Kielce my town and its history

Kielce is the capital of Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holly Cross Mountains). The city of Kielce is located at the heart of świętokrzyski region and at the river Silnica. It has 220,000 inhabitants. Kielce has appeared in cronicles as a town since 1364 and its fast development has been connected with mining and steel industry. It is the industrial center with very long traditions. In this region there are a lot of natural resources. The old tradition of this beautiful capital city makes Kielce the center of culture, sport, education and administration. A very interesting place to see among the caves, which the region of the Holy Cross abounds with, is the Cave of Paradise near Chęciny, with beautifully maintained colored dripstone vestment in Devonian limestone. Animal remains from the Pleistocene era and remnants of man were found here. In Kielce there are a lot of interesting things to see. Established in the 30s of the 19th century is a beautiful palace of Tomasz Zieliński. (Tomasz Zieliński was a collectioner and patron of art) This days the ’Zieliński’s Palace’ is a place where people connected with art meet. The wall separating the public park from the palace is ornamented by ‘Plotkarka’ (in English: Gossiper). Plotkarka is a small tower. There are a lot of galleries in my town. Some of them are in Sienkiewicza Street, but the most popular is BWA in Leśna Street. You can find there paintings by Jacek Nowakowski and a lot of sculptures by Sławomir Micek. In Kielce you can find a lot of good schools, for example: Kielce University of Technology .There is great National Museum in Kielce which is called The Bishops’ Palace. The palace of the Cracow bishops in Kielce, the most valuable preserved Magnate residence from the Waza epoch, was erected between 1637 – 1641from the initiative of bishop Jakub Zadzik in place of the former residence. You can find there a lot of interesting paintings, photos, furniture and some medals as well. There is one room in this palace where you can find everything about Józef Piłsudski. Piłsudski was a very important person in the history of Kielce. In Bishops’ Palace there is one really interesting painting entitled ‘Wjazd strzelców do Kielc’. In this picture you can see Piłsudski on his favourite mare called Kasztanka (In English: Chestnut), and some other soldiers. The people living in Kielce were so grateful to Józef Piłsudski for all he did for his country that they built a monument for him. Another interesting person in the history of Kielce is Stefan Żeromski. He was a very famous writer in Poland and other countries as well. He wrote: ’Syzyfowe prace’ and ‘Przedwiośnie’ which was his most popular book. He spent his early childhood in Ciekoty – small and beautiful village 15 kilometers from the center of Kielce. In the history of my town there are more interesting people like Mikołaj Rej (a famous writer) who lived in Nagłowice. Around1800, the Walewski family, the then owners of Nagłowice, built on the site of the former manor house a classical residence. Another famous writer was Henryk Sienkiewicz. In 1900 the social committee to celebrate twenty-five years of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s literary output bought for the writer an estate in Oblęgorek with a hunting lodge from about 1800. Sienkiewicz wrote a story entitled ‘Quo Vadis’

(‘Where are you going’) telling us about antique Rome. In 1905 he got a Nobel Prize for his great novel.
In Kielce there are a lot of business centers, good hotels and restaurants. There are of course some other things we can be proud of. Cersanit – Nomi is the most successful basketball team in Poland. Last year they entered the basketball’s first league and this year at the end of the Play – offs they are on the 4th place. The second important Sport – Club in Kielce is a handball team – Iskra. Iskra has won the Polish Championships a few times. There are some pop and hip-hop groups and singers who come from Kielce. The most popular pop group is M.A.F.I.A. with its vocal – Andrzej ‘Piasek’ Piaseczny. But what everybody knows Kielce is a cradle of Polish Rap and Hip – hop music. The most famous Hip - hop group is: ‘Wzgórze Ya –Pa – 3’.Their best album is: ‘Ja mam to co Ty…’(‘I have got what you have…’). ‘Liroy’ (Piotr Marzec) started his career in Kielce too. In 1990s he was the most successful Rap singer, but today he is not so popular. I think that Kielce is a good place for people who want to develop their talents. In Kielce there are a lot of places of artists’ meetings, like WDK, MDK and ‘Zameczek’ (In English: Castle). The KCK ( Kielce Culture Center) is one of the most modern cultural and entertainment complexes in the country, with a revolving stage, two concert halls and exhibition rooms.

I am proud of my town its history, people and wonderful places around Kielce. In Kielce there are a lot of interesting places to go, there are two public parks and a lot of trees. I think that Kielce is much more beautiful city than Warsaw, because Kielce is cleaner, not so crowded and what is more important – Kielce is my hometown.


Glossary:
Among- wśród, między
Abound- obfitować
Maintain- utrzymywać np. : stosunki
Dripstone- skała okapowa, naciekowa
Vestment- szata (dosł : liturgiczna)
Limestone- wapień
Remains- pozostałości, szczątki
Pleistocene- plejstoceński
Remnants- ślady
Natural resources- bogactwa naturalne
Industrial- przemysłowy
Holy Cross- Święty Krzyż
Establisched- założony
Collectioner and patron of art.- kolekcjoner i mecenas sztuki
Social- społeczny
Celebrate- celebrować, świętować
Output- twórczość
Estate- majatek
Hunting lodge- domek mysliwski
Circular- okrągły
Then-tu: ówcześni
Manor house- majątek dworski
Preserved- zachowana
Epoch- epoka, era, wiek
Erected- postawiony
Former- poprzedni
Entertainment- rozrywka, widowisko
Revolving stage- obrotowa scena
Cradle- kolebka
Mining- górniczy
Steel- hutniczy
Inhabitants- mieszkańcy
Cronicles- kroniki

Based on:
‘The Świętokrzyskie voivodeship on the verge of the third millennium’