Wooden Architecture Route in Silesian Voivodeship

The oldest wooden church in Upper Silesia has its date written in its tree rings: dendrochronological research in 2011 dated St Martin's church in Ćwiklice to 1466. It is one of nearly a hundred monuments on the Wooden Architecture Route of the Silesian Voivodeship – a network of roads some 1,060 km long running from Częstochowa and Lubliniec down to the Silesian and Żywiec Beskids. Churches, bell towers, inns, cottages and open-air museums show what village life in the region looked like before mines and steelworks took over.

How the route works

According to the official portal, the route now covers 97 historic buildings and complexes: churches, chapels, bell towers, inns, cottages, open-air museums and farm buildings. Its backbone is the Main Route, about 326 km long, linking Gwoździany in the north with Jeleśnia in the Żywiec region and continuing to Lachowice in Lesser Poland. Five regional loops branch off it – Częstochowa, Gliwice, Pszczyna, Rybnik and Beskidy – so the route can be explored piece by piece on day trips. The Silesian section is part of a wider network of wooden architecture routes that also runs through Lesser Poland and Subcarpathia.

The region's oldest timber

The oldest buildings on the route are considered to be the All Saints churches in Sieroty (Gliwice county) and Łaziska (Wodzisław county), built in the mid-15th century. Dendrochronology made it possible to date the church in Ćwiklice near Pszczyna precisely. The list also includes St Michael the Archangel's church in Katowice in Kościuszko Park, the St James sanctuary in Szczyrk, St Barbara's church in Bielsko-Biała Mikuszowice, the Church of the Assumption in Gliwice and St Valentine's church in Woźniki, beside which lies the grave of Józef Lompa.

Not only churches

• The Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park in Chorzów and the Pszczyna Village Farmstead – open-air museums with cottages, farmsteads and outbuildings.
• The old inn in Jeleśnia – a roadside tavern on the Main Route.
• The wooden chapel by the President's Castle on Zadni Groń in Wisła and the churches of Istebna – the timber architecture of the Silesian Beskids.
• The Weaver's House in Bielsko-Biała – a stop on the route right in the city.

Tripto tip

Don't try to drive the whole route at once – pick one loop per day. Good starting points are Katowice (the church in Kościuszko Park, with the Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park in Chorzów nearby) or the area around Pszczyna with Ćwiklice and the open-air museum. Many churches are closed outside service times, so the easiest way to see the interiors is before or after Mass, or by contacting the parish in advance. You'll find the full list and descriptions of all sites on the sad.slaskie.travel portal.