The village of Gidle is one of pilgrimage centres in the Częstochowa region. Though there is a supposition that Gidle could be even older than the settlement of Biskupin there have been no adequate reaserches led to prove this.

Historical documents say that Gidle, previously called Gidel, was a noble property. It belonged to the Godzielski family, whose coat of arms was "Poraj" i.e. "Rose".

The very convenient geographical site of Gidle, by the Wiercica and the Wierciczka rivers, was very helpful in the developement of agriculture, industry and trade in the region of the village. Moreover, it became famous for its folk and handicraft art. The prove of that is, among others, the pottery collected in the Gidle castle which you can now see in the Dominicanian museum in Gidle.

In the 16th century Gidle was famous in Poland for the cult of the Gidle Mother of God. A legend says that in 1526 a local farmer, called Jan Czeczek, dug out a tiny stone figure of Mother of God while ploughing his field and presented it to the church in Gidle.

Among numerous historic buildings in the Gidle region there are the three churches situated in the village which are distinctive for their historic and architectural values. The oldest one, St Mary Magdalene's Church, stands on the place where a pagan temple was situated. The church was built of larchen wood probably in 1045, rebuilt in 1659 and renewed between 1765 and 1769. It still performs its sacral and utilitarian functions.

There is also a well preserved 19th century pompous secession palace in which the community office is located now.

In the 19th c. Gidle started transforming gradually into an expanding agricultural and industrial centre. In 1871 Józef Sucheni, an inventor and a constructor, started a blacksmith's in Gidle. Soon, he transformed the place into the Farm Tools Factory which specialized in manufacturing one-clod ploughs, field harrows, plough-shares and other hardware which found their acknowledgement on many European exhibitions. They were praised for modern technological solutions. Józef Sucheni was the constructor of the one-clod plough - "Piorun" - which got a high mark during the World Exhibiton in Paris.

Rafał Krajewski

The unsigned pictures
have been rendered accesible by
courtesy of the prior of the Dominican Order in Gidle.