Świętokrzyskie

Świętokrzyskie, województwo (province), southern Poland. It is bordered by 6 of the 16 provinces: Mazowieckie to the north, Lubelskie to the east, Podkarpackie to the southeast, Małopolskie to the south, Śląskie to the southwest, and Łódzkie to the northwest. Created in 1999 to replace the former provinces (1975–98) of Kielce and Tarnobrzeg, it also includes portions of the former provinces of Częstochowa, Piotrków, and Radom. The provincial capital is Kielce. Area 4,521 square miles (11,711 square km). Pop. (2011) 1,280,727.

Geography

Świętokrzyskie is located within the Małopolska Upland, a region with a greatly varied landscape that includes the Przedborska Upland, the Kielecka Upland (containing the Świętokrzyskie Mountains), and the Nida Trough. The main rivers are the Vistula (Wisła), Pilica, Kamienna, Nida, and Czarna. Forests cover one-fourth of the province. Summers are warm and winters cool, with a more severe climate prevailing in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. Average annual precipitation is 22–26 inches (550–650 mm). Almost half of the population lives in cities, of which the largest are Kielce, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Starachowice, and Skarżysko-Kamienna.

Świętokrzyskie is one of Poland’s least economically developed provinces. Almost two-thirds of the province is agricultural and used for growing cereals, potatoes, fodder, vegetables, and fruit. Cattle breeding, pig raising, chicken farming, and horse breeding are also important. The region abounds in mineral resources, which occur mainly in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains and include limestone, gypsum, quartzite, sandstone, dolomite, marble, clay, sand, and sulfur. Prominent local industries include metalworking, automobile manufacturing, glass and ceramics manufacturing, food processing, building-materials manufacturing, and power production. Main roads link Kielce with Kraków, Warsaw, Piotrków, and Lublin, and a river port on the Vistula operates in Sandomierz.

The Świętokrzyskie Mountains, the oldest range in Poland, are a primary tourist attraction. The central (and tallest) part of the range is within the boundaries of the Świętokrzyski National Park. The Jaskinia Raj, or Paradise Cave, near Chęciny, contains evidence of human occupation dating back some 50,000 years. The mineral springs at the spa at Busko-Zdrój are popular with tourists and locals. The chancel of the Gothic cathedral at Sandomierz contains Ruthenian-Byzantine frescoes (painted in the 1420s); the Cistercian abbey in Wąchock has well-preserved Romanesque interiors; and the Palace of Krakow Bishops in Kielce features Baroque architecture. A number of famous Polish writers are associated with the region, such as Mikołaj Rej, who was born in Nagłowice during the Renaissance, and Nobel Prize winner Henryk Sienkiewicz, the author of Quo Vadis? (1896). Sienkiewicz’s manor house in Oblęgórek is now the Henryk Sienkiewicz Museum. Other noteworthy museums include the Museum of Ancient Metallurgy in Nowa Słupia and the Clock Museum in Jędrzejów, with a collection of some 300 sundials.

History

The Świętokrzyskie region is the cradle of Polish industry. As early as the Neolithic Period (New Stone Age) a flint mine operated in what is today Krzemionki Opatowskie. During the 2nd century bce an iron-mining and smelting industry developed near modern-day Nowa Słupia. The area was incorporated into the Polish state by Prince Mieszko I in 990. The major towns of the region were then Sandomierz and Wiślica. In the 12th century the duchy of Sandomierz emerged. During the 13th century it united with the duchy of Kraków. Its location at the junction of important trade routes was conducive to the development of handicrafts and commerce. Lead, silver, copper, and iron mines were established in the foothills of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, along with a smelting industry. In the 17th century blast furnaces were operating in Samsonów and Bobrza.

The wars fought by the Polish Commonwealth in the 17th century brought much destruction to the region. In 1795, following the last of the Partitions of Poland, the area was incorporated into the Austrian empire, and at the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) it was annexed to the Congress Kingdom of Poland, a Russian dependency. In the early 1800s the metal and smelting industry expanded quickly, accompanied by the rapid growth of towns and cities. In 1918 Kielce province was created, and in the interwar period the building of the Central Industrial District (including munitions works) began. During World War II numerous Jewish ghettos and labour camps were established in the area. In 1945 and again in 1950 there were mass migrations from overpopulated rural areas to Silesia (Śląsk) and to the western territories gained from Germany.