Architecture, Katowice

3 Maja Street (former paniaga) is one of the oldest and prettiest streets downtown. An elegant promenade of our city, a place of family and friendly meetings. This oldest city route was created shortly after Rzeszów was granted city rights (in 1354). He connected the headquarters of the then owners of the city (the area of ​​the later built Lubomirski Castle) with the Parish Church and the Bernardine Fathers' Monastery. It begins at Farny Square and the intersection with Kościuszki Street, and ends at the branch where the Lubomirskich Avenue and Zamkowa Street start. The current street name was given to it in 1891 on the occasion of the centenary of the 3rd May Constitution. Initially it was Zamkowa Street, then Pijarska Street, then Pańska Street, it was called Paniaga in the dialect of Rzeszów. In the buildings on the east side of the street behind the building of the "Galeria Paniaga", a large section of the street is occupied by the frontage of the complex of the former Piarist convent, and then two banking buildings. A statue of Stanisław Konarski, unveiled in 1989, by Kazimierz Mierczyński is standing in front of the building of the former college, now I LO. The buildings on the west side of the street, from Farny Square, are opened by a corner tenement house No. 2 built around 1840, which once housed the printing house and the first Andrzej Pelar bookstore in Rzeszów. Further, behind the branch of Jagiellońska Street, there are two stately Art Nouveau tenement houses. http://www.rzeszow.pl/miasto-rzeszow/historia/zabytki-rzeszowa/ulica-3-maja

A medieval monument in an industrial city – Silesian Ostrava Castle.Valuable historical monuments can be seen even in the industrial city of Ostrava. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/ostrava-slezskoostravsky-castle/

You simply should not miss the Olomouc castle site situated on the Wenceslas Hill! Right here in 1306, the last Přemyslid, the Czech king Wenceslas III, was assassinated. You can admire the Bishop's Palace with its famous Romanesque windows, the gothic St. Wenceslas Cathedral, today the seat of the Archbishop of Olomouc, or the Archdiocesan Museum founded on the initiative of Pope John Paul II. http://tourism.olomouc.eu/sights/olomouc-castle/en

The Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc is the largest group of Baroque statues within a single sculptural monument in Central Europe. The column reaches a height of 35 metres and its lower part houses a chapel. The sculptural decoration is made of 18 stone sculptures of saints, 12 light-bearers and 6 relief busts of the apostles. The column is dominated by gilded copper sculptures of the Holy Trinity on the top and the Assumption of the Virgin beneath it. The larger-than-life figures are enveloped in light, airy drapery with lively expressions on their faces and corresponding gesticulations of their hands. The overall sculptural decoration has a natural and harmonious appearance without being exaggerated in the typically flamboyant and exaggerated Baroque mode. http://tourism.olomouc.eu/sights/fountains-and-columns/detail=230/en

Dub nad Moravou and the pilgrimage temple of the Purge of the Virgin Mary, which is dominated by the whole of Haná. The first mention of this Haná town is from 1141, when the settlement is mentioned as the property of the Olomouc capital church. http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/1185264473-poutni-mista/308298380210004-dub-nad-moravou/

One of the many noteworthy places in Kroměříž is without a doubt the Archbishop´s Chateau, which boasts beautiful interiors – a picture gallery of first-rate works by European painters and a Rococo assembly hall. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/kromeriz-archbishops-cellars/

Centennial Hall was recognised as one of the greatest architectonic achievements of the 20th century. It was designed to serve the citizens of Wrocław and the guests visiting the capital of Lower Silesia. https://visitwroclaw.eu/en/place/centennial-hall

It is one of the most popular places for walks. Apart from a few hundreds of original plants, trees, bushes and flowers, there are also Japanese buildings: the gate and the tea pavilion. One of the attractions of the Garden is a pond with enormous carps and other species of fish. The Garden often hosts events like tea perking, concerts and open-air happenings. The Japanese Garden was created in the beginning of the 20th century, on the occasion of the Global Exhibition in 1913. It was an initiative of count Fritz von Hochberg, who employed a Japanese gardener Mankichi Arai. After the Exhibition it was dismantled but the plants and the arrangement of alleys and the pond remained the same. The idea of renewing the Japanese Garden in Wrocław appeared in the 90s. The reconstruction lasted three years, the specialists from Japan came to assist, but the Garden did not survived for long. Two months after the inauguration, the Garden was destroyed by the flood. 70% of the plants were lost. The next opening of the Japanese enclave took place in October 1999. https://visitwroclaw.eu/en/place/japanese-garden-wroclaw

Surrounded by the river Oder, the old burgh, the origin of the city, has fantastic architecture. The greatest ones are the Gothic St. John Baptist cathedral, rebuilt after World War II and Holy Cross church. https://visitwroclaw.eu/en/place/ostrow-tumski-en

