Bielsko-Biala Old Town

Bielsko-Biala is two towns joined in 1951, one Silesian and one Galician, on opposite banks of the Biala, and both grew rich on wool - the cloth made here was exported across the Habsburg empire, and the money went into the buildings, which is why the centre has a density of nineteenth-century and Secession architecture unusual for a city of this size and earned it the nickname of a little Vienna. The Sulkowski castle above the old town, medieval in origin and remodelled in the 1850s, holds the city museum. The old town proper is a small sloping square with narrow streets around it, restored in the 2000s after long neglect. Bielsko is also the home of the Se-ma-for and Studio Filmow Rysunkowych animation studios, which made Bolek and Lolek and Reksio, characters known to every Polish adult, and there are statues of them on the streets and a small museum.

What you actually see

• Habsburg-era facades - nineteenth-century and Secession work from the wool trade.
• Sulkowski castle - medieval core, remodelled in the 1850s, now the city museum.
• A small sloping old town - restored in the 2000s after decades of neglect.
• Cartoon characters - Bolek, Lolek and Reksio, made here, with statues in the streets.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Honest expectations

The old town is compact and the interest is spread through the wider centre. Some Secession buildings are still shabby. Museums close on Mondays. The animation museum is small.

Nearby

Szczyrk and the Beskids are south; Zywiec is south-east.