Things to see and do Szydłowiec

Located north of the Rynek, it is a beautiful building set in a park, built between 1510 and 1526 and then remodeled in the 17th century. It has not been modified since then. The interiors have also remained intact. Today it houses a museum of folk music instruments, whose superb collection is of interest to both the curious and the initiated. Take the opportunity to eat at the Zamek café and restaurant. It serves unpretentious but good Polish cuisine.

Considering the city's history, which is closely linked to the expansion of Judaism in Europe, it is not so surprising to discover that it is one of the largest in Poland. As was often the case during the Holocaust, which also included the destruction of Jewish heritage, the cemetery was vandalized and largely destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. Today, there are approximately 3,000 surviving graves, mostly dating from the 19th century.

While it stands in the center of the Rynek, with its beautifully renovated facade, this beautiful town hall copies the opulent town halls of Krakow's cities founded during the Renaissance, Kazimierz being the first. The similarity between this building, built between 1602 and 1626, and the present-day Museum of Ethnography in Kraków, also rebuilt between the 16th and 17th centuries, is striking: they both share a crenellated attic and a clock tower in the pure Italian tradition popularized by the Polish king Sigismund Iᵉʳ the Old and his wife Bonne Sforza.

Built at the end of the 15th century in the Gothic style with the then very famous local sandstone, the so-called "Szydłowiec sandstone", it has retained its original appearance intended by its patron, Jakub Szydłowiecki, sloping towards the sky. During its long history, only a few changes were made to the interior during the 16th century, as well as in the bell tower (renovated in 2006). It too is located on the Rynek and is impossible to miss. Its patron saint, Zygmunt in Polish, is a martyred Frankish king of Burgundy who reigned in the 6th century.