Siewierz Market Square

For almost three and a half centuries this square was the centre of a duchy ruled by the bishops of Kraków. Siewierz Market Square was laid out when the town received its charter in 1276, and it still keeps its medieval plan, with streets leading off from the corners. A busy regional road now crosses it, but a quarter of an hour on foot is enough to find the outline of the old town hall, the house where a tsar spent the night, and a fountain featuring the heroines of a well-known Polish folk song.

History: capital of the bishops' duchy

Siewierz was a market settlement as early as the 12th century and was granted town rights under Magdeburg law in 1276 by Duke Władysław of Opole-Racibórz. The spacious square dates from that time. On 30 December 1443, the Bishop of Kraków, Zbigniew Oleśnicki, bought the Duchy of Siewierz from the indebted Duke of Cieszyn, and Siewierz became the capital of a secular duchy ruled by successive bishops of Kraków. It was abolished only by the Great Sejm in 1790. The street names still show the old directions: Bytomska led to Silesia, Krakowska to what was then the capital.

For centuries the square was lined mostly with wooden houses. As late as the early 20th century there were single-storey shingle-roofed cottages with arcades facing the square; they disappeared before the First World War. In 1870 Siewierz lost its town rights as part of tsarist reprisals after the January Uprising.

What to see

• Town hall outline – part of the walls of the 16th-century town hall has been reconstructed on the square, and its footprint is marked in the paving with different-coloured setts and limestone. A plaque shows a 19th-century painting of the town hall by Józef Chełmoński.
• Corner house at Rynek 22 – built around 1690–1710, with a triangular gable with wavy edges. From the early 19th century it was an inn, where Tsar Alexander I stopped in 1823 while travelling through the town; locals call it the "tsar's house".
• Oldest building on the square – a house on the south side whose cellars belonged to the former town court chancery from the early 17th century.
• "Siewierskie Panny" fountain with a dancing couple in folk costume, and the bench of Stanisław Hadyna and Zdzisław Pyzik – composer and lyricist of the song "Od Siewierza jechał wóz" ("A cart came from Siewierz"), performed by the famous "Śląsk" Song and Dance Ensemble.

Interesting facts

From 1484, under Bishop Jan Rzeszowski, the bishops of Kraków began to style themselves Dukes of Siewierz – and kept the title until the duchy was abolished. In 1807 Napoleon briefly restored the duchy and gave it to Marshal Jean Lannes.

Tripto tip

Leave the car in the car park by the square or in a side street – the regional road runs straight through, and through-traffic can be heavy. Allow 20–30 minutes to walk round the square. East of the centre are the parish church and the ruins of the castle of the bishops of Kraków, so the walk can easily stretch to 1.5–2 hours. For the best photo of Rynek 22, stand diagonally from the fountain when the sun lights up its wavy gable.