Pià Âczów is a town in southern Poland, in à ÂwiÃÂtokrzyskie Voivodeship. It lies approximately south of Kielce. It is the capital of Pià Âczów County. The population is 10,946 (2018). Pià Âczów belongs to the historical region of Lesser Poland (Polish: Maà Âopolska) and lies in the valley of the river Nida.
In the 12th century in the location of current Pià Âczów there was a quarry. The miners working at the quarry probably resided in a gord, which was destroyed in 1241, during the first Mongol invasion of Poland. In the first half of the 14th century a Gothic castle was erected in the spot where once the gord stood. At the foot of the castle, a settlement appeared, initially called Piedziców, Pandziczów and (1470), Pyandzyczów. The name Pià Âczów has been in use since the 16th century, and it is not known who was first owner of the settlement. In 1424, it belonged to the powerful Oleà Ânicki family, which built its residence here, and funded a Pauline monks abbey (1449). On September 21, 1428 in Lublin, King Wà Âadysà Âaw II Jagieà Âà Âo granted town charter to Pià Âczów.
In the mid-16th century, Pià Âczów became one of main centers of Protestant Reformation in Lesser Poland. The Calvinist nobleman Nicholas Oleà Ânicki drove out the Catholic monks of Pià Âczów in 1550 at the instigation of the Italian ex-priest Francesco Stancaro, creating a Calvinist centre, where the Synods of Pià Âczów were held 1550âÂÂ1563. Pià Âczów is sometimes called the Sarmatian Athens for its association with the Calvinist Academy founded by Francesco Lismanino, to which scholars such as the French grammarian Pierre Statorius were invited. The town was the site of the six years of work 1558âÂÂ1563 for the translators of the Brest Bible, which is why it is sometimes called the Pià Âczów Bible.
In 1586 the town was purchased by Bishop of Kraków Piotr Myszkowski, who initiated the program of Counter-Reformation. Pauline monks returned to Pià Âczów, and in the late 16th century, the Myszkowski family redecorated the castle, turning it into their residence. In 1592, Zygmunt Myszkowski founded a town of Mirów, which in 1612 was absorbed by Pià Âczów. The town had a defensive wall, with four gates, and a number of foreign artisans, from Italy, Scotland, Germany and France. In 1657, Pià Âczów was destroyed by Swedish soldiers (see the Deluge), and during the Great Northern War, the town was once again captured by the Swedes; King Charles XII of Sweden stayed here for a while, after the Battle of Kliszów. In the late 18th century, Pià Âczów was purchased by the Wielopolski family.
Following the Third Partition of Poland, it was annexed by the Habsburg Empire (1795). After the Polish victory in the Austro-Polish War of 1809, it was regained by Poles and included within the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw, and after the dissolution of the duchy in 1815, tne town became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland. In the 1820s, the town had some 4,000 inhabitants, and in 1867, the Russians created the Pià Âczów County.
In the Second Polish Republic, Pià Âczów belonged to Kielce Voivodeship. In the early 1920s, the town was home to the 2nd Legions Infantry Regiment, which was later moved to Sandomierz.
Pià Âczów was destroyed by the Germans in September 1939 during the Invasion of Poland at the start of World War II, and almost all Jews, who had accounted for about 70% of the town's population, were killed or sent to extermination camps. Most Pià Âczów's Jews were murdered in the Treblinka extermination camp. The Jewish cemetery was also destroyed. Some Jews of Pià Âczów survived the Holocaust by hiding in nearby forests. Some, though not many, were hidden by Polish farmers until the end of the war. The Republic of Pià Âczów was a short-lived Polish uprising, which took place in July â August 1944. Units of the Home Army and other underground organizations managed to push Germans from the area of approximately , which stretched from Pià Âczów to Dziaà Âoszyce, and from Nowy Korczyn to Nowe Brzesko. The resistance was very active here; there were two attacks on a local Gestapo prison, in which hundreds of Poles were freed.
The town's attractions include the 18th-century palace of the Wielkopolski family, several churches and monasteries (some dating back to 15th century), the Renaissance St. Anne's Chapel, the recently restored synagogue, and ruins of the 13th-century castle. The complex of the former Pauline monastery, founded in 1449 by Cardinal Zbigniew Oleà Ânicki, is located in Pià Âczów's market square. Currently, it houses a regional museum, a house of culture, and a cinema. In Pià Âczów's district of Mirów there also was a Franciscan monastery, founded in 1587 by Bishop Piotr Myszkowski. In Mirów there is a house which once was a Calvinist printing shop. Now it houses a branch of the National Archive of Poland.
Mount St. Anne is located in the vicinity of Pià Âczów.
Pià Âczów lies on voivodeship road 766.
The town has a station on a narrow-gauge line, called Holy Cross Mountains Rail.
The town is home to a sports club Nida Pià Âczów, which was established in 1946.
Pià Âczów is twinned with: