Welcome to Pszczyna - one of the oldest and most scenic towns in the Silesian Province and the capital of Ziemia Pszczyńska, a land rich in traditions and architectural treasures. Owing to its superb location, well-preserved old buildings and attractiveness for tourists Pszczyna is often called "The Pearl of  Upper Silesia".

The history of this land, and thus the history of the castle and the adjacent town, goes back to the beginnings of the Piast dynasty. According to Schaeffer, a ducal annalist living in the 19th century, the first castle of the Piast Princes had been built as early as in the 12th century, whereas the beginnings of the town date from the turn of the 13th century. It was then when a castle, surrounded by earthworks with a moat and the adjacent town-stronghold which functioned as a market place and a guard tower at the same time, had stood next to the main trade route leading from Ukraine to Małopolska and the Moravian Gate to the south of Europe. The land was quite marshy, and the river, lazily heading for the river Vistula, created numerous water floods here. In all likelihood this is how the name "plsczyna" was derived - it meant an area abounding in stagnant waters and swamps. However, according to the linguist Prof. Jan Miodek, the town owes its name to the name of the river Pszczynka (in the former spelling - Blszczynka - from Polish verb "błyszczeę - glisten, shimmer").

In those long-gone days, the Land of Pszczyna was a part of Małopolska. It became a part of Silesia in 1178 when it passed into the hands of the Piast prince of the Opole-Racibórz line. 
Pszczyna, as "CIVITAS" - a town founded next to the formerly existing stronghold, was mentioned in 1327 in a document in which Piast Prince Leszek - the last independent ruler of the Opole-Racibórz principality - paid homage to king John of Luxembourg. After his death in 1336, Pszczyna was taken into possession by the Opava princes from the Bohemian dynasty of Premyslids. 

In 1407, one of the Bohemian princes separated out an area from his principality as life property for his wife Helena Korybutówna. This land, called then the land of Pszczyna, encompassed Pszczyna, Mikołów, Bieruń Stary and Mysłowice (until 1536). Under rule of the duchess, in the early 15th century, the hunting lodge yielded to a gothic building girdled by walls and a moat. Owing to that fortress, the town managed to ward off Hussite attacks that ravaged the area. 

In 1548, Hungarian magnate Jan Turzo sold the State of Pszczyna to the Bishop of Wrocław, Balthasar von Promnitz from Żary. In this way the Duchy came in the hands of one of the most eminent families in the then Silesia for the two following centuries. 
Under the reign of the Promnitz family and then their relatives, the family of Anhalt-Köthen, Pszczyna maintained close relationships with the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków. The owners cared for the development of music life as well. In the years 1704-1708, Georg Philipp Telemann, an outstanding composer of the German baroque, fulfilled the function of the court kapellmeister. 

In 1846, the entire Pszczyna estates passed to the Hochberg counts, whose ancestral seat had been the castle in Książ near Wałbrzych. It was one of the richest noble families in the then Europe; they received the ducal mitre in 1848 and since that moment, they assumed the name von Pless, becoming thus the Dukes of Pszczyna. The Hochbergs persisted in improving their summer and hunting seats and estates throughout the entire 19th century. It was them who brought wisents to the Pszczyna forests in order to add splendour to the hunting parties where almost all European rulers were invited.
The town became then an important centre of crafts: people worked in cloth works, tanneries, metal works, brickyards, oil-houses, and tile works. Moreover, weapon was also produced. 
In the early 19th century two printing houses were founded in Pszczyna. The first was opened in 1805 by Karl Beniamin Fiestel, and the second - in 833 - by Christian Schemmel, who in 1845 published "Weekly for Estate Holders" - the first newspaper in Upper Silesia printed in the Polish language.

During the First World War, Pszczyna was the seat of the headquarters of the German army fighting on the west. It was here where in 1916 the German-Austrian proclamation establishing the "independent" Kingdom of Poland, the so-called 5th November Act. 

In August 1919 on the Land of Pszczyna the first Silesian uprising broke out. The assembly of the insurgents took place in the park next to the Three Oaks. 

Owing to participation of the inhabitants in the three Silesian uprisings and the results of the plebiscite of 1921 (74 percent of the poviat population were in favour of Poland), the Land of Pszczyna returned to the Motherland. In 1922, the Polish forces commanded by General Szeptycki marched in to the town. This ceremony was also attended by the commander of all Silesian uprisings Wojciech Korfanty. 

September 1939 saw heroic defence of the town by the former Silesian insurgents and scouts, and heavy struggles of Army Kraków units. At the turn of 1944 Pszczyna witnessed the  "march of death" of Oœwiźcim (Auschwitz) prisoners. 
Fortunately, the town, liberated in February 1945, did not suffer serious war damages or destruction. Its valuable monuments and items of historic interest have survived and today tourists from home and abroad may see them on various displays available in the region.

