Pińczów - Wiślica Rynek

The blue Pińczów - Wiślica hiking trail is one of the oldest marked tourist trails in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. It is named after Wacław Żelichowski, a regionalist, PTTK activist, and a great patriot who sought to commemorate the Battle of Grochowiska in 1863.

The trail connects two historic urban centers: Pińczów and Wiślica, located in the land called Ponidzie, located in the Nidzia Basin, rich in gypsum deposits and sources of sulphate-salt mineral waters.

Ponidzie is considered one of the most picturesque areas not only in the region, but also in Poland. This area is covered with numerous loess gorges, plains and hills covered with steppe vegetation, among which the Nida River winds lazily. Tourists are also delighted by numerous monuments, nature reserves, roadside shrines, shrines and crosses, as well as mosaics of arable fields stretching to the horizon, which change their colors at different times of the year.

Therefore, no one will be surprised to learn that there are as many as 3 Landscape Parks in such a small area.

The trail begins in Pińczów, a town with centuries of history. This is confirmed by numerous very valuable architectural monuments, including the Pauline and Reformed monastery complexes, the Renaissance chapel of St. Anna, the Arian printing house, the palace of the Margraves of Wielopolska and a very well-preserved synagogue. The city has witnessed many important events in the past. In the years 1558–63 in Pińczów, the entire Bible was translated into Polish, and on April 13, 1559, during the convened synod, one of Kochanowski's most famous works was read - the song What do you want from us, Lord... .

Behind the Regional Museum, the trail climbs a sharp ascent to Mount St. Anna, from which there is a beautiful panorama of Pińczów and its surroundings with the Nida River winding in the distance. The decoration of this place is a chapel built in 1600 according to the design of the Italian sculptor Santi Gucci.

The further section of the trail initially leads through a hill called Garb Pińczowski, which over time turns into a dense forest complex. The trail to the outskirts of Busko-Zdrój runs along forest roads and paths, passing numerous natural attractions along the way. The "Pieczyska" nature reserve was established in 1999 in order to preserve multi-species peat and swamp communities with numerous species of rare and legally protected plants, e.g. daphne and European globeflower. In the Wine Forest near Busko-Zdrój you can admire the so-called natural monument. A pine tree on stilts in Wełecz. It is a hundred-year-old Scots pine with a ground root system. The tree is located at the National Memorial Site - over 200 Poles were shot here during World War II.

On the way to Wełecz, the trail passes the town of Grochowiska, near which one of the bloodiest battles of the January Uprising took place on March 18, 1863. In the battle, a 3,000-strong insurgent unit commanded by the dictator of the uprising, General Marian Langiewicz, clashed with a 5,000-strong corps of regular Russian infantry. During the fighting, the "Zouaves of Death" unit led by François Rochebrun carried out a daring attack on Russian artillery and captured enemy cannons. The site of the battle is commemorated by a stone cross and a monument erected by PTTK activists from Busko-Zdrój and Pińczów in 1963 on the 100th anniversary of the war events described above.

Over time, the trail reaches Busko-Zdrój, which is famous throughout Poland for its healing sulfur waters. You can benefit from the benefits of healing waters in numerous sanatoriums and health resorts located around the Spa Park. The brine graduation tower commissioned in 2020 is particularly impressive. It has the shape of a circle with a diameter of approximately 72 m and a circumference of approximately 226 m, and the walls are nearly 10 m high. The graduation tower consists of two blackthorn rings, which are separated by maze-like passages. To reach this impressive facility, however, you need to deviate slightly from the trail, as the route does not pass directly through the Spa Park. While walking through the park, it is worth seeing the Marconi Sanatorium, which is the building of the former "Bathrooms", designed by the Italian architect Henryk Marconi and commissioned in 1836. The building has a T-shaped plan and is modeled on Roman public buildings. In the main hall with impressive Corinthian-style columns there is a pump room for iodine-bromide and sulphide waters.

Another noteworthy monument in Busko-Zdrój is the wooden church of St. Saint Leonard. This beautiful larch cemetery temple with a log structure was built in 1699 on the site of a previously existing 12th-century church.

The trail from Busko-Zdrój to Wiślica leads mostly along local asphalt roads with little traffic. The trail is rich not only in beautiful views of the surrounding fields and hills, but also in monuments of sacred architecture and natural objects.

In the town of Chotelek, located 4.5 km from Busko-Zdrój, the only 16th-century wooden religious building in the Kielce region has been preserved. The ceiling decorated with Renaissance polychrome from the first half of the 16th century and the late Gothic furnishings of the temple are particularly impressive.

In the small village of Chotel Czerwony, on a hill, you can see from many kilometers away the red roofs of the beautiful Gothic church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle. It was built in the years 1440-50, and according to architecture researchers, the church is a miniature of the Wiślica collegiate church. The shape of the temple and its interior have been preserved practically intact, so you can admire rare monuments here. In the main altar there is a late Gothic crucifix from the 15th century. On the hillside there is a geological outcrop showing gypsum crystals forming the so-called dovetails.

