Stary Sacz
Encyclopedia
Stary Sącz ' - is a town in Lesser Poland Voivodeship
Lesser Poland Voivodeship
Małopolska Voivodeship , or Lesser Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, in southern Poland...

, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, seat of the municipality Stary Sącz. It's a one of the oldest towns in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, founded in 13th century.

Geography

Stary Sącz is located in bottom of the valley called Kotlina Sądecka, between two rivers - Dunajec and Poprad
Poprad
Poprad is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the tenth largest city in Slovakia with a population of approximately 55,000.The Poprad-Tatry Airport is...

, at a heigh of 320m (1,050 ft).

History

The history of the town dates back to the early Middle Ages when Duchess Kinga (Kinga of Poland
Kinga of Poland
Saint Kinga of Poland is a saint in the Catholic Church and patroness of Poland and Lithuania....

) the daughter of the King Béla IV of Hungary
Béla IV of Hungary
Béla IV , King of Hungary and of Croatia , duke of Styria 1254–58. One of the most famous kings of Hungary, he distinguished himself through his policy of strengthening of the royal power following the example of his grandfather Bela III, and by the rebuilding Hungary after the catastrophe of the...

 and the wife of King Bolesław V the Chaste, received the land called Sącz, together with surrounding villages, from her husband in the year 1257. It is assumed to be the date of the town foundation. Indeed, the Duchess must have loved the mountains very much, since she founded a Convent of the Poor Clares there in 1280 and she became its duchess herself. Almost at the same time, on the opposite slope of the Sącz hill, the seat of a Franciscan order was established also by Duchess Kinga. In the year 1358 the town received a privilege of the Magdeburg law, confirmed by King Kazimierz the Great. An extremely advantageous location, on a very busy trade route to Hungary, fostered the town’s rapid development. However the town was often damaged by disasters, of which fires were the most harmful. The town also did not manage to escape floods, plagues and wars. During the biggest fire, in 1795, almost all the town has burned down.

Tourism, recreation and sport

Visitors in Stary Sącz are provided not only with the town’s rich history, unique medieval architecture and many monuments of ecclesiastical buildings. At the fork of the rivers Dunajec and Poprad
Poprad
Poprad is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the tenth largest city in Slovakia with a population of approximately 55,000.The Poprad-Tatry Airport is...

 spreads a recreation area with a few pond. (Their overall surface is 14 ha). These ponds contain plenty of fish. There are carp, trout and sanders among them. There are even rainbow trout in a special fishery. These fish attract many anglers.
Miejska Góra (The town’s Mountain) encourages hiking and cycling in beautiful wildlife surroundings.
Stary Sącz, situated in the lag of the Poprad Landscape Park
Poprad Landscape Park
Poprad Landscape Park is a protected area in southern Poland.The Park lies within Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in the part of the Beskid mountain range south of Nowy Sącz, in the basin of the Poprad river. It borders Slovakia....

 is also the seat of the Park Service. One of Poland’s biggest landscape parks stretches all over the range of the mountains Radziejowa and Jaworzyna in the Beskid Sądecki region.
There are many trails waiting for keen hikers. Some of them start in Stary Sącz. The most attractive are:

- The Yellow Route – from the railway station in Stary Sącz via Moszczenica, Przysietnica into the Radziejowa range, where, on the Przehyba summit (1175 m), it joins The Red Route heading towards Krościenko.

- The Blue Route – begins at the railway station in Barcice and via Wola Krogulecka climbs the Makowica summit (948 m).

A very popular bike route goes from Stary Sącz to the Przehyba summit via Gołkowice and Skrudzina.


Stary Sącz is a place for many sporting events. Some of the most well attended are:


- The Polish Volleyball Championship of Forest-Schools with competitors from Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 and Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

 

- The Open Mountain Cycling Youth Competition

- The International Motorbike Rally

- The Mayor’s Cup Street Race

- The All-Polish Ecological Rally

- The New Year’s Eve Race from Stary Sącz to Nowy Sącz
Nowy Sacz
Nowy Sącz is a town in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County, but is not included within the powiat.-Names:...




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