Dzięgielów Castle

Dzięgielów Castle is a Renaissance fortified manor with Gothic parts, located in Dzięgielów near Goleszów, on the Dzięgielówka stream. Today it operates as a hotel, and over its history it has housed a brewery, forestry staff flats and a village community hall.

From fortified manor to castle

The original four-sided fortified manor with a tower was built at the end of the 15th century by Jan Czelo of Czechowice, a courtier of the Duke of Cieszyn. The Czelo family held Dzięgielów until 1719. After the destruction of the Thirty Years' War the castle was rebuilt in the mid-17th century by Jan Goczałkowski, and the building took the form of an irregular quadrangle with a courtyard. In the 1760s Antoni Goczałkowski and his wife, Countess Prażma, added a fifth wing on the north side, which now houses part of the hotel.

The fire and later history

In 1793 the last noble owner, Baron Józef Beess von Chrostin, sold the estate to the Cieszyn Chamber, which converted the castle into flats for the steward and the farm staff. In 1870 a fire broke out in the distillery in the east wing and destroyed almost the whole castle, together with the wooden tower and the mill. The rebuilding was done quickly, with no regard for the original state, hence the neo-Gothic gables. After the First World War the manor was taken over by the state. In 1932 it was bought by Father Karol Kulisz, who planned an old people's home and a folk high school, but the plans were cut short by the Second World War. In 1945 the castle was again taken over by the State Treasury, then passed to the municipality of Goleszów, and in the 1960s and 1970s it housed a community hall. In 1993 it passed into private hands and after renovations regained the look of a knight's castle.

Architecture

The building is made of stone and brick, plastered, of two storeys and partly with a cellar. It now has three wings, as the east wing was demolished, and on the north side stands an 18th-century wing. In the north-western corner is a double-flight staircase, and on the courtyard side the ground floor is cut through by three semicircular arcades on broad piers. The interiors have preserved barrel and sail vaults. Two late Baroque statues of Saints Anthony and Florian from 1756, the work of Antonio Stanetti, formerly stood in front of the castle and are now in the lapidarium in Peace Park at the Museum of Cieszyn Silesia in Cieszyn.

Nearby

Cycling routes pass right by the castle, among them the Main Carpathian Cycle Route, and east of the castle a black hiking trail runs from Goleszów to Czantoria Wielka. Not far away stands the PTTK Mountain Hut below Tuł.

In Goleszów itself it is worth looking in at the Church of St Michael the Archangel.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Zamkowa 38, Dzięgielów.
• The castle is a private property with a hotel. Check with the hotel before your visit whether it can be visited, and the opening hours and entry rules.
• Location: the eastern part of the village, at the junction of the roads from Cieszyn to Ustroń and from Goleszów to Třinec.