In the summer, at the colourful Rzeszów Town Square, the outdoor cafes and restaurants are filled with the sound of laughter and voices. In winter, the chatter of those looking for gifts surrounds the stalls of the Christmas Fair. Students meet here, tourists sample local specialities, and business travellers relax with a glass of wine. But, you may want to learn more about the capital of the Podkarpackie region. Rzeszów is a friendly place and a compact city. It takes just a few minutes to walk from the Town Square to the river bank, or you can set off for a tour of the five most beautiful places, all located nearby.
1. Town Square with the Town Hall
The central square of the Old Town, with the impressive neo-Renaissance Town Hall, is one of those places you have to visit in Rzeszów to feel the atmosphere of the city, which is happy to welcome all those who come here from afar. A long time ago this was a busy market square where peasants from the nearby villages would come to sell their produce. The Polish language could be heard side by side with Yiddish used by the Jews who made a large part of the town's population. Around the market square there were shops and storerooms, and today each of the old tenement houses can tell its own story. One building (at Rynek 15) is called Esterka's House, like many other places in Poland referring to a legend about the love of King Casimir the Great for a beautiful Jewish girl. The history of many other buildings is more closely linked with real events. For instance the house at Rynek 25 used to hold the Hirsch Distillery which produced delicious liqueurs, while the magnificent edifice at the corner of Słowackiego and Kościuszki Streets, known as Luftmaszyna, in the mid-19th century held a hotel with a ballroom. It was here that in 1846 a group of conspirators was to meet at a ball in order to plan an uprising in Rzeszów. One of them was the young Ignacy Łukasiewicz, who later invented the kerosene lamp. Sixty years later, Fred Zinnemann, director of the best known western film High Noon, was born in the house nearby, at Rynek 3.
2. Rzeszów Cellars
If a person living in Rzeszów meets with you near the well at the Town Square, as they often do because it is a distinctive spot, don't forget to look deep down into the well. You will see a faint silhouette of a giant toad. A legend has it that the name of Rzeszów is related to a toad breeding site where a mighty lord once ventured in order to rescue a princess. You can see the toad up close if you go down to the Rzeszów Cellars. The underground structures extend under the townhouses and below the square. Centuries ago they were used by merchants for the storage of goods, and today there is a tourist route with lots of fascinating surprises. Along with your friends or family you can play a team game, where you compete to get points for completing tasks waiting along the route. The multimedia will take you back in time to the 14th century and you will meet Jan Pakosławic, an able diplomat who was awarded by the King for his faithful service and received the settlement of Rzeszów, this way beginning its new history.
3. Third May Street
In Rzeszów, everyone must take a walk along the famous Paniaga (3 Maja Street). You cannot see this name on the buildings, but it is commonly used by local people with reference to this lovely street. Once a year, a big Paniaga Festival is held there. In Lviv dialect the word paniaga means “master”, and in the past the street was in fact called Pańska (Master’s), and there was a reason for that. On Sundays, the owners of Rzeszów, the Lubomirski family, could be seen here as they were going to church, while dressed-up townspeople were strolling down the street. Jakob Laub, the future physicist and Einstein's first co-worker, used to walk this way for his classes. Much later, the Gymnasium located here in the building of the former Piarist college was attended by Kazimierz Dejmek and Józef Szajna, both renowned theatre directors. Ignacy Łukasiewicz had also attended the Gymnasium, and even worked in a pharmacy opposite. The latter is no longer here, but the Piarist church and monastery are invariably the most amazing landmarks on 3 Maja Street. Certainly, there is more. At one end of this pedestrian street you can see the slender bell tower of the Town Parish church, and at the other end, on the corner, there is the magnificent Art Nouveau house designed by the renowned local architect Mateusz Tadeusz Tekielski. According to the inscription on the cartouche he built it ‘Sibi et posteritati’, ‘For myself and for future generations’.
4. Art Nouveau villas at Pod Kasztanami Avenue
You can admire other brilliant works of M.T. Tekielski when you stroll along the most romantic street in Rzeszów. It leads along the moat of the Castle, through an area formerly comprised in the large garden of the Lubomirski family. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, picturesque villas of wealthy townspeople were built here, two of these were designed by Tekielski, including the villa Pod Sową, where he lived. It looks like a small castle with a turret, loggia, carved balustrade and a stained-glass window, as well as a sundial on the facade. In fact, it seems as if time has stopped in the avenue. Dressed in autumn leaves, in drops of rain, or specks of sunshine or snowflakes, by day or in the light of lanterns – it invariably impresses visitors with its beauty.
Summer Palace of the Lubomirski family
As you get to the end of Pod Kasztanami Avenue, you reach one of the most beautiful landmarks of Rzeszów. The Summer Palace is a part of the estate of the Lubomirski family which also included the castle standing nearby and the gardens that no longer exist. This gem of Baroque architecture was designed in the late 17th century by the royal architect Tylman von Gameren, who at that time rebuilt the Piarist monastery on 3 Maja Street. He was the architect of Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki and King John III Sobieski. The Krasiński Palace and the Pac Palace, both in Warsaw, were built according to his design. The Lubomirski family also hired him to expand their Rzeszów castle. It was he who added the defensive walls that withstood the assault of the Tatars and Cossacks. He also designed the palace located at the site of the vineyard started by Spytek Ligęza, the predecessor of the Lubomirski family who first chose this site for a defensive stronghold. Later Hieronim Augustyn Lubomirski wanted to make the palace even more beautiful, for his young wife. His wish was fulfilled by the architect Karol Wiedemann, who added Rococo features to the original structure and designed magnificent gardens with an orangery, a menagerie and a Chinese pagoda. Ultimately, the Lubomirski family sold both the castle and the palace. The former has served as a courthouse since the time this part of Poland was in the Austrian Empire. Until 1981 it also held a prison, which is associated with very tragic stories from WWII and from the communist times. The summer palace, on the other hand, was a property of various private owners. This was also the birthplace of Jerzy Grotowski, a renowned theatre director. Before WWII the building was used as the headquarters of the 10th Cavalry Brigade under Colonel Stanisław Maczek. Today, the edifice houses the Regional Medical Chamber. The garden, with interesting exhibitions and a view of the multimedia fountain, is open to visitors. This is a good place to listen to music, watch images on water and this way end an evening stroll through Rzeszów.