The first capital of West Pomerania
The settlement grew up around the turn of the ninth century as a seat of the Wolinian tribe, and through the ninth to eleventh centuries it was a fishing and harbour settlement with a stronghold. Around 967 the area was brought into the Polish state by Mieszko I, and in 1124 the mission of Bolesław III baptised the people here and built two churches.
The turning point came in 1175, when the see of the Pomeranian bishopric moved from Wolin to Kamień. The diocese was called Kamień from then on and from about 1188 answered directly to Rome. Kamień remained the bishops' seat until 1810 and received town rights in 1274.
The historic layout of the old town was destroyed in 1945 and built over with blocks of flats in the 1960s. Even so, the whole old-town area is on the heritage register, and the town lies on the Polish Romanesque Route. Of the fortifications, the Gothic Wolin Gate of the fourteenth century survives, now a museum of stones, and a Gothic town hall with a three-arched arcade stands on the market square.
The cathedral, its roof and its organ
The cathedral complex was declared a historic monument by decree of the President of the Republic of Poland on 1 September 2005. Building probably began between 1172 and 1176, first in granite blocks and then in brick, as a three-aisled Romanesque basilica with a transept and semicircular apse. The second, Gothic phase ended around 1370; it was interrupted by Brandenburg raids in 1273 and 1308.
This is the oldest sacred building in West Pomerania, and since 2021 one more thing is known about it: it carries the oldest surviving roof truss in Poland. The oak, floated in from the island of Wolin, was felled in the 1260s, and the timber over the chancel may be older still. Medieval carpenters' marks survive, along with traces of the ropes used in floating.
Its best-known furnishing is the baroque organ endowed in 1669 by the last bishop of Kamień, Duke Ernest Bogusław von Croÿ. Friedrich Breyer and Michael Berigel of Szczecin built it, finishing in 1672; the instrument then had over two and a half thousand pipes and today has forty-three stops across three manuals and pedal. The case is a performance in itself: Michael the Archangel beneath the vault, King David with a harp and the prophet Jeremiah with a lyre, angels playing viola da braccio and viola da gamba, and ten paintings of women making music in seventeenth-century dress set into the gallery balustrade.
Since 1964 organists from around the world have played here during the International Festival of Organ and Chamber Music, the oldest event of its kind in West Pomerania. The Gothic cloister garden of about 1300 also survives beside the cathedral, the only such arrangement at a Polish cathedral; several of its old trees are protected as natural monuments.
Brine, peat and the water all around
The healing properties of the local brine springs were found by accident in the last quarter of the nineteenth century — Polish accounts give 1876, German ones 1882 — and in time peat from the surrounding bogs was added to the treatments. The spa now draws on sodium chloride, iodide and ferrous waters from a borehole named Edward III, together with a peat deposit just outside the town.
The range of conditions treated is wide: rheumatic complaints, cardiac conditions and hypertension including early rehabilitation, the lower respiratory tract, neurological and orthopaedic or post-trauma problems, and children's illnesses. Several spa facilities operate here, among them a spa hospital and sanatoria.
The setting is part of the cure. The town sits on the Kamień Lagoon, a widening of the Dziwna channel, between two bays — Karpinka to the north and Promna to the west, beyond which lies Chrząszczewska Island. The open sea is a few kilometres away, reached along the Dziwna. The climate belongs to the Baltic zone: high humidity, long winters, smaller swings of temperature than inland, and a growing season of more than two hundred days.
Getting there
- By car — north-east of Szczecin, via Wolin or Golczewo; from Dziwnów and Wolin the road follows the Dziwna.
- By train — the line through Wysoka Kamieńska, opened in 1892, links the town to the coastal main line.
- By bus — services from Szczecin, Wolin and the seaside towns around Dziwnów.
- From the water — the town has a sea harbour with a fishing and sailing basin, and the Kamień Lagoon and Cicha Bay are sailing waters.
Worth knowing
If the cathedral is why you are coming, check for concerts first — an organ of 1669 in use is a wholly different experience from the same organ silent.
Kamień is often treated as a stop on the way to the beach. That is a pity, because it is one of the few places on this coast where a brine cure, a working harbour and a first-rank monument all sit within a few hundred metres.
Walk right around the cloister garden and the cathedral precinct rather than only stepping inside: the old trees in the cathedral garden are a sight in their own right, and some of them are protected.
How to get there and practical info
- Location
- Szczecin Coastland, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, on the Kamień Lagoon; north-east of Szczecin, a few kilometres from the open sea
- What it is
- a statutory brine spa; the brine springs were found in the last quarter of the nineteenth century (1876 and 1882 are both cited)
- Healing resources
- sodium chloride, iodide and ferrous waters from the Edward III borehole, and healing peat
- Conditions treated
- rheumatic, cardiac and hypertension, lower respiratory tract, neurological, orthopaedic and post-trauma, and children's illnesses
- Cathedral complex
- Romanesque-Gothic basilica, begun in the 1170s, the Gothic phase completed around 1370
- Organ
- endowed in 1669 by Duke Ernest Bogusław von Croÿ, completed 1672; 43 stops on three manuals and pedal
- Roof truss
- the oldest known in Poland — oak felled in the 1260s, established by research in 2021
- Heritage status
- cathedral complex a historic monument since 1 September 2005; the entire old town on the heritage register
- Festival
- International Festival of Organ and Chamber Music, held since 1964
- Time needed
- half a day for the cathedral, cloister and old town, a full day with the harbour and surroundings
- Current opening times and tickets
- official website of Kamień Pomorski
When to go
The old trees in the cloister garden are only coming into leaf and the town is still empty. A good time to see the cathedral without queues.
Peak season on the Dziwna and the busiest period for organ concerts. Sailors take to the lagoon and the harbour is at its fullest.
The lagoon holds its warmth for a long time, and the cathedral interior shows best now because it is quiet. A season for walks around the old defences.
Treatment carries on as usual, while the cathedral is often open mainly for services. Winters on the lagoon are long and damp, but milder than inland.
Other sights in Dziwnów
Straight-line distances from „Kamień Pomorski — spa town" — calculated from real coordinates. By road it is often further.
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