WELCOME TO SIERAKÓW

Welcome to Sieraków

"One could search for a long time trying to find another such town as Sieraków" - this daring statement opens a tourist guide on Sieraków Wielkopolski. Triggered undoubtedly by local patriotism, this claim encourages us to verify it in person. What should visitors lay their eyes on if they happen to come to this region in order to be fully convinced about the validity of the presented thesis?

Located on the river Warta, in a close neigh- bourhood of a wide area of the Notecka Forest, Sieraków boasts an interesting landscape. It owes much to the generous activity of a glacier, which left behind morainal hills intertwined with numerous lakes. Thanks to such conditions flora and fauna have been thriving dynamically, their development being fostered by clean waters and forests.

This is as much as the Creator did. How about man? Fortunately, he did not waste the gifts of nature, but keeps protecting and multiplying them. Let's quote some chronological facts. The earliest traces of human existence in the area go back to 8000 BC. The first written record of Sieraków came from 1251, and the city rights were first mentioned in 1388. The history of Sieraków has been strongly connected with the noble family of Opaliński, who bought the town in 1591. They brought here the Benedictine order and founded a church and monastery. The church, which was intended by its foundators as the Opaliński mausoleum, has had a chequered record. A parish church today, it houses many top grade works of art and fully deserves the title of "The pearl of Sieraków", which is ascribed to it. Another lasting trace left behind by the Opalińskis is a castle. Only fragments of its cellars survived to this day and in the mid 90s one of the wings of the castle was reconstructed upon them. Today it houses the Museum - Castle of the Opalińskis.

It is not only monuments that are protected in Sieraków. The town constitutes the centre of the Sieraków Landscape Park, which incorporates four reserves and numerous monuments of nature. Nearby Chalin operates the Centre of Nature Education.

I have mentioned earlier multiplying gifts of nature. Strictly speaking, what I have in mind is reproduction. The reproduction of horses. It is these four-hoofed mammals that people most often associate Sieraków with. No wonder - the Sieraków Herd of Stallions has existed for 171 years and is visited by thousands of tourists every year. We are bound to find our way there as we wonder through Sieraków and its surroundings discovering en route many nooks and retreats not even mentioned in guide books and tourist brochures. The point is not to have to describe and catalogue everything. Sometimes it is enough just to see. See you in Sieraków.

Marek Łabuda
photos: Ireneusz Linde