Sieniawa

Sieniawa was founded in 1672, it gained the city rights in 1676. It became famous in the Polish history due to the fact that here lived the Sieniawski — representatives of the Polish magnate family. Since the XVIth century the Sieniawski played an important role in the management of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, held positions of hetmans, voyevodas and castellans. Berezhany castle used to be their family residence. After family's extinction with the death of A. Sieniawski (1726), their ownership was inherited by the representatives of Czartoryski family. Then the castle in Sieniawa was reconstructed into a small palace which nowadays is surrounded by a spacious park, covering an area of 19 hectares.

From the western side, at the entrance to Sieniawa, there opens a view on the church of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, built in 1751. In the vaults of the temple there is a crypt of Czartoryski's family representatives, created on the initiative of Władysław Czartoryski. In the second half of the XIXth century he organized the transportation of his ancestor's coffins (grandmother Isabella from Moszczany and father Adam- Yuriy from Paris) and creation of the crypt in Sieniawa. Thereafter the tradition of burial of the deceased Czartoryski family representatives under the church of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary was set. No matter where they died, their ashes were transported into one place.

Nowadays 22 coffins with the ashes of Czartoryski are exhibited on the oak base in the crypt (11 coffins from each side). The church with its undergrounds is considered to be one of the most popular tourist attractions in Sieniawa. In addition, interesting excursion sights are: the Palace and Park Complex of the Czartoryski family, the building of the Town Hall, the church of John the Baptist, the fragments of the defensive walls and the Jewish cemetery, the first burials took place there in the XVIIth century. Sieniawa is known to Ukrainians due to the fact that here Ukrainian social and political activist, composer, teacher and journalist — Anatole Vakhnianyn was born.