Saint Nicholas on the Ruffians' Hill (summary)

In 1908 Józef Dąbek migrated from the Galician village of Niwiska near Kolbuszowa to the USA. He had never returned to his home country. He only returned there in his dreams and his nostalgia resulted in an unusual document prepared by thememories of Dąbek's life: the plan of the Niwiska village from the beginning of the 20th century. On the basis of that document the author of the article discusses the history of the Niwiska settlement and confronts the historical naming of toponyms taken into account on the cadastral survey (1850) with the contemporaryconsciousness of the inhabitants of Niwiska. Niwiska was founded on a raw ground in 1575 in the Sandomierz Forest (Puszcza Sandomierska). The history of a local glass works has been connected with Niwiska for over 350 years. The works were for the first time mentioned in 1591 and finished their activity before World War I. The original glass works were built in the wood between Niwiska and Hucisko. It has been supposed that Stanisław Tarnowski, the founder of the village, prepared the project of the works. After the old works had been burned in the middle of the 19th century, the Hupkas, the last owners of Niwiska, located the new works nearer to the mansion, on the fields of Niwiska, at the foot of Łysa Góra (the Bald Hill). The tutor of the youngHupkas was Maciej Goslar, the known revolutionist from the period of the Spring of Nations.

The local tradition connects the Ruffians' Hill (Zbójecka Góra - on the top of which stands St. Nicholas church) with the highwaymen who robbed merchants traveling at the foot of the hill to Mielec or Kolbuszowa. The church hill was also called "the Bear Hill" (Niedźwiedzia Góra). One of the most interesting toponyms is "the Barracks" (Koszary) given to a broad field. It may be a trace of the Walachian settlers who in the second half of the16 th century were still driving their cattle from Carpathian pastures to Sandomierz Forest. Such names of fields as Folusz (the Fulling mill), of farms "Garncarnie" (Potter's Workshops) remained after village industries. Niwiska was a strong centre of pottery till the middle of the 20th century and also women worked as potters. Many names of the parts of the villages, taken into account on the cadastral survey, disappeared from human memory for instance: "Pieniężna Góra" (the Money Hill), "Rynkowa Góra" (the Market Hill), "Mordownia" (the Death-Trap), "Smarzówka", "Kończarska". The oldest inhabitants remember "Słomianka" near the mansion, in the centre of the village, because the inn stood here.

Very few specimens of the glass works' and pottery ware can be found in Niwiska. There are only several glass tiles on two houses and pieces of pottery on them. Facts, names and events escape from human memory. The last generation who was able to read excellently the history of their village from the traces in the soil and from oral tradition is going away. 

by Stanisław Lew
Translated by Anna Stadnik & Antoni Więch