These are collectible wooden discs embossed with information about three locations: Bolesławiec Town Hall, the Railway Viaduct, and the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Nicholas. In addition, two extra badges featuring the buildings of the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec can be purchased at the museum’s branches on Mickiewicza and Kutuzowa Streets.
Nearly 4,500 places in 20 countries are marked with Tourist Badges, while in Poland there are currently 450 such locations. Bolesławiec joined them in May. A Tourist Badge is a round wooden disc depicting the place a tourist has reached. It is a souvenir and confirmation of the visit. Such a badge cannot be bought anywhere else. It is great fun for tourists and collectors.
The idea of promoting tourist attractions, marking out routes for tourists and creating a kind of game for collectors originated in the Czech Republic. In a short time, the Tourist Badge also became established in countries such as Slovakia, Germany, Ukraine, Austria, Hungary, Romania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Russia and the USA. Tourist Badges have operated in Poland since 2004. This is a pan-European initiative, but countries outside Europe are also joining it.
Bolesławiec has also become part of the Tourist Badge travel route. Three types of badges, priced at PLN 7 each, are available at the Tourist and Cultural Information Point of the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre – International Ceramics Centre, Pl. J. Piłsudskiego 1c:
Bolesławiec Town Hall – a historic town hall located in Bolesławiec’s market square, Baroque in style with Gothic elements in the tower and interiors, erected in 1535.
The oldest, northern part of the building was constructed at the end of the 15th century by a group of bricklayers and stonemasons from the Saxon-Lusatian borderland. Between 1525 and 1535, when construction work on the town hall was led by the Görlitz architect Wendel Roskopf, the Wedding Hall was built, with a decorative compass vault modelled on the royal Vladislav Hall at Prague Castle. Between 1776 and 1781, the entire building was rebuilt in the Baroque style. At the end of the 19th century, after the stalls and booths surrounding the town hall were demolished, Renaissance portals transferred from the market houses were set into the southern and eastern façades.
The Railway Viaduct was built over the Bóbr River. Construction of the stone bridge between 1844 and 1846 was supervised by Engelhardt Gansel, a Bolesławiec builder. Six hundred workers were employed in erecting this colossal structure, approximately 490 m long, 26 m high and 8 m wide, at a cost of 400,000 thalers. The first trial journey took place in July 1846, and in September of the same year the royal couple arrived from Berlin by special train and admired the result of his work in the company of the architect. The construction of the viaduct brought the builder admiration and recognition, as well as the Order of the Red Eagle awarded by the Prussian government in 1847. In 2009, after modernization work was completed and the illumination of the structure was expanded, it became one of the city’s most interesting tourist attractions.
Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Nicholas / Bolesławiec Marian Basilica
The Gothic building was erected between 1482 and 1492 by a group of bricklayers and stonemasons from the Saxon-Lusatian borderland. Burned by Swedish troops in 1642, it was carefully rebuilt: it retained its Gothic form on the outside, while the interior received rich Baroque decoration. The upper part of the church tower was rebuilt in the Neo-Gothic style in 1842–1843. The church’s most valuable historic features include the high altar by Jerzy Leonard Weber (1723–1725), the painting “Crucifixion” by the famous Baroque painter Jerzy Wilhelm Neunhertz (1736), and a series of epitaphs from the 16th and 17th centuries.
Information about Bolesławiec’s Tourist Badges can be found at znaczki-turystyczne.pl.
