Siemiechów, Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Infobox Settlement
name = Siemiechów


imagesize = 250px
image_caption = View of village centre and the church
image_shield =
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Lesser Poland
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Tarnów County
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Gromnik
leader_title = Village Leader (Sołtys)
leader_name = Zbigniew Damian
established_title3 = Village rights
established_date3 = September 29, 1326
population_as_of = 2003
population_total = 1873
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 49 | latm = 51 | lats = 0 | latNS = N | longd = 20 | longm = 55 | longs = 0 | longEW = E
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 33-181
area_code = +48 014
blank_name = Car plates
blank_info = KT
website = http://www.geocities.com/ejmarkow/siemiechow

Siemiechów IPA-pl| [|ś|e|'|m|j|e|h|u|f|] (population: 1,873 as of 2003), is a village located in the low Carpathian mountains of South-Eastern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

Siemiechów, or Siemichów, a village in the Wielicki Highlands situated between the Wału (526 m) and the Suchy (370 meters) mountain ranges, in the district Tarnowski, by the stream Brzozowski (left tributary of the river Dunajec) and along the main road from Zakliczyn to Gromnik (by the river Biała, 5 klm.), its elevation is from 245 to 260 meters above sea level, consisting of its own villages and hamlets: Góry Wielkie, Góry Małe, Łęk, Moszczenice and Wiesiołka. Similarly, the area of greater property shares three segments: Siemiechów, Leśniczówkę and Dybówkę. The entire settlement (in the year 1890) numbers 247 homes (11 in the area of greater property) and 1595 residents (769 males, 826 females); 1547 Roman Catholics and 48 Jews. The area of greater property consists of 579 morgs of fields, 6 morgs of meadows, 14 morgs of pastures and 511 morgs of forest; the area of lesser property consists of 1687 morgs of fields, 132 morgs of meadows, 310 morgs of pastures and 307 morgs of forest. The village is in a beautiful location and there are many possibilities for excursion activities in the Siemiechów area, which is known for tourism and relaxation.

The Tatars, on their way to Tuchów (22 kilometers North-East of Siemiechów) during the Tatar invasion of the year 1241, murdered 7 monks ("siedem mnichów") among other people and from this was the origin of the name "Siedmichów", later changed to "Siemiechów". The village was officially established on September 29, 1326 by King Władysław Łokietek "na surowym korzeniu" ("from fresh roots" or "from the ground up") under German law and equally began to form a parish on "dwoma łanami ziemi" ("2 łanow of land).

In the village is a wooden parish church and public school. The first mention of the existence of a parish was in the year 1349. The school was established before the year 1596. The sacred Gothic wooden church, "Matki Boskiej Gromnicznej" ("The Virgin Mary of Candles") was built before the year 1470. It was rebuilt in the year 1585 from contributions donated by 'Jan of Mstowa'. The church is of hand-made construction, contains one nave, and in a closed trilateral presbytery. Adjacent to it on the southern side is the Late Baroque brick chapel, square with rounded angles, the interior set with a flat ceiling, on the entrance is a gothic carpenter's portal in "oślimi grzbietami" (curved arch style), and was built in the year 1800. Inside the church, most of the furnishings came from the 15th - 17th century period, which includes: a statue of the 'Virgin Mary' from the year 1480, a stone font containing the coat of arms of Pilawa and Gierałt from the 15th century, a 15th century crucifix, two monumental bells from the 16th century built in the workshop of Szymon Haubicz in Brno, and old fixtures and locks. The interior polychrome walls of the 16th/17th century, were painted by Łukasz Wadowski in the year 1643, and in the year 1726, the furnishings of the 16th - 18th centuries. The Church later underwent prime restoration in the years 1955 - 1956. In the years 1929 - 1953, a new brick parish church, "Ofiarowania Wszystkich Świętych i Wniebowstąpienia Pana Jezusa" ("Offering in the Temple and Ascension of Our Lord Jesus"), was constructed in the Neorenaissance style. In the war cemetery stands a brick chapel which was built in the year 1915. The parish belongs to the Tarnowski diocese and Tuchowski deanery. According to Jan Długosz (L. B., III, 216), the village of 'Szemychów' had a parish at an early time and belonged to the Abbey of Tyniec (near Kraków) by virtue of privilege of King Casimir III in the year 1354, however, Spytek of Melsztyn took away the monastery by force, shortly before the Battle of Worskła in the year 1398, in which he then died "...and fair justice was served for what was taken, that which belonged to somebody else...". Later, in his second reference (II, 276) Długosz quietly mentions that Siemiechów belongs to the Abbey of Tyniec.

In the year 1581, in 'Sziemichow' (Pawinśki, Małopolskie, 118) there was a 'sołtys' (village administrator) belonging to Siemiechów, who counted in the village: 1 wealthy farmer owning 25 'łanow' of land, 10 small farms without fields, 3 bailiffs who own cattle, 8 bailiffs without cattle, 4 craftsmen, and the village administrator who owns 1 1/2 'łana' of land.

The village boundaries are: to the West is Faściszowa, to the East is Gromnik, to the South is Brzozowa, and to the North along a large beech forest is Łubinka.

Located in the province of Krakowskie, district Biecki, according to records of the treasury from the year 1770 it was noted that the village of Siemiechów in the province and 3 'folwark' (granges), during that time, was owned by Ignacy Krasiński, and he paid an annual military tax of 1266 złp. / 17 gr., and a winter military tax of 458 złp. / 12 gr. Ignacy, the third son of Jan (castellan of Wizna, near Łomza), and Ewa Trojanowska, brother of Adam (a bishop), and Michał Hieronim Krasiński (great-grandfather of world famous Polish poet, Count Zygmunt Krasiński). In the year 1769, he received governorship of Siemiechów, in the district of Biecz, from his first wife, Maryanna Krasińska Jordanów (kancl. 40 f. 14). Due to the Office of Assessments court assessors, he resigned in the year 1788 (M. 301 f. 46). He became a bachelor (got divorced) from the order of St. Stanisław which he received in the year 1786. The heir of the Oblas of Radom, he got married for the second time in the year 1774 to Agnieszka Potkańska, castellan of Radom, and had a daughter, Anna, who's first marriage was to Kazimierz Walicki, governor of Sochaczew, and second marriage to Mikołaj of Oplów Bronikowski, general major in the royal military, in which he wrote his life testimony in the year 1795 (DW. 110 f. 1299 i 111 f. 826). Amelia, one daughter of Bronikowski, got married to Count Roman Załuski. During the period of the ruling Austrian government in the year 1772, the administration stole the entire estate from Kraśinski and then forced him to buy it back from them in the year 1789 at a very high price.

ources

* "Słownik Geograficzny Królestwo Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich" by Filip Sulimierski, Page 543, Year 1890
* "Herbarz Polski" by Adam Boniecki, Pages 209 - 210, Year 1908
* "Rocznik Diecezji Tarnowskiej" by Nakładem Kurii Diecezjalnej w Tarnowie, Page 411, Year 1967
* "Województwo Tarnowski: Vademecum Turystyczne Tarnów" by Zygmunt Kruczek, Page 87, Year 1983
* "Zabytki: Urbanistyki i Architektury-Województwa Tarnowskiego" by Andrzej B. Krupiński, Page 54, Year 1989
* "Pogórze Karpackie: Wielickie, Rożnowskie i Ciężkowickie" by Andrzej Matuszczyk, Page 299, Year 1995
* History of Siemiechów Compiled by: Eugene J. Markow