Tyniec – popular attractions, what to see

Tyniec, a popular place among tourists today, is a former village near Kraków, which was incarnate into it in 1973, and today it is the city’s integral part.

Tyniec is located in the western part of the city, at the picturesque, right edge of Vistula. This place is mostly known for its Benedictine monastery, which has been here since 1044. It is one of the oldest monasteries in the entire area of Poland!
The name „Tyniec” originated from the Celtic word „tyn”, which means wall or fence. This proves the facr, there must have been strengthenings or fortifications here.

The thing that attracts most of the attention in Tyniec is the gorge of the Vistula river known is Brama Tyniecka and the steppe Skołczanka nature reserve, created in 1957, here you can also find the Świętojańskie Spring, which is the only monument of its type in the area of Kraków. For hundreds of years, the natural trip through the Vistula river was functioning in Tyniec.

The history of Tyniec

The shape of the terrain and the close proximity of the Vistula river caused the early development of settlement in this area. At the nearby Skałki Piekarskie, some of Poland’s oldest traces of human settlement were discovered. They are 12.000 years old. The oldest traces of settlement in Tyniec originated from approximately 8000-4800 B.C. Numerous archaeological monuments prove the existence of a settlement at the Klasztorna Mountain, originating from 2300 B.C. Archaeologists found raminings of a ceramic workshop here, which produced high-quality gray ceramics, as well as traces of the oldest mint in Poland, which mostly produced silver celtic coins.

The Tyniec Abbey

In the early 10th century, Tyniec was enhabited by the Wiślan tribe, and in the 11th century Kazimierz Odnowiciel or his son Bolesław Śmiały gave Tyniec to the Benedictines. The foundation of the Tyniec Abbey in the mid-11th century was a breakthrough monument for the histtory of the town.

In 1259, Tyniec was invaded by Mongols , going from Kraków to Silesia. It was associated with a crucial meaning of the local crossing, which became a convenient passage for the army through the Vistula river. Tyniec suffered more serious damage during the Swedish Deluge in in the 17th century.

In 1772, Tyniec was occupied by Bar Confederates, who were defending themselves from the Russian Army. At that time, the monastery was severely devastated, along with the entire village. During the first partition of Poland Tyniec was included in the territory of Austria, and in 1816 the government of Austria made the cassation of the abbey, which from that moment on began to fall into ruin. In the 20th century, the benedictines came to Tyniec once again and they still live in the Tyniec monastery today.

For centuries, the people living in Tyniec cultivated the ground, but they were also busy with rafting and knitting. They were draining grain, coal, and building material, like wood. The rafting trips in Tyniec took place on rafts, gallons and crypts, and rafting existed here up until the 19th century, when it was replaced by the railway.