Wrocław
Wrocław’s pride and joy is this giant painting of the battle for Polish independence fought at Racławice on 4 April 1794, between the Polish army led by…
Must-see attractions in Silesia
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Cathedral of SS James and Agnes
Silesia
Nysa’s mighty cathedral dominates the northern end of the Rynek with its imposing walls of time-soiled brick and a vast gabled roof – one of the steepest…
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Wrocław
See if you can spot the tiny bronze statue of a dwarf resting on the ground, just to the west of the Hansel & Gretel houses. A few metres away you’ll spot…
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Katowice
A symbol of Katowice's transition from a centre of heavy industry to one of culture, the Silesian Museum sits in an ingeniously repurposed coal mine in…
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Wrocław
This glorious Gothic edifice, Wrocław's quintessential photo opportunity, took shape over more than 200 years. The right-hand part of the eastern facade,…
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Museum of Katowice History at Nikiszowiec
Katowice
This branch of Katowice's museum, an ethnographic exploration of working-class and industrial life in Upper Silesia, lies in the distinctive suburb of…
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Franciscan Church of the Holy Trinity
Silesia
This church off the southern corner of the Rynek was built of brick around 1330. It boasts an ornate high altar, an 18th-century organ and a domed…
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Wrocław
Established by the Jesuits in the early 18th century, the University of Wrocław's main edifice was built between 1728 and 1742. While it's very much a…
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Church of the Holy Name of Jesus
Wrocław
Wrocław University's baroque-rococo church is arguably the most beautiful in the city. It was built by the Jesuits in the 1690s on the site of the former…
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Cathedral of St Mary Magdalene
Wrocław
One block east of the Rynek is this mighty Gothic red-brick cathedral, dating to the 14th century. Its showpiece is a Romanesque portal from around 1280…
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Silesia
This grandiose ducal residence dates back to the 12th century, when the Opole dukes built a hunting lodge here. Rebuilt as a Renaissance palace in the…
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Wrocław
In Trzebnica, 25km north of Wrocław, this abbey church is thought to be one of the first brick buildings erected in Poland. Though rebuilt in the 18th…
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Wrocław
Wrocław's National Museum is a treasure trove of fine art from across the ages. Medieval sculpture is displayed on the ground floor; exhibits include the…
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Silesia
Diverse architecture within Nysa's vast market square suggests the extent of damage done in WWII. Only the southern side retains anything akin to its…
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Wrocław
Taking over both artefacts and premises from the former Silesian Museum of Artistic Crafts and Antiquities, the Museum of Architecture is located in a…
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Katowice
With a base measuring 89m by 53m, this is Poland's largest cathedral. Erected between 1927 and 1955, the neoclassical sandstone basilica's progress was…
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Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park
Katowice
This sprawling open-air museum contains scores of traditional wooden buildings spread over 20 hectares, representing architectural styles from Upper…
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Silesia
Established in Nysa's grand 17th-century Bishops' Palace in 1897, this museum exhibits include local archaeology from prehistory to early modern times…
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Church of Our Lady on the Sand
Wrocław
This lofty 14th-century building dominates the tiny islet known as Sand Island (Wyspa Piasek). Almost all the fittings were destroyed during WWII and the…
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Katowice
In May 1940 popular British novelist PG Wodehouse, creator of the masterful valet Jeeves and his hapless employer Bertie Wooster, was captured by the…
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Wrocław
Set in the northwestern corner of the Rynek are two charming houses known locally as Jaś i Małgosia, better known to English and German speakers as Hansel…
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Katowice
The city's central market square is not lined with historical burghers' houses as you’d find elsewhere in Silesia, but is instead encircled by drab…
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Wrocław
The main attraction here is the Gothic interior of the Old Town Hall (Stary Ratusz). Look for the Great Hall (Sala Wielka) on the 1st floor, with carved…
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Silesia
The European bison, the continent's largest mammal, grazes contentedly on this 10-hectare 'farm' on the western edge of Pszczyna's great belt of parkland…
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Silesia
Pszczyna's elongated, leafy market square is lined with old burghers’ houses dating mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. On its northern side is the…
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Wrocław
Appropriately housed within the squat brick Arsenal, this collection of militaria includes four rooms with exhibits from the 17th to the 20th centuries; a…
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Wrocław
On the first floor of the main building of the University of Wrocław, this ceremonial hall is Wrocław's most beautiful baroque interior, embellished with…
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Church of SS Stanislaus, Wenceslas and Dorothy
Wrocław
Founded in 1351, this massive Gothic assemblage just south of the Old Town commemorates the meeting between Polish Kazimierz III Wielki (Casimir III the…
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Cathedral of St John the Baptist
Wrocław
The centrepiece of Cathedral Island, this three-aisled Gothic basilica was built between 1244 and 1590. Seriously damaged during WWII, it was later…
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Wrocław
The Old Jewish Cemetery, founded in 1856, contains more than 12,000 headstones over two hectares; some bear the scars of rearguard actions fought here by…
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Silesia
The only vestige of the doughty castle that once housed Opole's dukes is this tilting 33m-high watchtower, with walls 3m thick and foundations 6m deep…
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Wrocław
This 14th-century Gothic basilica has a triple nave reaching to 30m and is lined by medieval chapels. It's one of Wrocław's most imposing churches, with a…
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Wrocław
Just outside the ring road encircling the Old Town, the squat brick Arsenal houses the Military Museum and the Archaeological Museum. With two towers and…
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Wrocław
Also known as Passage, this arresting sculpture depicts seven bronze pedestrians literally being swallowed by the pavement, only to re-emerge on the other…
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Silesia
The restored 17th-century St Hedwig’s Bastion once housed a Prussian garrison and French prisoners during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Beneath the…
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Silesia
Two blocks east of the market square, this museum is housed in a former Jesuit college dating to 1698, with the more recent addition of a glass-and…
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Katowice
This impressive Gothic castle was first mentioned in surviving records in 1222, although some experts believe it's originally from the 12th century…
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Silesia
Despite its utilitarian name this museum, set within an old red-brick gasworks just a short walk north of the Rynek, is really quite interesting. The…
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Silesia
A five-minute walk east of Pszczyna's central square is this small but interesting open-air museum, with half a dozen historical timber structures dating…
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Wrocław
Housed alongside the Military Museum in Wrocław's squat 15th-century Arsenal, the Archaeological Museum concentrates on human material culture in Silesia…
