Silesia
The only vestige of the doughty castle that once housed Opole's dukes is this tilting 33m-high watchtower, with walls 3m thick and foundations 6m deep…
Must-see attractions in Silesia
Wrocław
Just outside the ring road encircling the Old Town, the squat brick Arsenal houses the Military Museum and the Archaeological Museum. With two towers and…
Silesia
The restored 17th-century St Hedwig’s Bastion once housed a Prussian garrison and French prisoners during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Beneath the…
Katowice
This impressive Gothic castle was first mentioned in surviving records in 1222, although some experts believe it's originally from the 12th century…
Silesia
Despite its utilitarian name this museum, set within an old red-brick gasworks just a short walk north of the Rynek, is really quite interesting. The…
Katowice
This blocky, 14-storey, 60m-high apartment building was Poland’s tallest building from 1934 until 1955. Considered the purest example of functionalism in…
Silesia
This four-storey 14th-century brick tower is now freestanding, but once guarded a gate through the town walls. Note its unusual turrets and dragon…
Silesia
The centrepiece of Opole’s market square has a 64m-high tower modelled after that of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence; it looks a little overly grand here…
Silesia
Though badly damaged during WWII, Opole’s central market square was rebuilt after the conflict. It’s lined with handsome sand-coloured baroque and rococo…
Silesia
This attractive civic building, built in 1604 to house Nysa's official weights and measures, is a survivor of both the Napoleonic and Red armies; it…
Garrison Church of St Casimir the Prince
Katowice
A functionalist concrete-and-brick affair with lovely art deco interiors, it was built between 1930 and 1933 (the year before the skyscraper opposite,…
Silesia
Dating to the late 13th century, this Gothic cathedral just north of the Rynek features 73m-high towers and mostly baroque interior furnishing. The lovely…
Cathedral of SS Vincent and James
Wrocław
The Gothic Cathedral of SS Vincent and James was originally a Romanesque basilica, founded in the early 13th century. The largest church in the city, it's…
Silesia
Now part of the University of Opole, this church is a relic of a former monastery and also spent time as a hospital. It's an interesting mix of…
Silesia
Visitors can climb this impressive 30m tower, built into the town walls in the 14th century. Ask for the key at the adjacent kiosk, on ul Armii Krajowej.
Silesia
Originally guarding a gate to Nysa's city walls, the white-plastered Wrocław Tower was built in the 14th century and added to in the 17th.
Katowice
In May 1940 popular British novelist PG Wodehouse, creator of the masterful valet Jeeves and his hapless employer Bertie Wooster, was captured by the…
Wrocław
This memorial marks the site of the New Synagogue, built in 1872. It was the country's second-largest synagogue, until it was torched on Kristallnacht (9…
Silesia
The most distinctive of the town's towers, the round Kłodzko Gate Tower guards the southwestern approach to the Old Town.
