Historic sites
cast-iron gazebo from 1868 over the well where the brothers were said to have founded Cieszyn
Historic sites
a Gothic tower of the castle of the Cieszyn Piasts, with an observation terrace and 120 steps
Historic sites
brewery from 1846 below the castle hill, with underground lagering cellars and an ice tunnel
Historic sites
Neoclassical seat of the town authorities with a clock tower and a fanfare played at noon
Historic sites
neoclassical Habsburg residence from 1840, now home to Zamek Cieszyn
Historic sites in Cieszyn: the Gothic Piast Tower, the Three Brothers Well, a neoclassical town hall and the Habsburg palace beneath Castle Hill.
Cieszyn is one of the oldest towns of Cieszyn Silesia, and its monuments cluster around the Market Square and Castle Hill. The five sites here trace a story from the medieval Piasts to the Habsburgs and the rebuilding of the town after fires.
The symbol of the town is the Piast Tower, a Gothic defensive tower of the former castle of the Cieszyn dukes, put up in the early 1300s. Four towers once stood here, and only one remains, nearly thirty metres tall. In the later fourteenth century it was heightened and decorated with four corner shields bearing Piast eagles, and at the end of the fifteenth century a storey with a brick defensive gallery was added. At the top is a viewing terrace. An article on Castle Hill tells more.
At its foot stands the Habsburg Hunting Palace at Zamkowa 3, a neoclassical building of 1838-1840. Archduke Karl Ludwig Habsburg brought the architect Joseph Kornhäusel from Vienna to convert the castle remains into a residence. Today the palace houses Zamek Cieszyn, a design centre, and a music school.
The Three Brothers Well on Trzech Braci street is a cast-iron neo-Gothic gazebo from 1868. An inscription beside it relates that the princes Bolko, Leszek and Cieszko met at a spring around the year 810 and founded the town, whose name was said to come from their joy, the word “cieszyć”. It is a legend, not a documented fact, but the well is entered in the register of monuments.
Beneath Castle Hill operates the Castle Brewery at Śrutarska 39, built in 1846 on the initiative of Karl Ludwig Habsburg, who wanted to brew Pilsner-style beer. A first brewery had been started at the castle as early as 1653. The buildings are entered in the register, and underground lagering cellars lie beneath them.
The Town Hall stands in the middle of the square and is still the seat of the local authorities. The present neoclassical building replaced earlier town halls, each lost to fire over three centuries; the first was built in 1496, when Duke Casimir II sold his houses to the townspeople. It is distinguished by a clock tower and a facade with a balcony on columns.
Besides the monuments, check the remaining attractions of Cieszyn: the museums, churches and monasteries, cemeteries and monuments and parks and nature. How the town was split along the Olza is explained in a text on Cieszyn on the Olza, and monuments of other towns are listed under historic sites in Silesia.
Almost thirty metres. Of the old castle's towers, it alone survived, and a viewing terrace crowns it.
It is a legend, not a documented fact. It tells of Bolko, Leszek and Cieszko, who around the year 810 founded the town by a spring.
Zamek Cieszyn, which is a design centre, and a music school.
The present plant was built in 1846, and the first brewery at the castle was started in 1653.
