Sielecki Park and Sielecki Castle in Sosnowiec

On the banks of the Czarna Przemsza river, a few hundred metres from central Sosnowiec, stands the oldest building in the city: Sielecki Castle, whose origins go back to the 15th century. Around it spreads Sielecki Park, more than 20 hectares of greenery laid out in the 19th century by the Renard family. For decades this was private land that you could only enter with a pass. Today the park is open to everyone and the castle houses an art gallery.

History: from fortified manor to gallery

The first record of a defensive building in Sielec dates from 1403. In 1620 Sebastian Minor completed a masonry residence here with four wings and corner towers, an event recorded on a plaque that still survives in the castle chapel. The castle changed hands many times: it belonged to a Prussian general and later to the Duke of Pless. After a fire in 1824 it was rebuilt, but the east wing with the gate was demolished and the moats were filled in. That is how today's horseshoe layout with an open courtyard came about.

In 1856 Count Andrzej Renard bought the Sielec estate for his son Jan. The castle was given a more stately look and an English-style landscape park was laid out around it. From 1875 the estate manager Ludwik Mauve looked after it, so locals called it Mauve's Park or the Renard Park. A two-metre limestone wall enclosed the grounds and park guards watched the gates.

After the Second World War the castle held colliery offices, and from 1981 to 1995 a Museum of Contemporary Glass. The run-down building closed in 1995 and, after restoration in 1999–2002, reopened as the Sosnowiec Art Centre – Sielecki Castle.

What to see in the castle

• Three wings of limestone and brick and four corner towers with pyramid roofs.
• The former chapel on the first floor of the north wing, with a barrel vault and geometric stucco decoration.
• Archaeological finds left on view and restored wall paintings in the north tower, uncovered during work in 2015.
• Exhibitions in three galleries. The castle also runs an annual photography festival and art workshops.

What to see in the park

The Czarna Przemsza divides the park into an old part (10.4 ha) and a new part (9.84 ha). About 60 species of trees and shrubs grow here and 12 trees are protected natural monuments, including late poplars with a girth of 3–5 metres, elms, an oak and a catalpa. Look out for traces of the old enclosure: two small brick towers, one of them by the river in the old part of the park. On the paths near the music school you will find a statue of the young Jan Kiepura, the opera tenor born in Sosnowiec.

Did you know?

• In 1967 a Monument to the Revolutionary Deed, a tall structure of steel tubes, was put up in the middle of the park. Fidel Castro (1972) and Leonid Brezhnev (1974) both spoke beneath it. It was dismantled in 1991, and its platform now carries a white eagle and the words "Freedom, Work, Dignity".
• Until the 1940s access to the park was restricted and required a pass.

Tripto tip

The park is free to enter. Exhibitions in the castle (ul. Zamkowa 2) are open Tuesday to Friday 10:00–18:00 and on Saturdays and Sundays 15:00–19:00 (last tickets 18:30); the castle is closed on Mondays. A standard ticket costs PLN 15, a reduced one PLN 10. There are two guest spaces by the entrance and a large car park about 20 metres away, in front of the former Winter Stadium. Parking around the castle is free.

Allow 1.5–2 hours for a walk through both parts of the park and a look at the castle. Families will appreciate the playground, the 1.5 km inline-skating loop and the brine graduation tower opened in 2023.