Wrocław Puppet Theatre presents adaptations of children literature (Astrid Lindgren’s “Och, Emil”, Piotr Jerszow’s “Konik Garbusek”) and classic fairy tales - Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Puss in Boots. But the Theatre plays not only classics - the latest premieres were mainly original spectacles based on contemporary plays, written especially for Wrocław Puppet Theatre. These are new, highly educational plays, which cross the borders of a regular puppet theatre. https://visitwroclaw.eu/en/place/wroclaw-puppet-theatre

Old Town Hall is a unique Gothic building in European architecture. It has 2 storeys, 3 parts with a rectangular building of the councils, which is attached to the northern wall and a square tower. Located in the city centre, it was being built for about 250 years (13 - 16th century). It used to serve as the seat of the city authorities and the court. The oldest part of the Town Hall was built ca. 1299 (according to the sources). This part is called consistorium (Latin: place of gatherings) and now belongs to the building. The consistorium has two parts: the underground hall covered with the ceiling and the Western tower. After buying the rights of the voyt, the meaning of the Council was much bigger. The growing number of the Council members demanded a new building. In the years 1328-1333, near the consistorium a new, smaller building was built - praetorium (Latin: the seat of the leaders). The building is the northern part of the Town Hall, near the square with the whipping post. Since the very beginning the Town Hall has witnessed many important historical events and has been a representative building where the authorities invited their honourable guests. This tradition is still alive. The most important world leaders, monarchs, clergy and artists have been invited into the Town Hall. In the cellar of the building there is one of the oldest restaurants in Europe - the legendary Piwnica Świdnicka. https://visitwroclaw.eu/en/place/old-town-hall-in-wroclaw

From 2009 the palace is the main building of the City Museum of Wrocław and presents, among others the exhibition “1000 years of Wrocław”. The Royal Palace (Pałac Królewski) was called Spaetgen’s Palace, from the name of one of the first owners. In 1717 baron Heinrich G. Spaetgen bought a small baroque mansion close to Rynek. After his death in 1750, a Prussian King Frederick II bought the palace. It became a royal mansion, and Wrocław joined Berlin and Königsberg (today’s Kaliningrad) as a residence city. The next Prussian kings extended the palace, changed its design and character. In the middle of the 19th century the palace extended itself from Wolności Square to Kazimierza Wielkiego Street. After the fall of the empire the palace was taken by the city authorities, in the 20s the Palace Museum was opened. During World War II the building was seriously damaged. https://visitwroclaw.eu/en/place/royal-palace-historical-museum

Villa Tugendhat has borne witness to the birth of modern housing and also to the tragic fate of the people who lived there. This work by the famous German architect Mies van der Rohe is to this very day regarded as one of the four most important villas in the world. Thanks to its values, this gem of modern architecture has also been included in the UNESCO world heritage list. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/brno-unesco-tugendhat-villa/

Proof of the fact that the Moravian capital still has its secrets, is the newly renovated Brno underground under Zelný trh. It was only recently that a tour route was opened here for the general public, which leads under the surface of one of the oldest squares in Brno. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/brno-underground/

The Brno Dragon and Brno Wheel are well-known symbols of the city and are linked with several legends. You can only see them with your own eyes in the building of the former Town Hall in the Moravian Capital near to Zelný trh. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/brno-old-town-hall/

The museum was created back in 1817 by means of an imperial decree by František I, and nowadays it contains over six million items. Take a closer look at prehistoric life in Pavilon Anthropos where you will see a life-size mammoth and all the things a prehistoric family had to face. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/brno-moravian-museum/

Once a small Romanesque Basilica on Petrov Hill, later rebuilt in the Gothic style, the cathedral was built in 1777 after the Brno bishopric was created. Now its two tall towers, together with Špilberk Castle , form the characteristic silhouette of the city of Brno. In addition to the interior, the Romanesque-Gothic crypt and view from the two towers are a must. The Diocesan Museum and Information Centre is located nearby. The noon ringing at 11 o’clock is part of the legend of the Swedish siege during the Thirty Years War. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/brno-st-peter-and-pauls-cathedral/

A prison shrouded in horrific legends, valuable historical collections, a beautiful view over the city and many cultural events held throughout the year – all of this is Špilberk Castle. One of the two most important dominant features of the Moravian capital and a place which became synonymous with the most horrific of dungeons throughout the whole of Europe is nowadays one of the most valuable monuments in Brno. Špilberk’s importance and role changed fundamentally over the course of the centuries. This leading royal castle and seat of the Moravian margraves, gradually transformed into a monumental Baroque fortress, the toughest prison of the Austrian monarchy and later a military barracks. Nowadays it is home to Brno City Museum and one of the most important cultural centres in the city. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/spilberk-castle/

