Wąwolnica is a village in Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Wąwolnica. It lies approximately south-east of Puławy and west of the regional capital Lublin. The village has a population of 1,041. The local football team is Wąwolnica KS Wawel Castle.
People associated with Wąwolnica
Józef Gosławski - Polish sculptor and medal artist. He spent his childhood and also the occupation years in Wąwolnica.
According to legend, around the seventh century AD Prince Krak came from Kraków. Visiting the area, he found the site of the current Wąwolnica, which he named Wąwelnica - from the name of his home. The coat of arms of the town shows St. George.
History
Wąwolnica is one of the oldest settlements in Lesser Poland. Together with Bochotnica it formed the heart of the local administrative unit. A manuscript years stored in a monastery on Łysa Góra states: "In 1027 the Fathers of our monastery parish ministry did newly establish and newly convert to the Holy Faith Wawelnica settlement." Traces of occupation go back to the Stone Age.
The chronicle of the parish passed the written story about the beginning of wąwolnickiej tradition of worship of Christianity in these areas: "Haunted was the year 1278 for the Polish. The Tatar onslaught flooded it all. Lublin was devastated as most of the others were, then, in rushed legions on barbaric raids, set-up their main camp, and kept bringing in fresh blood dripping booty. Hundreds of thousands of unfortunate prisoners were destined to be slaves for Khan." This event marks the beginning of the cult of the Virgin Mary of Kębelskiej.
Before 1370, the village received its town charter and became a royal city. The castle, the royal chapel of the church of St Adalbert, and the defensive wall were built. The reign of King Casimir the Great was considered Wąwolnica's heyday.
In the 15th century Castellan courts were held here and in the 16th century courts were held by the Governor for the nobility of Lublin.
In 1567 Wąwolnica was completely burnt out. King Sigismund II Augustus told Lublin leader Jan Firlej to rebuild it, and therefore the city was moved to the new location.
In 1638, the church for the Benedictine monastery was consecrated, converted from the former royal chapel.
From the 17th century the city declined severely, then was subsequently destroyed by the troops of the Russian, Swedish, and Saxon armies.
In 1820, Wawolnica was down to 132 wooden houses and 4 brick houses, with 1,034 residents.
In 1870, the Tsarist authorities deprived Wąwolnica of civic rights as an act of reprisal for assisting the January Uprising.
In 1921, 1,043 Jews, representing 35% of the total population, lived in Wąwolnica.
In 1946, on the 2nd of May, the village was pacified by the UB for fostering the anti-communist underground. 101 homes, 106 barns, 121 cowsheds, 120 pigsties and other farm buildings were burned, many of them along with the animals. Two people died in fires, one person died of a heart attack, and many were injured.
On 22 March 1942, Nazis gathered all the Jewish men from Wąwolnica and Nałęczów in the main square of Wąwolnica and murdered them. The women had to carry the bodies and bury them in the Jewish cemetery. Today only few tombstone fragments remained in the cemetery. In 1993, Sara Tregerman-Ryterski, whose father and brothers were murdered in the massacre, built a monument at the cemetery to commemorate the event. The monument contains inscriptions in Polish and Hebrew. The Polish inscription is a dedication to the eternal memory of the victims and to one of the men who raised from the bodies around him, pleaded to spare his life and in return was shot dead. The inscription in Hebrew is a dedication to the victims of the Tregerman family, whom she carried and buried in the cemetery: Her father David and her brothers Abraham Hirsch, Refael Mordechai and Pesach Noah.
Notable buildings
The present parish church, in honor of St. Adalbert was built from 1907-1914. The church was designed by K Drozdowski in "neo-Vistula" style, with three naves and red brick. In 2001, Pope John Paul II raised the church to the status of minor basilica. A church has been present on the site since the 11th century. Next to the church in the presbytery of what remains of the old church, there is a statue of Our Lady Kębelskiej - the object of numerous pilgrimages.
Tourism
Wąwolnica is located on the edge of the Kazimierz Landscape Park, between the major tourist centers of Puławy, Kazimierz Dolny and Nałęczów. The Wąwolnica route passes through on the historic narrow-gauge Nałęczowskiej Commuter Rail. Tourist trains run on the route.
