saxon prince who was also king of Poland, and so the statue depicts him riding East. More information about this king on Wikipedia- the story is tangled (what's a Polish king doing on a pedestal in Dresden, you might wonder) and full of silliness.

For example, Augustus did not actually win the election (Poland had been electing its kings since a bout of interregnum in the late 16th century, with hilarious consequences...but that's another story) but he decided that he didn't care, and raced towards Cracow, where all Polish kings were crowned. He arrived there before the actual winner of the election, the French prince Conti, and bribed his supporters to grant him entry into the capital. But once inside, he discovered an insurmountable obstacle: the doors to the castle vault, where the royal insignia were kept, were shut, and six of the seven keys required to open them were in the hands of men who favoured Conti!

What to do? To break down the doors would be a sacrilege. So, believe it or not, a hole was knocked in the vault wall. The sacred doors remained intact, the insignia were recovered, and in 1697, Augustus the Strong was crowned King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (we were a Commonwealth back then).

Seven years later, he was dethroned by the opposition...but refused to acknowledge the fact until 1706. And in 1709, he came back again! Backed by the Tsar Peter The Great, he climbed right back up on that throne.

That's just a fraction of this guy's story.

No wonder that his son decided his shamelessly perserverent parent deserved a golden statue in his honour.

45/365: Dresden is a decent place

45/365: Dresden is a decent place, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 14th

The sign is visible from Postplatz, a good hub for tourists since it's right around the corner from the Zwinger and the Semperoper and all the monuments a serious tourist must see. I always thought it was lovely- it means 'Dresden welcomes its guests!'

But yesterday was the anniversary of the Bombing of Dresden. Although it might have been hard to feel sorry for the German city in 1945, a sober look today must admit to the destruction of a beautiful baroque landmark, the so-called Florence on the Elbe- and that is to speak only of the city, and not the estimated 25,000 people who perished in the bombing. Dresden, much like my home town Warsaw, was razed to the ground. War has its rules, but it would be callous to feel any joy at this retaliation.

And here is where it gets complicated. Every year, on the anniversary, thousands of extremists and neo-nazis arrive in Dresden to demonstrate.

Dresden counters them with just as many policemen, a fantastic anti-Nazi march...and signs like the one in the photo. The black banner is an addendum to the permanent greeting, and the full phrase now reads:

"Dresden greets its guests...but we don't welcome the Nazis!"

Dresden doesn't mince its words. I was very deeply moved, as this was not the only sign of its kind. The nearby Dresden State Theatre proclaimed: No room for Nazis in our city!

Banners were hung from civilian balconies, and a heartwarming short film was playing on the public transport advertising system, in which a group of Dresdeners of all ages stood together to (non-violently) protect a black man from an obviously racist bully.

What can I say. Dresden has class.

125/365: Dandelions in the garden of Isengard

125/365: Dandelions in the garden of Isengard, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 5th

Okay, not really- it's a monument from the seventies. This part of Poland used to lie under tzarist Russia and this field was where they buried the revolutionaries executed between 1905 and 1907 .

The monument has an interesting history. It was erected in the early 1970s to replace a different monument to the Revolutionaries dating back to 1923- that one had been destroyed by the invading Germans in 1939. Since then the pillar has been modified to replace the Soviet soldiers sculpted at its base with proletarian workers. Guns were turned into hammers, helmets into haircuts. This was meant to restore the sculpture's original meaning.

The author of the changes was the same artist who designed the monument in the first place. His original design was an arc, a rainbow- but soon after construction began the site was visited by a delegate from the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The official reviewed the plans and declared that the design must be changed.

Why?

Because "the socialist ideal ever rises, but never falls".

106/365: The insurgent

106/365: The insurgent, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 16th

Inside the Sacred Cross church, the body of Ryszard Kaczorowski, our last president in exile, waits for the funeral mass to begin. The woman standing watching is wearing an AK armband. AK stands for Armia Krajowa, the Home Army, the Polish resistance movement of WW2. This frail little old lady fought for our freedom. Her armband says 'Komenda Główna', which means Headquarters. She was an officer.