The Rzeszów castle is undoubtedly one of the most interesting monuments of the city - not only because of its history, but also because of the fact that it is an interesting testimony to conservation thought from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when its present form was created. The castle was located south of the city, in the village of Staroniwa, at the end of an elongated loess headland surrounded on three sides by water obstacles: the Wisłok River and ponds or swamps. The intersection of this promontory with a moat substantially strengthened the defense of this place. In this area, during archaeological research, traces of prehistoric settlement (in the area of ​​the northern curtain of the bastion fortifications) and late-medieval (on the southeast bastion) were found. At present, the hypothesis about the existence of a defensive court, mentioned in the document from 1447, regarding the division of property between Jan and Stanisław Rzeszowski is unlikely to be verified, but this hypothesis is very likely. http://www.rzeszow.pl/miasto-rzeszow/historia/zabytki-rzeszowa/zamek-w-rzeszowie

Lubomirski Summer Palace in Rzeszów is one of the most valuable architectural city preserved to our times. Located in close proximity to the Castle of the Lubomirski, over the centuries, it has undergone many reconstructions. He did not keep their original architectural garments, as well as the baroque gardens that stretched around. Despite this, the testimony of a former glory still patronage of the Lubomirski family, then owners latifundium. Currently, the Summer Palace of Lubomirski houses the seat of the Regional Medical Chamber. Some rooms on the second floor are for rent. The basements described earlier were adapted as restaurant and catering facilities. http://www.rzeszow.pl/miasto-rzeszow/historia/zabytki-rzeszowa/palac-letni-lubomirskich

The first town hall in Rzeszów probably existed in the 14th century. The town foundation act from 1427 issued by Piotr Lunak from Wiśnicz and Stoigniew from Szumsko confirms the existence of the town hall together with cellars at that time, where wine and honey were sold. Further history of the village is unknown, probably during fights with invaders and in city fires it was destroyed many times. The new town hall was built on the order of Mikołaj Spytek Ligęza before 1591. It was a small stone building with a porch, a vestibule and a tower, surrounded by numerous stalls. This building was destroyed during the invasion of Jerzy Rakoczy in 1657. The building of the town hall is mentioned in documents only at the end of the 17th century. 1730 it was renovated and expanded under the leadership of KH Wiedemann. It was a building of various shapes, with a clock tower. http://www.rzeszow.pl/miasto-rzeszow/historia/zabytki-rzeszowa/ratusz

The central square is the Old Town Square with the City Hall and the well of the seventeenth century. The current market differs slightly from the original fifteenth-century appearance - only three frontages of houses are built, which over the centuries underwent reconstructions. They are hotels, restaurants, clubs, pubs, museums, various institutions. http://www.rzeszow.pl/miasto-rzeszow/historia/zabytki-rzeszowa/rynek

The castle was held in possession of various noblemen and its history is interwoven with a number of myths and legends. Today it is a venue of various cultural and social events. At the foot of the castle there is a steamboat stop. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/brno-veveri-castle/

The great fire of the original wooden houses in 1584 gave rise to Mikulov square in its present form. Part of the square, which is also the entrance to Mikulov Castle, is formed by houses with a Renaissance core and picturesque arcades. Probably the most interesting of the Renaissance buildings is the bourgeois Knights’ House (dům U Rytířů), which was created after the rebuilding of several Gothic buildings in the second half of the 16th century. At first glance, you can not overlook it on the square due to its sgraffito decoration with biblical and ancient scenes covering two-thirds of the house. The painting draws attention to the fact that it was originally a two-story house. Another feature of the square is the statue of the Holy Trinity, in addition to showing the Trinity it also displays angels that symbolize faith, hope and love. The column is complemented by statues of St. John of Nepomuk, St. Francis Xavier and Charles Borromeo, who were supposed to protect the inhabitants of the city from the plague. The Plague Column was built during the reign of the Dietrichsteins in 1724. http://www.czechtourism.com/a/mikulov-historic-market-square/

One of the most picturesque castles in Moravia. The silhouette of this monumental castle in South Moravia is visible from afar. In its time it has played host to a number of important personalities, such as French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. http://www.czechtourism.com/c/mikulov-castle/

Near the Hrádek village, the Hrádek u Nechanic Castle was built between 1839 and 1857 on so-called Lubenský hill. It was built as a prestige summer residence of the county family of Harrach by František Arnošt, the count of Harrach, an important representative of the Jilemnice family line. http://www.kralovehradecko-info.cz/en/atraktivity/hradek/hradek-u-nechanic.php

The temple was erected as a proof of grace of the catholic Emperor of Austria for the Silesian evangelicals. Under the arrangement concluded in Altranstädt after a religious war they were granted the right to build six churches in Silesia which at that time was under Austrian rule. http://en.jeleniagora.pl/content/church-elevation-holy-cross

