Historic sites
Gothic-Renaissance residence of the bishops of Kraków, now a permanent ruin with a tower and a loggia
Churches and monasteries
Romanesque church from the 12th century with narrow loophole windows and traces of polychromy
Churches and monasteries
Gothic church from the 15th century, rebuilt in the Baroque and Neoclassical styles, set in a wall with a bishops' gate
Museums
a museum in an 18th-century manor house with models of Siewierz castle and town hall
Churches and monasteries
a hospital church from 1618 with a late Renaissance altar and a Baroque pulpit
Things to do in Siewierz: the ruined castle of the Kraków bishops, a twelfth-century Romanesque church, a local museum and three historic churches.
For centuries Siewierz was the capital of a duchy held by the bishops of Kraków, and the layout of the small town still shows it. The five places on the list lie close together, so an architecture-minded afternoon will easily cover them.
The Siewierz Bishops' Castle is a largely preserved permanent ruin of four three-storey wings around a rectangular courtyard, with a five-storey tower that turns from a square into an octagon. For over three hundred years it was the residence of the Kraków bishops, who ruled the Duchy of Siewierz. It grew out of a fortified stronghold of the thirteenth century, and the first masonry element was a cylindrical keep nine metres across. The borderland where the duchy lay is the subject of the article Siewierz and Morsko: the duchy of the Kraków bishops and the castle on the Tygrys rock.
Models of the castle as it looked at the end of the eighteenth century, and of the town hall that no longer exists, from the sixteenth century, can be seen in the Traditions and Old Culture Room at ulica Kościuszki 5. The municipal museum has operated since 2005 in an eighteenth-century manor house, and its displays also include archaeological finds, crafts and old trade tools. Its indoor rooms also help when the weather turns.
The oldest is the Church of St John the Baptist, a Romanesque stone building from the twelfth century, today a cemetery chapel on ulica Cmentarna. Most sources date it to around 1144, although 1164 is sometimes given, and the founder was Piotr Włostowic. Narrow, loophole-like windows recall its defensive role, and fragments of medieval wall painting survive in the apse.
The Church of St Matthias the Apostle, from the first half of the fifteenth century, is the parish church of the former bishops' town, close to the castle. The bishops rebuilt it twice, Piotr Gembicki in 1647-1657 and Kajetan Sołtyk in 1782-1784, which gave it its present Baroque-Classical look. An eighteenth-century wall with a bishops' gate surrounds it.
The Church of St Barbara and St Valentine at ulica Krakowska 37 was built by the townspeople in 1618 as a hospital church for the hospital active since 1515. It is a single-nave brick building painted white, with a late Renaissance altar of 1620-1640. All three churches appear together under churches and monasteries in Siewierz.
The bishops' castle is a permanent ruin with a tower, a loggia and a reconstructed gate. Its former appearance is shown by the models in the Traditions Room.
The Romanesque Church of St John the Baptist from the twelfth century, today a cemetery chapel.
Visit the Traditions and Old Culture Room, the municipal museum with models of the castle and the old town hall.
The bishops of Kraków, who lived in the Siewierz castle for over three hundred years.
