It was conveniently located on a merchant route from the heartland of Poland to the Vistula ports at Solec nad Wisłą, Zawichost, and Sandomierz.

In 1576, a town hall was built at the main market square, Iłża had a defensive wall, and several Polish kings visited the castle.

The decline of Iłża was brought by the Deluge (1655–1660), when Swedish and Transylvanian armies completely destroyed the town and the castle.

In March 1940, Germans carried out mass arrests of Poles, who were then either murdered in the village of Góry Wysokie or deported to Nazi concentration camps, and in June 1940, they carried out another wave of arrests of Poles, who were then imprisoned and tortured in Skarżysko-Kamienna, and afterwards murdered in the Brzask forest near Skarżysko-Kamienna.

In Iłża in December 1941, Germans established a Jewish ghetto, whose 2000 residents were murdered at Treblinka extermination camp in October 1942.

[2] Iłża was an important center of Polish resistance, with a unit of the Home Army (AK), and local headquarters of Bataliony Chłopskie.

Furthermore, the Communist partisan force Armia Ludowa (AL) was active in the region; on May 16–17, 1944 its units took control of the town and on January 16, 1945 the Red Army entered Iłża.

The tradition was passed on to his students and daughter who continued to produce excellent ornamental pottery and build schools for young artists who could contribute to the art of Poland.