In the central point of the market square there is a building of the town hall. The entire square is surrounded by Baroque tenement houses with arcades, which originally used to serve the merchants to sell their goods. The tenement houses near the market place were settled by the richest citizens – traders, craftsmen, and stallholders – this was evidenced by rich ornaments of the buildings; these were removed in 1960s during a reconstruction of the façades. The arcades were full of drapers’ and furriers’ stalls, bread benches and shambles. http://en.jeleniagora.pl/content/town-hall

Wilanów Palace is a true pearl of Baroque architecture in Warsaw. Learn about King Jan III Sobieski, who successfully fended off the Turks in the battle of Vienna and who lived in Wilanów with his beloved Marysieńka. Take a walk in the park and tour the palace interiors; see the portrait gallery and listen to stories of great romances. The building and the park have both kept their original form, despite the partition, war, and occupation. See the home of King Jan III Sobieski, the vanquisher of the Turks at Vienna, who in 1683 stopped their march through Europe. The ruler, who gained the nickname of the fearless Lion of Lechistan, lived in the palace with his beloved wife, Maria. In the palace, you will see the king’s apartments and the suites of Queen Maria Kazimiera, which include the Chinese, Dutch and Antiquities rooms and the Potocki Museum. Stop for a moment in the White Room to see images of other palace owners and people associated with it. Wilanów Palace is a must-see when visiting Warsaw. In the wintertime, the venue, illuminated with thousands of lamps, transforms into the Royal Garden of Lights. http://warsawtour.pl/en/project/museum-of-king-jan-iiis-palace-at-wilanow-2/

This vast park is a favourite place for Varsovians where they go for long walks amid beautiful nature and architecture to rest from the hustle and bustle of the city. At the heart of the park is the summer residence of the last king of Poland – Stanisław August Poniatowski. The name of the complex comes from the seventeenth-century bathhouse of a Polish nobleman, rebuilt in the 18th century into a palace. Here, in the Palace on the Island, King Stanisław August Poniatowski hosted his famous Thursday dinners, to which he invited scholars and poets to discuss the issues of the day. Today it is a museum where you can admire paintings from the royal collections. In the grounds of Łazienki you will also see an orangery, an amphitheatre, an eighteenth-century court theatre, the Museum of Hunting and Horse-riding, the Myślewicki Palace and numerous free-standing sculptures. http://warsawtour.pl/en/project/lazienki-krolewskie-museum-2/

The highest and most recognisable building in Warsaw can be seen from almost every part of the capital. Where did it come from? It was opened in 1955 on the initiative of Joseph Stalin as a “gift of the Soviet people for the Poles”. Built by Russian workers, for a long time, it was considered to be a symbol of socialist power and the pride of People’s Poland – it was where conventions of the Polish United Workers’ Party took place. Since its very beginning, its monumental interiors have hosted numerous concerts, exhibitions, fairs and shows. Currently, the palace is home to theatres, a cinema, museums, trendy pubs and the main Warsaw Tourist Information office. Go up to the observation deck on the 30th floor of the building and see the beautiful panorama of the city from a height of 114 metres. Take a look at the socialist realist sculptures placed in the niches of the palace’s facade. Each symbolises a different field of science, art, technology or culture, for example a young man with a book of classical literature, a member of komsomol, an archer and a woman from Central Asia. In a direct line from the main entrance, you will find a stone honour tribune, from which the first secretaries of the Central Committee of the Polish communist party greeted those marching on the May Day parade. http://warsawtour.pl/en/project/palace-of-culture-and-science-2/

Zachęta is one of the oldest showrooms in Poland. The impressive building was built between 1898-1900 and designed by Stefan Szyller. All the most outstanding Polish artists’ presented their works in Zachęta, including Wojciech Gerson, Jan Matejko, Józef Chełmoński, Józef Brandt, Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Mehoffer and many others. http://www.warsawtour.pl/en/tourist-attractions/zach-ta-national-gallery-of-art-zach-ta-narodowa-galeria-sztuki-2439.html

Fryderyk Chopin is one of the most famous Varsovians and a trip to his museum is a must on any visit to Warsaw. It is located in the historic Ostrogski Palace and is one of the most modern biographical museums in Europe. The exhibits and multimedia displays tell the story of the life and the work of the composer. You will learn everything about his childhood and youth spent in Warsaw and his life after he emigrated. You will see letters written to him and by him, drawings and dedications. You will see portraits made during the composer’s lifetime, his hand casting, his death mask and priceless memorabilia: a gold watch given to the 10-year-old artist in recognition of his talent, a candy box, a keyring with his initials, a cufflink, and a priceless Pleyel piano on which the composer played for the last two years of his life. https://warsawtour.pl/en/project/chopin-museum-in-warsaw/