Description

The defensive relics of the building are to be found on the promontory of Babia Góra hill, east of the village, in the fork of the Dunajec and Kamienica rivers. They occupy a protruding piece of land separated from the upland by a trench over which an earth dike was built, probably reinforced by a stone core. The oval, flattened part of the promontory is about 50 m long and 20 m wide.

History

The hamlet is first mentioned in a document issued in 1312. in it, the abbess of the Stary Sącz convent of Poor Clares, Anna confirmed Klemes as the village head in Zabrzeż, upon prior nomination by Duchess Kinga (before 1292). In 1358 the abbess sold the office in Zabrzeż to theree brothers, Piotr, Paweł and Jan.

Condition and research results

Archaeologists are unsure about the actual beginnings of the defensive complex, which makes it impossible to identify its founder. If Maria Cabalska’s proposal (13th/14th c.) is right, the site can be assumed to have been a defensive residence of the managers of the landed estate owned by the Poor Clares convent and later of the village heads. If, however, future research shift the beginnings of the site to the period around the mid-13th century, a hypothesis that the founder of the fortified property was Piotr Wydżga, the castellan of Nowy Sącz (1243) should be considered. He would own an extensive landed property around Łącko, which he sold in 1251 to the Order of the Holy Sepulchre seated in Miechów. In 1268 the Łącko area and its surroundings are already confirmed as the dominion of Duchess Kinga. In 1280 Łącko (together with Zabrzeż) became a part of the estate held by the St Clare’s convent in Stary Sącz.

The site is accessible all year round.

Author of the note Stanisław Kołodziejski, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 24/10/2014

Bibliography

• Kozieł S., Zabrzeż pow. Nowy Sącz, “Z otchłani wieków”, vol. 23, 1957, pp. 158-159.
• Kozieł S., Grodzisko kultury łużyckiej w miejscowości Zabrzeż, pow. Nowy Sącz (Polska), “Acta Archaeologica Carpathica”, vol. I/1, 1958, pp. 109-112.
• Cabalska M., Sprawozdanie z prac wykopaliskowych przeprowadzonych na stanowisku Babia Góra w Zabrzeży, pow. Nowy Sącz w 1963 r., “Wiadomości Archeologiczne”, vol. 31, 1965, no. 2-3, pp. 252-255.
• Cabalska M., Nosek E. M., Zabytki żelazne ze stanowiska na Babiej Górze w Zabrzeży, pow. Nowy Sącz, “Materiały Archeologiczne”, vol. IX, 1968, pp. 289-310.
• Niesiołowska-Wędzka A., Początki i rozwój grodów kultury łużyckiej, Wrocław1974, pp. 91-94.
• Kołodziejski S., Średniowieczne rezydencje obronne możnowładztwa na terenie województwa krakowskiego, Kraków 1994, pp. 198-200.