Shrine of St. Hyacinth (Kamień Śląski Palace)

The Shrine of St. Hyacinth in Kamień Śląski (roughly "KAH-myen SHLON-skee") is a restored Baroque palace in southern Poland where, according to tradition, St. Hyacinth (Jacek Odrowąż) was born in 1183. The Dominican friar became one of medieval Poland's great missionaries, and the room of his birth has been a chapel since the 18th century. Rebuilt from ruins after 1990, the palace now serves as a diocesan shrine, a hotel and a conference center set in a 14-hectare park – a calm, elegant stop between Opole and St. Anne's Mountain.

Where it is

Kamień Śląski is a village of about 1,200 people in the Gogolin municipality, roughly 23 km (14 miles) southeast of Opole – about half an hour by car – and a few miles from the A4 motorway linking Wrocław and Katowice. Wrocław is about 120 km away, Katowice about 90 km; both have international airports. The nearest train station, Otmice, is about 2 km away on the Wrocław–Opole–Bytom line. Like much of this region, the village belonged to Germany until 1945 and is officially bilingual today; its German name is Gross Stein.

History

A stronghold stood here in the early 12th century: the chronicler Gallus Anonymus mentions it as a seat of Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth. Later in that century it belonged to the powerful Odrowąż family, which produced St. Hyacinth and his relative, Blessed Ceslaus. In 1779 the von Larisch family turned the old fortress into a Baroque palace and converted the room where the saint was said to have been born into a chapel; their coat of arms and that of the von Strachwitz family, with the date 1779, still crown the east entrance. The Strachwitz counts owned the estate until 1945, and pilgrims have come here since the early 18th century.

In the 1921 Upper Silesian plebiscite most villagers voted for Poland, but Kamień Śląski stayed in Germany. After the Red Army arrived in 1945 the palace fell into ruin. The Diocese of Opole took it over in 1990, rebuilt it and consecrated it in 1994, with descendants of the Strachwitz family attending. In the Jubilee Year 2000 the chapel was declared a diocesan shrine.

What to see

• St. Hyacinth's Chapel – in the traditional birth room, with a Rococo altar brought from the village of Siestrzechowice near Nysa.
• Ballroom and restored interiors – stucco ceilings and crystal chandeliers.
• The park – about 14 hectares of mature trees, with a modern bell tower inscribed "Laudate Dominum" whose arch frames a lovely view of the palace.
• St. Hyacinth's parish church in the village, remodeled in Neo-Baroque style in 1909.

Visiting tips

You can stroll the park and see the palace exterior on your own; allow about an hour in total. According to information published in 2024, guided tours of the palace run on weekdays at 2 p.m. and on weekends by prior phone arrangement (+48 77 45 19 100). Call before you go to check these times for winter 2026/27. General contact: ul. Parkowa 1a, 47-325 Kamień Śląski, phone +48 77 467 11 20.

Next to the palace, the Sebastianeum Silesiacum wellness and rehabilitation center in former farm buildings follows the water-cure methods of Father Sebastian Kneipp; the park also has a Kneipp pool and a Lourdes grotto.

Nearby

• St. Anne's Mountain – Upper Silesia's main pilgrimage site, about 15 km away.
• Moszna Castle – the region's famous fairy-tale palace, about 45 minutes by car.
• Opole – the regional capital, with its market square and Piast Tower.