Rytwiany is a village in Staszów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Rytwiany. It lies on the Czarna Staszowska river, approximately 5 km south-east of Staszów and 58 km south-east of the regional capital Kielce.

History

Rytwiany, which belongs to the historic province of Lesser Poland, has a rich and long history. First documented owner of the village was a nobleman named Piotr Bogoria Skotnicki (13th century), and across the centuries, Rytwiany belonged to a number of owners, including Cardinal Wojciech Jastrzębiec, Hieronymus Jaroslaw Łaski, the Lubomirski family, the Potocki family, the Radziwiłł family, and several others. In 1425–1436, Bishop Jastrzębiec built a defensive Gothic castle in Rytwiany, surrounded by the swamps of the Czarna river. The castle, partly destroyed in 1657 (see Deluge) was inhabited until the 19th century, then fell into a ruin, to be finally demolished in 1859. All that now remains of it is a fortified tower. In the early 17th century, when the village and the castle belonged to the Tęczyński family, it was a cultural center of the region. In 1621, upon request of Jan Tęczyński, Camaldolese monks settled here, building an abbey and a church. The monks moved to Warsaw in 1819, and their church now serves as a local parish church. In the late 19th century, the Radziwiłł family, who were the last owners of the village, built here a palace, which was remodelled in 2005 and now is a hotel. During the German occupation of Poland (World War II), the Polish resistance movement was active in the village, and Polish underground press was distributed in Rytwiany.

Demography

According to the 2002 Poland census, there were 1,672 people residing in Rytwiany village, of whom 49.5% were male and 50.5% were female. In the village, the population was spread out, with 23.7% under the age of 18, 37.7% from 18 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.3% who were 65 years of age or older. '''Figure 1. Population pyramid of village in 2002 — by age group and sex'''