Bałtów, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship


Bałtów is a village in Ostrowiec County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Bałtów. It lies approximately north-east of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and east of the regional capital Kielce.
The village has a population of 740.

History

The village dates back to the Middle Ages and the rule of the Piast dynasty in Poland. Bałtów's first church, dedicated to Saint Andrew, probably existed in the 11th century. The famous 15th-century Polish chronicler Jan Długosz mentioned the Bałtów in his chronicles. In the early modern period Bałtów was a private village located in the Sandomierz Voivodeship of the Polish Crown. The village often changed owners, among whom the most famous were politicians Jacek Małachowski and Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki. For a short period Bałtów was a town. It received town rights before 1751 and was deprived of them before 1790. Bałtów ceased to be a private village in 1864.

Places of interest