The Castle Hill owes its name to the castle built by the Piast Dukes. The oldest monument on Castle Hill is the rotunda dedicated to St. Nicolas. For a time, it had two patrons and is also known as the rotunda of St. Nicolas and St. Wenceslaus. According to the latest research, it dates back to the second half of the 12th century. Nowadays, this monument experiences significant interest from tourists, since its image has been placed on the back of the 20 Polish Złotych banknote.
Cieszyn has been within the borders of Poland since the end of the 10th century with only minor interruptions. As a result of the district split of Poland in 1290, Duke Mieszko chose Cieszyn as his seat. Thus, the Cieszyn Duchy came into existence, which was ruled by the Piasts until 1653. Mieszko’s son, Casimir I, paid fief homage to the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg in 1327, thus initiating the relationship between Cieszyn and Prague. The most prominent princes of Cieszyn were Przemyslaus Noszak (d. 1410), an excellent diplomat, and Casimir II (d. 1528), a relative and associate of the Jagiellonians, who at that time reigned not only in Poland and Lithuania, but also in Bohemia and Hungary. The castle was destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), when various armies invaded the Cieszyn Duchy. The Swedish occupation inflicted particularly severe losses. In 1653, after the death of Princess Elisabeth Lucretia, the Habsburgs, who were the kings of Bohemia, took over the rule of the Cieszyn Duchy together with the title of Dukes of Cieszyn. In 1722, they transferred the title together with the Dukes’ private estates to their relatives. Archduke Karl Ludwig (1771–1847) was the first of them to take a closer interest in the Castle Hill and had a Hunting Palace with an orangery built. He went down in the town’s history as the founder of the Archducal Castle Brewery, which has been continuously operating since 1846, the longest timespan of any brewery in today’s Poland. In addition to the Rotunda, the Gothic Piast Tower, the belfry and the remains of the gate tower have survived from ancient times on Castle Hill. Before the Thirty Years’ War, there were four towers like the present Piast Tower.
Near the stop, there is the medieval St. George’s Church (1 Liburnia Street), the Museum of the 4th Podhale Rifles Regiment (2 Frysztacka Street) dedicated to the unit stationed in Cieszyn between the wars (it boasts a replica of the Enigma cipher machine) and two Jewish cemeteries (Hażlaska Street), the history of the older of which dates back to the 17th century.
From the perspective of “tramway history,” an important place is the building of the former depot (Dojazdowa Street), where a plaque reminding visitors of its past was unveiled in 2010. Passengers getting off the tram at the stop could also take a walk along the charming Przykopa Street, which guidebooks now call the Cieszyn Venice.
author: Michael Morys-Twarowski