In Gorysławice there is a church from 1535, built in the late Gothic and Renaissance style. Fragments of late-Gothic polychrome from the beginning of the 16th century have been preserved in the church, depicting, among others, Saint Christopher. The rood beam consists of late Gothic figures (from the beginning of the 16th century) - the Virgin Mary and Saint. John the Evangelist. On July 17, 1966, the coronation of the famous statue of the Madonna of the Elbow-high took place here. The coronation was performed by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and Archbishop Karol Wojtyła, as indicated on a plaque funded in 2018 by the residents of Wiślica.

The real pearl on the trail is Wiślica. This historic town has preserved many wonderful monuments. While there, it is worth seeing: the Gothic Minor Basilica of St. The Blessed Virgin Mary from the 14th century (underground of the basilica with the remains of two Romanesque churches from the 12th and 13th centuries, with the unique Orant Plate from the 12th century, i.e. the plaster floor of the burial crypt, considered one of the greatest monuments of Romanesque art in Poland), the bell tower of the Jan Długosz foundation from the 15th century century, the Długosz House from the 15th century, an archaeological pavilion with the remains of a 10th-century church and the so-called a baptismal bowl from 880 and an early medieval stronghold from the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries. The complex of monuments in the city is managed by the Branch of the National Museum in Kielce.

There are also nature reserves on the section from Busko-Zdrój to Wiślica. The first of them, "Przęślin", was established in 1960 to protect steppe vegetation. On the southwestern slope, large outcrops of gypsum crystals are exposed, the crystals of which take the form of the so-called "dovetails". The second reserve, "Skorocice", was created in 1960 to protect the valley formed in gypsum as a result of karst processes and to protect steppe vegetation and sites of rare steppe fauna. It includes a unique karst valley in Poland, 750 m long and up to 80 m wide, cut into the gypsum rocks to a depth of several meters.

In another reserve, called "Winiary Zagojskie", a large number of xerothermic plant species are protected, many of which are rare and threatened with extinction, many of them are located at the northern end of their range.

The trail starts in Pińczów next to the Regional Museum and ends at the Market Square in Wiślica next to the bus stop. The beginning and end of the trail are marked in accordance with the PTTK Tourist Trail Marking Instructions, i.e. a white dot with a circle whose color corresponds to the color of the trail (blue).

Mileage according to the most important towns and points on the trail

Regional Museum and Tourist Information Center in Pińczów – Chapel of St. Anny 0.5 km - "Pieczyska" Reserve 6 km - Monument in Grochowiska 10.6 km - Sosna Nature Monument in Wełecz 14.7 km - Minibus station in Busko-Zdrój 19.8 km - Church of St. Saint Leonard in Busko Zdrój 20.3 km – Church of St. Saint Stanisław in Chotelek Zielony 24.4 km - "Skorocice" Reserve 28.2 km - Bus stop in Chochle 32.7 km - Church of St. Saint Bartłomiej in Chotel Czerwony 35.2 km – church. Saint Wawrzyńca in Gorysławice 39.3 – Collegiate Church in Wiślica, bus stop in Wiślica 40 km

Trail manager

Oddział PTTK w Busku-Zdroju

ul. Wojska Polskiego 30

28-100 Busko-Zdrój    

www.busko.pttk.pl

pttkbusko@gmail.com

Labeling status

Good/Satisfactory*.

The trail markings on the Pińczów - Busko-Zdrój section should be considered good, while on the Busko-Zdrój - Wiślica section, the markings are sufficient.

The embankment under provincial road No. 766 makes it impossible to cross the road in this place.

After the village of Grochowiska, the trail turns right and leads along the railway line. Over time, the road becomes impossible to pass due to high bushes.

The trail in the forest near the village of Grochowiska turns left. Unfortunately, the road along which the trail leads is very overgrown. Additionally, the local forest district has fenced the area for new plantings, which makes it impossible to complete this section of the trail.

The trail reaches Busko-Zdrój through Zielona Street, which intersects with the city bypass along national road No. 973. There is no pedestrian crossing in this place. Due to the increased car traffic, crossing the road is very dangerous. The trail should be led to the nearest pedestrian crossing.

On the section between the town of Chotelek and the "Skorocice" reserve, the trail runs along field roads running among meadows. Due to the lack of places to place signs (trees, power poles), there is no marking on this section.

There are no trail markings between the towns of Chochół and Aleksandrów. Most likely, the signs were removed when the power poles were replaced.

Behind the village of Chochół, from the turn-off to the village of Aleksandrów, the trail leads for approximately 250 m along a busy provincial road without a shoulder.

About 2 km from the church in Chotel Czerwony, the trail crosses the Maskalis River. Unfortunately, crossing the river is impossible due to the lack of a footbridge. Additionally, access to the river is unmarked and the trail passes through private property. On the trail, it was proposed to go around the nearest bridge in Chotel Czerwony.

There are no trail signs between the cemetery in Gorysławice and the church in Chotel Czerwony.

Legend:

• very good signage (marking complete, in good technical condition, enabling the entire route to be traversed without a map),
• good signage (marking is mostly complete, in good technical condition, minor marking deficiencies, use of the map only in unmarked and questionable places),
• sufficient markings (lack of markings on longer sections, many unmarked intersections, the use of a map is required to follow the trail),
• poor marking (marking very sporadic, at large distances, in poor condition),
• bad markings (single markings on the trail, practically no markings).

*As of: January 1, 2022