Every resident of Bolesławiec can point out where Castle Square is located, but few can answer why this corner of the city has that name.
Today, the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the Parish House stand here. Only a few residents remember that, not so long ago, this was the site of a Protestant church destroyed during the war. It was built in the 18th century in the late Baroque style, on the ruins of a former ducal castle.
Little is known about the castle. We know that it was the seat of a castellan and was erected sometime at the beginning of the 13th century. The first historically confirmed castellan was Nankier, mentioned in a document from 1245. In the 14th century, the castle became the seat of the vogt. From that time, chroniclers recorded numerous conflicts between the town and the vogt. They arose over the use of the castle estates, where townspeople were forbidden to cut wood, gather firewood, fish or hunt. Relations must have been very tense, since in 1504 the king granted permission to build a wall with a gate and drawbridge separating the castle from the town.
The conflicts ended when the townspeople bought the fief and the castle itself in 1620 for the relatively modest sum of 10,000 thalers. Initially, persecuted Protestants met in the abandoned structure. The Thirty Years’ War was not conducive to any initiatives by the townspeople, and a fire in 1642 destroyed the entire castle. The ruins stood empty, and stone was taken from them for construction purposes around the town. In 1752, the site was handed over to the Protestant community to clear the area and build a church. While digging the foundations, the castle walls considered unnecessary for the new building were demolished, and unfortunately no inventory of the existing condition was prepared.
Before its destruction, the castle was a defensive structure, reinforced by walls strengthened in the 16th century, as well as ponds that surrounded it on three sides; it was separated from the town by a moat. The buildings were horseshoe-shaped, resting against the defensive wall to the south and open towards the north. The ground-floor area was used for economic purposes. The first floor of the east and south wings contained residential chambers. These rooms were marked by a certain splendor, as important guests traveling through Bolesławiec stayed here. Chroniclers recorded that the walls were covered with rich paintings, the finest of which was said to depict the Battle of Mohács, where a relative of the work’s founder was killed.
Today, only traces of the castle remain: a fragment of wall between Kubika Street and Castle Square, with two visible bricked-up windows from the former residential section. Installation works carried out around the Evangelical church during the interwar period once again confirmed the existence of the foundations of the castle buildings.
The Evangelical church, destroyed during the war, was taken over by the Catholic parish and renovated.
Thanks to the efforts of parishioners, the 18th-century pastor’s house, now the parish house, was also renovated. The entire complex around Castle Square, together with a fragment of the defensive walls enlivened by greenery, forms a picturesque corner of the town.