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Biecz
Biecz is a small, picturesque town situated where the Ciężkowickie Hills and Beskid Niski range meet, on a hill along with Nowy Sącz-Krosno highway.
Worth seeing:
- Baroque Reformed Franciscan monastery
- Fifteenth century buildings of the Biecz starosts located on the opposite bank of the Ropa river
- Sixteenth century town hall and its a beautiful tower, with sgraffito decorations and a cupola; its cellars used to house torture chambers and a dungeon into which prisoners were cast (keys are kept at the Gmina Office)
- Building of Becz, the legendary bandit
- Old Pharmacy on ul. Węgierska, the first in Podkarpacie
- Tower, which dates back to the fourteenth century
- Kromer building, which now houses the Regional Museum
- Late Gothic church of Corpus Christi, and in it the elaborately decorated altar in the style of the Flemish Renaissance, Baroque stalls, and interesting wall painting
- Parish museum in the Oratorium of St. Jadwiga
The legend and the history
The origins of the town's name are unclear. It has various been called Begecz, Beecz, Beich and Beyech. Some claim its name originates with the name Benedykt (Benedict), but the legend about a bandit named Becz is still alive in the popular imagination. Although Becz was sentenced to death, he showed such great remorse that his life was spared. To show his gratitude, he built the town, donating for that purpose the riches from the treasures that he had previously stolen.
Historical sources about Biecz are too scant to make any detailed portrait of its past. They do indicate, however, that in the Middle Ages and Renaissance Biecz played an important role in Małopolska, and was famous for its brewery, and trade in broadcloth and Hungarian wines. It enjoyed numerous privileges granted by successive Polish kings, to which its surviving historical buildings attest.
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Hints of Biecz's former glory can also be found in foreign documents, such as in the German language work by Braun, which was published in Cologne in 1617.
The eighteenth century proved tragic for Biecz, when it was decimated by the plague, which left only about thirty of its residents alive. This was followed by a fire. After these events the town never managed to recover its former significance. The partitions and later World War I and II were also in part to blame.
In 1939 the population of Biecz was about 4,000, of which 870 of these were Jews who were mostly involved in crafts and trade. During the Nazi occupation the town�s historical treasures were looted (including valuable volumes from the monastery library and fragments of the Gothic altar). Above all, however, it was a time of arrests, executions of both Poles and Jews, and of deportations to the camps. On 14 August 1942 the extermination of the Jewish population from Biecz and the surrounding area began - it was on this date that the Germans killed about 200 Jews. The rest were sent to camps.
Synagogue
The former synagogue, built in 1905, now houses the Gmina Office and library. The niche for the aron ha-kodesh can still be seen in one of the rooms. The old kirkut is located on ul. Tysiąclecia, and has ten and twenty gravestones and also communal graves. On 17 July 1998, a bronze plaque commemorating the tragedy of the Biecz Jews was unveiled. It was funded by the Beicher Society of New York.
Yearly cultural events: in September the Pogórze Folklore Days take place.
Important figures from Biecz: the outstanding humanist Marcin Kromer and poets Wacław Potocki, Jan Dzwonkowski and Jana Januszowicz.
You are welcome to discuss about "Biecz"
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