Castle

In the immediate neighbourhood of the market square, right behind the Wybrantzen Gate, the magnificent residence of the Dukes of Pszczyna is situated. A little farther the following buildings are to be seen: the castle Outhouse, the Stables, the Riding Stables, the Coach-house, and - at the edge of the beautiful and wide landscape park - the Ludwikówka manor house.

The Castle Museum occupies a once fortified castle, with time converted into an elegant, three-wing residence. In all likelihood, the first castle in Pszczyna - according to Heinrich Schaeffer, a ducal annalist and Pszczyna chronicler who lived in the 19th century - was built in the 11th or 12th century by the Piast princes. It had been a one-wing construction, surrounded by earthworks and a moat. It served as a hunting lodge, also throughout the following centuries until the 20th century since the nearby forests, abundant in chase game, were famous for hunting parties organised in the area. It was only in the 15th century that a brick castle was built in Pszczyna by Helena Korybutówna, a niece of Władysław Jagiełło.

This mediaeval castle - within the centuries - was many a time rebuilt and extended. The last reconstruction - in the neo-baroque style - was carried out in the years 1871-1876, by Aleksandre Hippolite Destailleur, a famous French architect (1822-1893). Contrary to the previous works, protracted due to lack of financial resources, this reconstruction was done with a flourish and without getting into debt. In this style the castle has preserved up to these days.

The successive rulers of the castle in Pszczyna were the Piast princes of the Opole-Racibórz line, the Bohemian Premyslids of Opawa, a Hungarian family of Turzon from Spisz, a Silesian family of Promnitz from Żary, the Anhalt family from Köthen and the Hochbergs from Książ. What deserves particular emphasis is the fact that Pszczyna, situated on the cultural borderland, has always witnessed peaceful harmony among the Polish, Czech, Hungarian and German cultures.

During the First World War, from the autumn of 1914 to February 1917, the castle housed the headquarters of the German army. Emperor William II, along with field marshal Paul Hindenburg and general Erich Ludendorff, held staff meetings during which they reached important political and military decisions of the highest historic significance. 
It was here from where Arthur Zimmermann, the then minister of foreign affairs, sent a telegram meant to provoke war on the American continent. This was also the place where the decision on the total underwater war on the Atlantic was taken. Details of those events have been described by Barbara Tuchman, an American writer, in her book The Zimmermann telegram (published in Poland in 1997). Bogusław Wołoszański, a famous Polish journalist who specialises in war issue, also referred to the events that took place in Pszczyna in his book Ten okrutny wiek (This Cruel Century) (published in Warsaw in 1995) and made a documentary (June 2000) in the Sensacje XX wieku (Sensations of the 20th century) series. 

In the turbulent days of the Second World War, the castle housed various civilian and military institutions of the Nazi Germany. After the liberation of Pszczyna in February 1945, a part of the castle was transformed into a Red Army hospital. After the Soviet forces had left the building, the then authorities considered various options of its further use. Eventually, a decision to establish a museum in the castle was taken. 

The museum was opened on the 9th of May 1946. Based on the preserved original interiors and a part of furniture from the Hochbergs' times, as well as on works of art brought from other Silesian castles ruined by war, the museum presented residential interiors from the Renaissance to the late 19th century. 

Many years later, actions were undertaken aimed at restoring the traditional, elegant and hunting style to the Pszczyna castle. Reconstruction of the castle interiors was commenced. These accomplishments have been noticed and recognised in Europe. In 1995, the supragovernmental organisation Europa Nostra based in the Hague, engaged in the protection of European cultural heritage and natural environment awarded the Castle Museum in Pszczyna a honorary diploma for "the careful refurbishment of the castle's interiors and furnishings, all based on meticulous historic research, to restore the lustre of the early 20th century".
 

Today, the Castle Museum in Pszczyna is a scientific and cultural centre. It is one of the most frequently visited museums-residences in Poland. Every year, the castle attracts over 100 thousand tourists. Moreover, the music-making tradition always vivid in the castle is still continued. It goes back to the times of Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), a famous composer of the German baroque, who spent summer months in Pszczyna in the years 1704 to 1707.

Since 1979 the Museum has been organising concerts of baroque music, known as Telemann Soirées.
It should be also mentioned that in August 2000, the Pszczyna Museum received the G.Ph. Telemann award from the authorities of Magdeburg for "outstanding services to the interpretation, cultivation and research activity connected with the life and artistic output of the composer".

MARKET SQUARE

The old town has preserved its traditional, medieval spatial layout.
The town centre is a market square, one of the oldest and most beautiful in southern Poland. It is surrounded by meticulously renovated tenement houses dating from the 18th and 19 centuries. 
The medieval spatial layout is bordered with the Warowna, Piwowarska and Basztowa streets.
Among historical buildings on the market square, there are several particularly interesting. These are: the Guardhouse with the so-called Gate of Wybrantzen ("wybraniec" meaning a peasant enlisted into the army), the Town Hall, the catholic and evangelic churches and "Frykówka".

http://www.pszczyna.pl/