PL22 Visit of Plock and oldest school of Poland

The students follow a guided tour of Plock. The guide shows them different aspects of the city at different times in its history, and learn about this old school which was build on a church. Marshal Stanistaw Matachowskis High School, established in 1180 by the Benedictines as a trivium school is the oldest school in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe. Manydistinguished people have attended Matachowianka: among them are Ignacy Moscicki, President of the Second Republic of Poland and Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first Prime Minister of the Third Republic of Poland. For tourists' needs the museumoperates in the underground of the school, with the impressively illuminated teaching multimedia path, which exhibits the monuments of Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque period with the later ones. From the top of newly renowated tower, one canadmire the panorama of the city.

City Hall: The middle part of the present city hall waS built in 1824 - 1827 in the classical style according to Jakub Kubickidesign, well-known architect from Warsaw. A small clock tower was added in the 1830's. In 1843 and 1928. Two neighboringtenements were annexed. The present seat of local authorities replaced the Gothic building, situated almost in the middle of the Old Market Square, which was pulled down in 1817.

St. Bartholomew Parish Church: The beginning of the Gothic church dates back to 1356 when Bishop Klemens together withKing Kazimierz Wielki gave an order to bulld a new temple. The church entrance was initially facing the Vistula River. In 1723 after a landslide of the Vistula slope the church was rebuilt and gained new entrance from the Old Market Square side. At the end of the 19th century a belfry was raised next to the temple.

Cathedral Basilica: Is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Originally Romanesque the basilica waserected on the initiative of Bishop Alexander of Malonne, consecrated in 1144. In the 14th century two additional towers werebuilt. After the conflaqration in 1530 the temple was raised again in the Renaissance style by Italian architect, among othersJan Cini of Siena and Jan Baptist of Venice. In 1901-1903 the cathedral reconstruction was supervised by Stefan Szyller. He has also designed considerable part of today's equipment. The polychromy was made by Wadystaw Drapiewski in 1904. During the World War Il basilica was partly destroyed and turned into the storehouse. The temple hosts the replica of Plock Door from the 12th century and tombs of Polish rulers and Mazovian dukes. In 1991 Pope John Paul II prayed there.

The students made the link with the work they had to do during the week about the cultural topics.