On the way from the Demel Square stop to the Old Market stop, one passes St. Mary Magdalene Church on the left. It was built in the 13th century as a Dominican church. When the Cieszyn Duchy was established in 1290 as a result of the division of the Kingdom of Poland, the church became the necropolis of the local Piast line, which ruled until 1653. In the centre, there is a Gothic tomb of the most prominent Piast Duke of Cieszyn, Przemyslaus Noszak (reigned 1358–1410), a prominent diplomat, loyal collaborator of the Czech Kings Charles IV of Luxembourg and his son Wenceslaus IV. The German House, opened in 1898, was located at the height of the Old Market in a tenement house at 15 Głęboka Street. The building housed German associations as well as a restaurant and a doctor’s surgery. Today, there is the Town Library. There had been a statue of the Madonna and Child in the Old Market since 1844. For decades it was regarded as a copy from the 19th century of little artistic value. It wasn’t until the year 2000 and the removal of 32 (!) layers of repaints, when it turned out to be a true gem of Gothic sculpture, since it is a figure from the second half of the 14th century, which can be linked to the workshop of the famous Prague sculptor Peter Parler. As a result, the Madonna ended up in the Museum of Cieszyn Silesia, whereas on the pedestal in the Old Market, a copy was placed. Nearby (2 Old Market), there is the Chamber of Cieszyn Masters and the workshop of Jerzy Walga, a gunsmith producing the “cieszynka,” a rifle for which Cieszyn craftsmen were famous in modern times.
Near the bus stop, one can see the Three Brothers Well (Three Brothers Street). According to a popular legend, three sons of King Leszek III met there in 810 and founded the town Cieszyn (from “cieszyć się” meaning “to rejoice”). Actually, the name referred to brothers in a different sense, as it belonged to the Dominicans, and the story of the three brothers itself was probably invented in the early 19th century by the mayor and chronicler Alojzy Kaufmann.
author: Michael Morys-Twarowski
