Every design for Kobyłka

Did you know that the silk sashes of the old Polish nobility were once woven in Kobyłka? In the eighteenth century the village was one of the main centres making kontusz belts, and its owner, Bishop Marcin Załuski, wanted to turn it into a great town for pilgrims. He secured a royal town charter, but history had other plans: during the Kościuszko Uprising and the Partitions, Russian troops marching on Praga left the place badly damaged.

What makes Kobyłka unusual is how much of that past sits right beside everyday commuter life. The town lies just outside Warsaw in Wołomin County, with two railway stations, Kobyłka and Kobyłka Ossów, on the line to Białystok. Before it settled on its present name it was called Targowa Wola, a name linked to the horse trading that followed the markets in Praga, and a parish has stood here since the fifteenth century – today the Kościół pw. Świętej Trójcy. The Obelisk "Poległym Za Ojczyznę" and Plac 15 Sierpnia keep the memory of harder years in the middle of town, and Wicher Kobyłka carries its name on the football pitch.

If Kobyłka is where you catch the morning train and come home in the evening, take its streets along with you – they hold a much longer story than the commute.