What is "tyniec"

Tyniec is a historic village in Poland on the Vistula river, since 1973 a part of the city of Kraków (currently in the district of Dębniki). Tyniec is notable for its famous Benedictine abbey founded by King Casimir the Restorer in 1044. The name of the village comes from a Celtic language word “tyn”, which means wall or fence, and which means that the history of Tyniec as a fortified settlement (see gord) dates back to pre- Slavic times.

Tyniec lies southwest of the center of Kraków, on the right bank of the Vistula, among limestone Jurassic hills, called the Tyniec Hills, with the highest one being Wielogora (also called Guminek), above sea level. Furthermore, Tyniec has a Vistula canyon (called Tyniec Gate), a Skolczanka Nature Reserve (est. 1957), and a locally renowned water source, Zrodlo Swietojanskie, the only source of this kind in the city of Kraków. In ancient times the village was located along a merchant trade route from Kraków, via Oswiecim, to Moravia and Bohemia.