Underground tour of Jarosław - journey in time

Four hundred years ago Jarosław was one of the most important towns along the trading routes. In the 16th and 17th centuries it hosted fairs famous throughout Europe, and second only to those held in Frankfurt am Main. On those occasions Jarosław, with its population of 3,000 was visited by nearly 30,000 guests. The relics of the golden age in the town’s history include the underground cellars and passages – in the past merchants used to store their goods there, and today this is a major tourist attraction.

In fact, you can take two tours underground, both starting at the Town Square in Jarosław. The Underground Tourist Passage, with multimedia attractions, leads below the houses No. 4, 5 and 6 at the Town Square; these were once owned by the renowned merchant families of Orsetti, Attavanti and Gruszewicz. On the other hand, Professor Zalewski Underground Tourist Route is located below the house No. 14 at the Town Square, which was built in the 1600s by Wojciech Rydzik and because of that it is called Rydzik Tenement House. It is a good idea to visit these landmarks to get an insight into the genius loci of Jarosław.

The entrance to the Underground Tourist Passage is located next to the Tourist and Cultural Information Centre. The 200-metre long tour leads through eleven rooms, each telling its own story related to the town and its inhabitants.

Here you will learn that twenty two craft guilds once existed in Jarosław. The oldest professions were those connected with clay processing. Old kitchen equipment on display includes a clay frying pan with a cool handle – a marvel of design from 300 years ago, certainly not the only one here. The local townspeople grew rich owing to the fairs, so their houses and larders were well stocked. The goods that found their way to the townspeople’s tables included fish from Gdańsk, oranges, and even saffron, which was as expensive as gold.

How did it happen that Jarosław, located amidst lakes and marshes, and plagued by Tartar incursions, became a town of great fairs? Trading routes crossed here and there was a river port on the San so goods could be shipped from Jarosław to the Baltic Sea. However, royal privileges were a decisive factor. It was as early as the 15th century that King Władysław III granted staple rights to Jarosław and designated the town to hold the main customs chamber of the state. A merchant who evaded it could lose his goods. As a result the town grew to be a great trade centre, where the most exotic products could be purchased and international contracts were concluded.

The largest fairs were held in August. Up to 20,000 horses and 40,000 oxen were brought to the fair near the city walls. The animals were then walked to Wrocław and further on to Saxony to the port of Hamburg. The colourful maps and charts along the underground tourist route show in what way the distant places throughout the world were linked via the trade routes. East and West met here. Merchants came from all over Europe, Asia, the Middle East and even Africa. Many stayed here, as a result of which Jarosław became a multicultural city. The relics of this fact include the Armenian ornaments on the buildings, and the architecture of the Italian houses of the Orsetti and Attavanti families in the Town Square. During the tour you can hear the fascinating tales about the merchants and fairs. You can also watch a film about the city's history going back to the 11th century, and find out about the tragic wartime episodes which took place here.

Along the route, there are many interactive games and tasks that are attractive for visitors of all ages. In the virtual world, you can build a potter's wheel, dress up as a merchant, travel in a boat from Jarosław to Gdańsk and even get a selfie with a bear. You do not need any magical device, all you have to do is walk down one short underground corridor in order to take a leap thousands of years back in time to see mammoth bones; many of these have been discovered on the banks of the San - even a fragment of a mammoth tusk.

According to a local legend, a labyrinth of underground corridors spreads beneath the whole town. It is certain that there was no house in the Old Town without cellars. In the distant past, however, the cellars of the neighbouring houses were not connected, as it would have been difficult to guard against theft. Much later, in the 20th century this large underground structure brought a great risk of disaster. During the interwar period it was reported that cracks had appeared in some houses. After World War II, the underground passages began to collapse and the town was facing the greatest catastrophic failure in the history of Poland. A group of scientists from AGH University in Kraków, supervised by Professor Feliks Zalewski, came to the rescue in 1954. They investigated the condition of the underground system and decided that it had to be repaired using mining methods. For the first time in history, miners were employed to save the city's Old Town.

Professor Zalewski, fascinated with the merchant's storerooms, recognised their tourist potential from the start and made sure that particularly interesting passageways and chambers were reconstructed. These were the beginnings of the Underground Tourist Route located beneath the Rydzik Tenement House; today, bearing the name of the Professor, it still retains its historical layout of the original brick structures. In fact you can even spot workers’ fingerprints on the old bricks as they were made by hand.

The route is 150 metres long and goes down almost 9 metres. The lowest, third level used to hold the icehouses, where the temperature even in summer stayed at 8° Celsius. Because of this you should have some warm clothing with you when you set off to explore. Many visitors will still shiver seeing the town’s pillory and hearing stories about the executioners. It was a profession valued by the city's rulers, but it was also cursed. So much that some women sentenced to death would not accept the executioner's proposal for marriage, even if this was the only way to save their lives. No such choice was given to the female character in Krzysztof Zanussi's film Ether which depicted completely different times. Some scenes in this movie were shot in the beautiful courtyard of the Rydzik Tenement House close to the entrance into the underground route. This story is another reason to visit Jarosław.

Tourist and Cultural Information Centre in Jarosław

Tel.  +48 16 624 89 89

e-mail: podziemia@ckip.jaroslaw.pl