City walls
Surrounding the entirety of Opatów with walls limited the possibility of constructing new buildings that would enhance its economic significance. The cellars already existing in the town’s old buildings were, of course, insufficient for the developing merchant warehouses and, naturally, craft workshops.
“Descending into the cellars”
Therefore, the merchants and townspeople of Opatów began en masse to “descend” below the first floor of existing buildings—in a word, they went down into the cellars. Over time, second and third levels of these cellars were created, which, as we know, lacked a regular layout. They were often built without additional “casings,” which, according to various sources, the loess soil properties allowed for.
Years passed
Long years passed, and the seemingly forgotten matter of the underground corridors came back to life. The historic buildings of the “Opatów Old Town” suddenly began to mysteriously crack and deteriorate. In the second half of the 20th century, employees of the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow took on the rescue of the local architecture. It was precisely then, along with the renovation of underground Opatów, that a plan was created to open up an underground “tourist route” for visitors.
A tour of the underground of Opatów
An extraordinary tour through the underground corridors of the town of Opatów lasts approximately 45 minutes. During the visit, you can thoroughly learn about the history of these underground chambers as well as all of Opatów, along with its remarkable monuments. The current length of the explored underground route is 500 meters and consists of three levels. The lowest of them reaches about 14.5 meters below the surface of the Opatów market square. A constant temperature of approximately 8–12 degrees Celsius is maintained underground.
The Opatów tourist route combined with legends
According to one of the most famous and simultaneously dark legends circulating around the Opatów cellars, it is connected to the daughter of a wealthy merchant. The girl allegedly fell in love with a poor but hardworking young man, and the obscenely wealthy merchant refused to allow the marriage. To escape her father’s wrath—or, as some said, to meet her beloved—she hid in the Opatów underground. Unaware bricklayers walled up the entrance to the tunnel where the girl was located. Today, one can therefore see her ghost, a feat even attempted by the editorial staff of “Dziennik Polonijny”.
