The Renaissance castle of Silesian Piasts with arcaded courtyard and three-level cloisters is the most impressive historic building. It contains a Gothic St Hedwig's Chapel with rococo interior decorations and houses the museum of Silesian Piasts which features, among other exhibits, sarcophagi of Legnica and Brzeg princes and a medieval hunting bow (14th c.). The Liszt evening recitals as well as the concerts of the Wratislavia Cantans and Vienna Music festivals are held in the castle interiors. >>>>
The Franciscan monastic complex with the Gothic St Anne's Church erected in the 15th and remodeled in the 17th century are situated on the hilltop. A tiny miraculous statue of St Anne with the Virgin and Child (15th c.) in the high alter is the source of pilgrimages. Chapels and shrines of the Calvary on the hill slopes. Patriotic and religious celebrations are often held here. Nearby, a limestone amphitheatre and a memorial to the Silesian insurgents. >>>>
The palace and park complex is the former residence of the German Tiele-Winckler family. This gigantic 7,000 square and 65,000 cubic meter construction was started in the 17th century and has 365 rooms and 99 turrets. It is reminiscent of the English castles from the Elizabethan period. Now a hotel with an equestrian centre offering English thoroughbreds for rides. >>>>
The medieval urban layout of the Old Town has been preserved. Many baroque and Renaissance houses in the market square and its neighborhood. The 1604 town weighhouse is a fine example of Dutch Renaissance. A baroque fountain decorated with dolphins and triton from 1701. One side of the market square is occupied by the large stone cathedral (15th c.) with a fine double doorway. Worth a visit are also two baroque churches - SS Peter and Paul and Our Lady's Assumption - and the 17th/18th century bishops' palace. >>>>
The city's important historical monuments include the Piast Tower (13th c.), Gothic Holy Cross cathedral, Franciscan church and monastery with the Piast Chapel - the mausoleum of the local dukes. The Opole's town hall was patterned on the Medici Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and the houses which line the town square make up a coherent baroquerococo composition. The Festival of Polish Song is held in the city amphitheatre. A rural skansen with many wooden houses from the Opole region is located in the Bierkowice suburb. The former Jesuit college houses the regional museum.
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Paczków lies on the tourist route leading from Silesia and the Małopolska region to the Kłodzko valley, and offers many cultural sites as well as beautiful landscape. Pride of the place goes the its 1,200 meter long fortified city walls with 19 semicircular towers and four gates. Other noteworthy sites are the 14th century St John the Evangelist Church with a unique indoor well (16th c.) and the Hangman's House.
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The route joining Opole and Olesno is 80 kilometer long and leads through many localities of the Opole Silesian region with timber churches built in the 17th and 18th centuries. Of the total number of seventy, the best known are those of Dobrzeń Wielki, Laskowice, Opole-Bierkowice, Czarnowąsy, Oleśno, Bierdzany, Kolanowice, Wędrynia and Chocianowice. >>>>
Very attractive examples of Gothic frescoes are found on the walls of country churches in the Brzeg environs. The 55 kilometer trail starts from Brzeg and leads via Brzezina, Zielęcice, Małujowice, Łukowice Brzeskie, Bierzów, Przylesie, Krzyżowice, Pogorzela, Łosiów, Strzelniki and Kruszyna to bring visitors back to Brzeg. Authors of most of these paintings are local artists. >>>>
