Churches & monasteries

St. Gotthard Rotunda in Strzelin

On a rise by the old town of Strzelin stands one of the oldest stone buildings of Lower Silesia — the Romanesque rotunda of St. Gotthard. The central-plan church was probably built in the first half of the 13th century, though some scholars date it to the end of the 12th. The type, known from Bohemia and Moravia, has today only two preserved analogies in Silesia: in Cieszyn and in the village of Stronia near Oleśnica.

A tower that used to be a church

Subsequent rebuilds blurred the original shape of the rotunda. In the 14th century the semicircular presbytery was replaced with a rectangular stone nave covered with a two-bay vault, in the 15th century a twin southern nave was added, and the rotunda itself was raised with a masonry octagonal storey and turned into a bell tower. The transformations went so far that early scholars believed the round tower was a remnant of a defensive tower.

Polnische Kirche — the church of the Polish language island

For centuries the temple served the inhabitants of the Strzelin Polish language island — until the 19th century it functioned under the name Polnische Kirche. From 1574 it belonged to Lutherans, in 1698 the Catholics regained it, only to lose it again to Protestants in 1709. After the Second World War it stood unused for a long time; in 1992 it was taken over by the Strzelin parish of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

In practice

The rotunda stands a dozen or so steps from the market square, so you can view its exterior while strolling around the old town — the interior is made available occasionally. The drive from Wrocław takes less than an hour by car. For comparison, see the twin rotunda on Castle Hill (Góra Zamkowa) in Cieszyn.