360 :: a spherical panoramic journey in 2668 pieces

"Situated at the juncture of the Poprad and Dunajec rivers, on a trade route between Małopolska and Hungary, Stary Sącz was chartered twice, which is reflected in its urban structure. The first charter dates back to the time of St. Kinga, princess of Kraków and Sandomierz, before 1273. It was envisioned according to an oval-shaped layout, while the one constructed in 1357 follows a chessboard layout, with a rectangular market square in the centre. St. Clare’s convent has played an important role in Stary Sącz ever since its foundation. St. Kinga brought the Sisters of St. Clare to Stary Sącz from Skała, near Kraków. On July 6th, 1280, she renounced her Sądecczyzna lands, which consisted of Stary Sącz and 28 villages, in order to found the convent. It was situated on the outskirts of the town, in accordance with the medieval guidelines for the placement of Franciscan convents and monasteries. The Holy Trinity church (originally St. Clare’s) was eventually consecrated in 1332. The church underwent major remodelling in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the construction of the western gable of the church, decorated in 1777–1779 with volutes, obelisks and an avebell turret associated with Francesco Placidi. Clustered around the quadrangular cloister garth, the convent buildings, initially made of wood, were constructed by the Krakow master, Jan de Simoni, in the early 17th century.

A gate topped with a clock tower opens into the convent complex, surrounded by walls. In the spacious courtyard you can find a field altar built in 1990, the former house of the chaplain (currently the convent museum), the Holy Trinity church, and the cloister gate topped with sgrafitto figures of Christ the Saviour, Blessed Salomea, St. Clare, St. Kinga and St. Francis. The Holy Trinity church comprises a chancel with a polygonal end, a vestry in the north, and a single-nave, two-bay body covered with cross-ribbed vaulting, with the adjoining 14th century St. Kinga’s chapel (originally St. Mary’s) at the south end. The nave is bordered with a one-storey structure, housing a vestibule and a stone vestry on the ground floor, and an oratory on the first floor." (Text from the 13th Annual Days of Cultural Heritage leaflets).

On the yard of the upper castle there's a well, drilled in solid rocks to the depth of over 60 metres.