The History of Stary Sącz
People
Saints and scholars, artists and mayors, and those whose fate was tied to the town in its darkest times.
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St Kinga (Cunegunda)
lady of the Sącz land, foundress of the convent
5 Mar 1234, Esztergom – 24 Jul 1292, Stary Sącz (other sources: 2 Mar, or the year 1224)
A Hungarian princess, daughter of Béla IV, she came to Poland as a child and married Bolesław the Chaste. She gave her vast dowry to rebuild the country after the Tatar invasion, and in return received the Sącz land in 1257. She chartered the town, brought in settlers and in 1280 founded the convent of the Poor Clares, which she herself entered after her husband’s death. She died in Stary Sącz. Beatified in 1690 and canonised here by John Paul II in 1999, she has been the patron saint of the town since 2016.
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Abbess Konstancja
abbess, author of the second charter
d. before 1364; abbess in the 1350s
A princess of Świdnica and former Duchess of Głogów, niece of Casimir the Great, she governed the town in a Poor Clare’s habit like a thrifty lady of the manor. In 1357 she granted it Magdeburg rights, which the king confirmed a year later. It was by her will that the regular plan with its rectangular market square, which we still admire today, came into being. Sources sometimes confuse her with an earlier abbess of the same name, who in 1334 stepped aside for Queen Jadwiga.
Sources: Migrała 2016, zamkipolskie.com
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Jadwiga of Kalisz
queen, widow of Władysław Łokietek
d. 10 Dec 1339
After the death of her husband, Władysław Łokietek, Queen Jadwiga chose the quiet of the Stary Sącz convent. In 1334 (or 1337 – the sources disagree) she took over the rule of the town and joined the Poor Clares. She had family roots here: her mother Jolanta, Kinga’s sister, had died in this very convent in 1298. The mother of Casimir the Great was laid to rest in Stary Sącz.
Sources: en.wikipedia – Jadwiga of Kalisz, Wnęk 1996
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Abbess Anna Lipska
abbess, great benefactress
terms of office 1624–1630, 1642–1644, 1647–1649
Three times elected abbess, she was the true builder of 17th-century Sącz. After the great fire of 1644 she paid for the rebuilding of the parish church and of St Roch’s church, and in 1647–1649 she funded new vaults for the Poor Clares’ church. In 1638 she approved the statute of the joint guild, giving the craftsmen good order for many years to come.
Sources: Bazielich 1966, AHMP
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Ada Sari (Jadwiga Szayer)
coloratura soprano
29 Jun 1886, Wadowice – 12 Jul 1968, Ciechocinek
The daughter of Mayor Edward Szayer spent her childhood and youth in Stary Sącz (1889–1905), and later her voice conquered the stages of the world. As Ada Sari she won renown as one of the finest coloratura sopranos of her age. The town remembers her: the Centre of Culture and Art bears her name, and the Regional Museum has a permanent exhibition. Note: she is buried in Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery, not in Stary Sącz.
Sources: culture.pl – Ada Sari, en.wikipedia – Ada Sari
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Edward Szayer
lawyer, mayor
dates of birth and death unknown
A lawyer and community activist who in 1893, together with the apothecary Fijałkowski, called the founding meeting of the “Sokół”. He was mayor in the 1920s (culture.pl gives 1920–1930, while the English Wikipedia speaks of 17 years in office). Father of the singer Ada Sari.
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Jan Joachim Czech
composer, teacher, poet
29 Aug 1888, Cyganowice – 1 Jan 1955, Stary Sącz
The musical soul of Stary Sącz. From 1920 he lived here for good, leading choirs and an orchestra, and during the occupation he ran clandestine classes. He wrote some thousand works, among them the carol “Hej, ponad regle”, which is still sung today. He taught at the Teacher Training Lyceum. He rests in the old cemetery by St Roch’s, and 2013 was proclaimed his Year.
Sources: Sączopedia, sadeczanin.info
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Henryk Barycz
historian of science, professor at the Jagiellonian University
26 Jun 1901, Stary Sącz – 9 Mar 1994, Kraków (an obituary gives 21 Jun)
The son of a shoemaker and farmer, he attended the elementary school by the parish church and went on to become one of the most eminent historians of Polish science. He never forgot his home town: he initiated and edited the monumental “History of Stary Sącz” (Historia Starego Sącza, 1979). In 1983 he was made an honorary citizen of the town, and his plaque hangs on the school by the parish church.
Sources: Biliński 2025, Pudłocki 2022
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Wiktor Bazielich
regional historian, Slavist
22 or 23 Nov 1892, Podmajerz – 3 Sep 1963, Kraków
A chronicler of Stary Sącz in the truest sense. He wrote more than 40 publications, among them “Historie starosądeckie” (Stary Sącz Stories, 1965) and a guide to the town’s monuments (1961), digging his way through convent accounts and municipal registers. In 1948 he co-founded the Society of Friends of Stary Sącz. The town library bears his name.
