Sienkiewicza Street in Kielce

Sienkiewicza Street in Kielce is the main commercial and historic “artery” of the city of Kielce. It was built in the middle of the 19th century. It was originally called Konstantego Street, then Postal Street and in 1919 it received its present name. Shops and department stores are located there as well as historic buildings and monuments. It is approximately 1270 metres long and runs from the railway station situated next to the Independence square to the Moniuszki square.

The early street began at the end of the seventeenth century. At that time, Kielce had about 1500 permanent inhabitants. In 1789 there were only 6 brick houses – four of them were situated right by the main square and the other two on Mala street. The city had 252 houses then. The coming Sienkiewicza street ran between the “bishops’ town” and the residences of citizens. It wasn’t covered with any paving, as a result mud was an everyday occurrence there. In the easterly direction, the road disappeared in fields, while it led to the swampy bank of the Silnica river to the west. Originally, when a small bridge was built on the Silnica, the part of the street which was marked off was called Russian Street, or more popularly, Railway Street. Thanks to that investment a big building space between the city and the railway station came into being. The extension of the street involved social changes. Marking out another part of today’s Sienkiewicza Street resulted in the inflow of Jewish to Kielce. They started to invest in building lots. Between the Czysta and Zelazna Streets, on the southern side, there was a non-built-up area on which arable lands were located. It was surrounded by a fence from side of the Sienkiewicza Street.