Castles

Kończyce Małe Castle

Tucked among trees on the road from Jastrzębie-Zdrój to Cieszyn, the castle in Kończyce Małe is sometimes called the Wawel of Cieszyn Silesia — a name it owes to its representative arcaded courtyard, found in no other seat of the Cieszyn nobility. Strictly speaking, it is a fortified manor, the only one of its kind preserved in Cieszyn Silesia.

From the Golasowscy to the Czelowie

The stronghold was built at the end of the 14th century by the Golasowscy family as a Gothic castle. In 1560 it was enlarged by Jerzy Sedlnicki, commemorated by a stone portal whose lintel bears the Odrowąż coat of arms. After the marriage of Katarzyna of the Sedlniccy, the property passed to the Czela family of the Kościesza arms, one of the most important families of the Duchy of Cieszyn. Piotr Czela, son of the ducal chancellor Jan Czela, gave the residence its Renaissance character: four wings opened with arcades onto the courtyard, and an entrance gate was placed in the south-eastern corner.

The castle today

Today the castle houses a museum room and an inn with a restaurant, and around it stretches a historic park with a pond where swans swim, crossed by a romantic little bridge. Kończyce Małe lies on the Piotrówka river; the village was first mentioned around 1305 in the register of the Wrocław bishopric. For travellers on the Jastrzębie–Cieszyn route it is a convenient stop for a rest and a meal within historic walls.