Rzeszów, Poland

An (underground) coffee in Rzeszów
... with Katarzyna Sobkowicz

Luis LOPEZ GALAN & Alejandro ROJAS

The streets of Rzeszów welcome us with its famous Polish cold despite the sun's rays shining in the sky. The beautiful baroque palace of the Lubomirski family, now part of the University of Rzeszów, reveals with a solemn silence the noble and original beauty of the Polish architecture, hidden among forests of green trees and grey buildings, fact that represents perhaps the entire country.

Photo by podkarpacie.wyjade.pl

Rzeszów is a city in southeastern Poland best known for its industry. King Casimir III of Poland founded it in 1354 and from the 16th century its fame grew thanks to the aristocratic family Lubomirski, since they built the small palace that we have found in the center of town and also a fortified building near the city, increasing its prestige. But in the 19th century Rzeszów was gradually yielding its importance to the neighboring town of Prezmsyl, with better transport connections. Also, the Second World War made disappear almost all of the Jewish population which constituted a large ethnic minority from the 16th century  in the city, but from 1945 Rzeszów expanded its industrial area and it has now a small airport that grows slowly and already connects the city to London.

A few meters from the palace, we get to the paved Third of May Street, which commemorates the Polish-Lithuanian Constitution of 1791, the first constitution in Europe and second in the world after the one in the United States of America. This is the main street of the city, crowded and commercial with shops and stately buildings housing bank headquarters as Bank Polski. In one corner, our friend Katarzyna enjoys the sunlight with her eyes closed while she waits for us. Not to scare Kata, we call her attention shouting her name in the distance, which makes her open her eyes and give us a warm welcome to the cold Rzeszów.

3rd May St., by skyscrapercity.com

We walk along Third of May St., and leaving behind a huge white church with green roof Kata leads us to Wayne's Coffee, her favorite in the city, nice and cozy. We avoid the language barrier thanks to our friend, who asks for three cappuccinos and Paczek, a traditional Polish dessert that can be filled with plums, rose leaves, lemon, strawberry, etc.. These sweets are often made on the last Thursday before Lent according to tradition and Polish immigrants in the United States has become it a habit linked to this conclusion in some part of the country.

As Kata says, in the city center there are some of the most popular attractions of Rzeszów: the square and the City Hall of the 15th century, perhaps the best known place, the Market Square, the small Synagogue (17th century) and the large one (18th century), the huge Monument to the Revolution, the Basilica of Our Lady of Rzeszów and Wanda Siemaszkowa Theartre. The last two points are located together in a beautiful square as Kata tells us while our coffees and sweets Paczek are served.

Photo by Tomek Augustyn on flickr

While we enjoy the hot cakes, Kata speaks about that despite the attractiveness of the points she mentions, in her opinion there are two enclaves that nobody should miss when visiting Rzeszów. The 'underground city' (14th century-17th century) is formed by a series of galleries built by city's inhabitants  during Middle Ages in different stages with warehouses and even shops with best temperature for the conservation of food and better safeguard of winter storms for barter and, later, for the sale of products, due to the commercial nature that had the city. Years later, these underground galleries also served the citizens as a refuge during the wars. Today,  there are various tourist routes to visit the entire galleries, which is about 370 meters long. Get to know the city from its subsoil and through reconstructions that have been done in recent years is a good example of the passage of time in the city, from its primary time to the toughest times when citizens needed a place to shelter.

Underground city by trasa-podziemna.erzeszow.p

The last of the Paczek waits for Kata to find a minute during our animated conversation, but our curiosity about her second favorite spot makes her eat it quickly. That place not to be missed is the Old Cemetery in Rzeszów, from the 18th century. At the beginning it was built in the vicinity of a church, because at that time the burial within the temples was banned, and it was extended over the years to the 3.65 hectares that currently occupies. In it were buried Polish celebritie , insurgents  from 1831 and fro 1863 and also the victims of the last great war, though officially the use of this cemetery stopped in 1910. Artistically and thanks to the reforms in the 80s, the cemetery offers a romantic image of Baroque, Gothic and classical elements among trees and plants whose bright green stands between the stones.

Cemetery of Rzeszów by Derbeth on flickr

It's getting late and we take our coats to go back to Rzeszów's streets, letting Kata continue her day and we, our trip. 

As we walk up the Third of May St. the statue of a guitarist gets our attention. it is Tadeusz Nalepa, a polish singer and composer to whom the city pays tribute with his copper image, in the center of the city. Its color contrasts with the clear walls of the zone and this is where Kata says goodbye, indicating us with a big smile how to get to the "underground city", a mandatory visit, as we already know. From there, in the depths, we thank our friend the itinerary she has given to us and we feel the course of time of a city that has seen itself forced to adapt to the avatars of History. 

Illustration: Aaron Mora, Espresso Fiorentino's illustrator