Sources: UM Stary Sącz – Wiktor of Podmajerz, RUJ – Biliński 2019
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Fr Józef Tischner
philosopher, priest
12 Mar 1931, Stary Sącz – 28 Jun 2000, Kraków
He was born in a house on the market square and grew into one of the most important Polish philosophers of the 20th century. He was famed for wisdom served with highlander humour. Stary Sącz remembers its great son: since 2004 the museum has had an exhibition devoted to him, the Stary Sącz Days of Fr Tischner are held, there is a mural and a school bearing his name, and 2025 was the Year of Tischner.
Sources: en.wikipedia – Józef Tischner, UM Stary Sącz
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Stanisław Gałoński
musicologist, conductor
b. 6 May 1930, Ostrowiec near Tarnopol; date of death unknown
In 1975 he founded the Stary Sącz Festival of Early Music and was its artistic director for 14 years. Thanks to him, early music rings out once more within the walls of the convent where, seven centuries ago, the conductus “Omnia beneficia” was written. In 2007 he was made an honorary citizen of the town.
Sources: Polska Biblioteka Muzyczna, UM Stary Sącz – Honorary citizens
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Fr Jan Sygański SJ
historian
18 Jun 1853, Żuków – 22 Mar 1918, Kraków
A Jesuit and tireless delver in the archives. He wrote “Arendy klasztoru starosandeckiego w XVI i XVII wieku” (The Leaseholds of the Stary Sącz Convent in the 16th and 17th Centuries, 1904) and “Analekta sandeckie” (1905), as well as a three-volume history of Nowy Sącz. It is thanks to him that we know how the Poor Clares managed their estates.
Sources: National Library of Poland, Jesuit Online Necrology
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Zenon Adam Remi
architect
22 Dec 1873, Krasiczyn – 1924
He designed the “Sokół” building free of charge (1907), as well as the house at Rynek 12 (1906) and a town hall that was never built. He should not be confused with Zenon Andrzej Remi (b. 1946), creator of the papal altar – the shared name has led more than one guide astray.
Sources: Sądeczanie znani i nieznani, AHMP
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Mońek (Murray) Goldfinger
Holocaust survivor
d. 2 Aug 2018
He came from Wierchomla Wielka. In March 1940 the Germans moved his family to Stary Sącz. The only one of his family to survive, he lived through the hell of the camps: Rożnów, Tarnów, Szebnie, Birkenau, Buchenwald. He was called the “last witness” to the tragedy of 1942. In 2016 he came to the Roll-Call of Remembrance by the Poprad.
Sources: NJ Jewish News, starosadeckie.info – 80th anniversary
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Fr Józef Leopold Kmietowicz
leader of the Chochołów Uprising
dates of birth and death unknown
A priest and conspirator who in 1846 led the Chochołów Uprising against the Austrians. He was born in a house on the market square – as a plaque at Rynek 8 recalls – and was buried in the cemetery by St Roch’s church.
Sources: beskidsadecki.eu – St Roch, UM Stary Sącz – Historic town centre
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Szczęsny Morawski
historian
1818–1898
Author of “Sądecczyzna” (1863–1865), one of the first great tellings of the history of this land. He also put forward bold hypotheses – for instance, that the original Sącz lay at the mouth of the Olszanka, which nobody accepts today. He rests in the cemetery by St Roch’s church.
Sources: National Library of Poland, beskidsadecki.eu – St Roch
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Marian Cycoń
mayor, member of parliament
b. in Barcice Dolne – d. 20 Nov 2020 (aged 80)
He governed the town longer than anyone in the history of the office – 4388 days in all (1995–1998 and 2002–2011). He was also a member of parliament. It was on his initiative that the market square was rebuilt and the bypass with St Kinga’s Bridge was built. In 2007 he was made an honorary citizen of the town, and today one of its roundabouts bears his name.
Sources: starosadeckie.info, UM Stary Sącz
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Jacek Lelek
mayor
b. 5 Jan 1970, Lesko
A teacher at the Stary Sącz secondary school (1995–1999), then deputy mayor (2003–2007), and since 2012 mayor, elected four times: in 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2024. In 2026 the President appointed him to the Presidential Council for Local Government.
Sources: UM Stary Sącz – Mayor, PortalSamorzadowy
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Honorary Citizens of Stary Sącz
municipal list
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John Paul II (resolution of 27 Oct 2003, conferred 5 Nov 2003); Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz (26 Apr 2007); Bishop Wiktor Skworc (26 Apr 2007); Dr Jan Winter (2007); Stanisław Gałoński (2007); Marian Cycoń (16 Jun 2007); Fr Prelate Alfred Kurek (4 Jun 2014); President Andrzej Duda (26 Sep 2016, conferred 29 Oct 2016). Separately: Henryk Barycz (1983, conferred in the Polish People’s Republic; not on the current municipal list).