Well, this computer access may not last, so I’ll try to make the best of it…
(1) TARNOBRZEG
It’s primarily a product of the post-WWII/Soviet-style architecture & planning…but it certainly maintains a bit of old world, European feel. The pictures below include shots of the town square (Rynek — a common feature in the Medieval/Renaissance planning of Polish towns), and the oldest church (I will eventually get INSIDE).
(2) KOPRZYWNICA
The village (now a town) where my mother was born & spent her childhood. We visited her house…now abandoned for years…with mournful & wistful hearts. My mother could remember how it was once a place of love, warmth and happiness…and we could both sense the ghosts of another life, dancing in the sunshine of a quiet summer afternoon, not just from her house, but a number of other abandoned, derelict homes near by. What you will see in the pictures is what remains…including remnants of the kitchen, the coal furnace, the once manicured plot of land, now an overgrown jungle…and a wedding portrait of my Grandfather & Grandmother, that once looked down from its place of honour on the wall.
The cemetery…well, it’s more than that…it’s a proper necropolis. An astonishing, sprawling city of the dead, with thousands and thousands of graves, some so old that they’ve fallen apart — unkept and forgotten. Others are approaching that state, while new graves verge on becoming royal memorials to the dearly departed. I’ve included various random shots, which lead up to #4 (my grandparents), #5 (my great-grandparents), and #6…which is the (sad-yet-beautiful) unmarked grave to my great-great-grandmother. She was a woman we only know as Anna, and my grandmother kept her grave meticulously clean and weeded her entire life: a final gift to a loving woman who went long before her time…and someone my grandmother worshipped.
Here’s an exterior shot of the oldest church in town…a Renaissance-inspired beauty that hosted my mother’s first communion. I couldn’t get inside to take pictures, because there was a mass in progress. But rest assured, I will be back for the interior in the coming days…
(3) SULISLAWICE
A village with a church noted for its historical healing powers. The facade was covered by a scaffold, but I managed to take a few shots of both the original 17th century church, side-by-side with its impressive 19th century successor (complete with a mini-flying buttress).
The final picture is the mass grave dedicated to the members of JEDRUSIE: a partisan resistance group during WWII. They were named after their leader, Wladyslaw “Jedrus” Jasinski. They were eventually killed by the Nazis, and the church buried them in a special grave. One of them was my great-uncle (my grandmother’s brother): Marian Goricki. His nickname was “Marianek”, and all the nicknames of the members were included on the headstone, beside their real names. There’s also a beautiful poem written in their honour, at the bottom of this exceptionally poignant monument.
