Cieszyn

Cieszyn was one town until 1920, when the Olza river through the middle of it became an international border and the western half became Cesky Tesin; both halves still function and the footbridges are walked freely, so the ordinary experience here is crossing between two countries several times in an afternoon. On the castle hill stands the rotunda of St Nicholas, a small round Romanesque chapel of the eleventh century, one of the oldest stone buildings in Poland, and it appears on the reverse of the twenty-zloty note. Beside it is a Gothic tower, all that survives of the Piast castle, and a nineteenth-century hunting lodge by Joseph Kornhausel with a park. The old town has a long sloping market square, a well of three brothers tied to the founding legend, and one of the largest Lutheran churches in the country, the Jesus Church, begun in 1709 after Charles XII of Sweden made the emperor grant rights to Protestants.

History

Legend says that in 810 three brothers, Bolko, Leszko and Cieszko, met here at a spring after a long journey and founded a settlement they called Cieszyn, from cieszym się, "we are happy"; the well stands on Three Brothers Street. The town became the capital of the Duchy of Cieszyn in 1290, ruled by the Piasts until 1653, and in May 1779 Maria Theresa and Frederick II signed the Treaty of Teschen here, ending the War of the Bavarian Succession (Wikipedia, Cieszyn).

The main sights

• The rotunda of St Nicholas - eleventh-century, round, and on the twenty-zloty note.
• A town split by a border - footbridges over the Olza to the Czech half.
• The Piast tower - the surviving fragment of the castle on the hill.
• The Jesus Church of 1709 - among the largest Lutheran churches in Poland.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Before you go

The rotunda is tiny and entry is limited to small groups. Museums close on Mondays. The Czech half is a separate town with its own opening hours and currency. The market square is steep.

Nearby

Cesky Tesin is across the footbridge; the Beskids rise to the east.

Key facts