Metravel city quest
City Leczyca: free walking route “Łęczyca quest: Boruta the devil, guardian of treasure” along the sights. 8 points. Approximately 2 h 30 min. Quests and
Every country has its most famous devil. Poland's is Boruta, and he lives here in Łęczyca.
He is easy to recognise: a tall nobleman with long black moustaches and coal-dark eyes, dressed in a rich kontusz coat. Only the coat hides a tail, and his cap covers horns. He comes from the local marshes: long before Christianity, a woodland spirit called a borowik lived in the forested swamps around Łęczyca. Unable to get rid of him, the priests simply reclassified him as a devil. Boruta took no offence: the job paid well.
His main duty is treasure. They say a Mazovian prince entrusted a great hoard to Boruta and never returned for it. Ever since, the devil has guarded chests of gold in the lochy, the royal castle's underground chambers, in the form of an owl with glittering eyes. A ruined nobleman nicknamed Grey Boruta once slipped in at midnight with a lantern. He found a hidden door, mountains of gold and an owl in a corner. Bowing to his ‘gracious brother’, he filled his pockets, then grew greedy and began filling his mouth too. On the threshold the doors slammed shut and sliced off his heel. He had money, but never health or luck again.
Boruta can help too. Around 1360, when Casimir the Great's carriage became stuck in a marsh near Łęczyca, a strongman harnessed himself to a rope and pulled it out, horses and all. The king promised him authority over the castle being built. Seeing such strength, the people drew the right conclusion.
You will walk through Boruta's town: from the Gothic church and old walls, through the market with its town hall, to the castle where the devil greets visitors in person, his favourite tower rises over the courtyard, and Poland's largest collection of devils is housed. The boldest can then visit Tum, the great Romanesque church where Boruta left his claw marks.
The town route is an easy walk of around one and a half kilometres. We begin at Saint Andrew's Church.
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
We begin with Gothic architecture. Saint Andrew's parish church has stood here since Łęczyca was one of the kingdom's leading towns.
A couple of minutes from the church brings you to the town's heart, Tadeusz Kościuszko Square. Łęczyca was a royal town of the first rank.
Here in the square is a monument to a very different era: the heroes of the Battle of the Bzura, the largest Polish offensive operation of September 1939. At half past five in the evening on the ninth of September, Polish battalions attacked German-occupied Łęczyca.
A small detour north takes you to the XVII-century Bernardine church with its Rococo frescoes. This stop is optional.
Follow Zamkowa Street, and at the castle museum entrance he will greet you himself. Sculptor Zbigniew Szczepański from Kutno carved the three-metre wooden Boruta in the nineties.
Here is the castle, the very one for which Boruta supposedly dragged the royal carriage from the marsh. Casimir the Great built it in 1357–1365 on an artificial hill: Gothic brick on a stone base, walls up to ten metres high, a moat and drawbridge.
Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday. Season (1 April–31 October) 10:00–17:00; off-season (1 November–31 March) Tuesday–Friday 10:00–16:00, Saturday–Sunday 10:00–15:00. Closed Monday. · Ticket: Standard 35 PLN, concession 29 PLN, tower admission 12 PLN (free with a standard/concession ticket); permanent exhibitions free on Wednesdays.
Inside the castle is a collection unlike any other in Poland. The museum has spent half a century collecting folk sculpture of demons.
Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday. Season (1 April–31 October) 10:00–17:00; off-season (1 November–31 March) Tuesday–Friday 10:00–16:00, Saturday–Sunday 10:00–15:00. Closed Monday. · Ticket: Standard 35 PLN, concession 29 PLN, tower admission 12 PLN (free with a standard/concession ticket); permanent exhibitions free on Wednesdays.
A finale for the most determined: three kilometres east of town, half an hour on foot across the fields or five minutes by car, stands a stone giant. Tum's Arch-collegiate Church of the Virgin Mary and Saint Alexius is Poland's largest fully preserved Romanesque church.
Opening hours: Season (early May–mid-October): Wednesday–Saturday 10:00–18:00; Sunday between services and 13:15–18:00; closed Monday–Tuesday. Off-season: groups by prior arrangement only. · Ticket: Free entry.
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.