Barcin

Barcin is a town located by the Noteć River, in the district of Żnin, being one of the spots along the Piast Trail and one of the ten towns located in the region of Pałuki.

Barcin was granted its borough rights in 1541. The wars that broke out in the 17th and 18th Centuries saw Barcin destroyed to a large extent. During the first Partition of Poland, the town was grabbed by Prussia. Its independence was restored in the wake of the Greater Poland uprising of 1919.

The town went through a period of dynamic growth and development, thanks to the limestone deposits mined at a local quarries in Piechcin, Wapienno, and Bielawy, which started in 1860. As a result, new settlers started coming to Barcin, erecting buildings for public administration offices, schools, hospitals, and shelters, but also commercial facilities, and places offering various services.

Among the most significant monumental sites in Barcin, there is the neoclassical manor complex from the 19th Century, and the brickneo-Gothic Church of St. James the Greater built in1901, with its 17-voice church organs built by Józef Bach. When visiting Barcin, you will also have a chance to see historic cemetery chapels from the 19th Century, fragments of a pre-war evangelical cemetery, the former synagogue building that existed in the years 1837-1839 at ul. 4 stycznia (today used as a public kindergarten), and an old Jewish cemetery located at ul.Podgórna. Barcin is also home to the St. Adalbert Hill with a monument of Christ atop it,the Old Town with many houses and buildings under conservation protection.

There is a Municipal Culture Centre operating in Barcin, which is home to various groups with classes dedicated to singing, theatre, photography, or fine arts. The town has a sports and entertainment arena hosting both sports and cultural events.

Barcin was a hometown for Marcin Błaszak, an actor known for hisroles in films and television series, such as Pierwsz amiłość, Ojciec Mateusz, or Barwy szczęścia, who spent his early years there.

Both the TV series Misja Afganistan/Mission Afghanistan and Karbala, 2015, by Krzysztof Łukaszewicz, were shot in outdoor locations at the limestone quarries in Piechcin, close to Barcin.