With nearly three hundred years of history, the building that currently houses the Bolesławiec Municipality Office is the last remaining part of the former Dominican monastery. The Dominicans, whose name literally means “Hounds of the Lord,” arrived in Bolesławiec in the 13th century. Their monastery was closed during the Reformation, but the monks returned more than a century later. After a lengthy process, they recovered a considerable plot of land from the city near today’s Teatralna and Armii Krajowej streets, where they built a new monastery. When Bolesławiec burned down in the last great fire in 1739, they rebuilt it once again.
In 1810, the King of Prussia, Frederick William III, ordered the dissolution of nearly all Silesian monasteries and seized their property. The refectory of the Bolesławiec Dominicans and the neighboring twin building (destroyed in 1945) were converted into a municipal Protestant school for almost a century. Due to the city’s dynamic growth, at the beginning of the 20th century the school moved to a new building on Logenstrasse (now Brody Street), today occupied by Primary School No. 4, while the former refectory became the Stadthaus – City House – the headquarters of several municipal offices.
After the war, the building served residential purposes for many years. The Municipal Communal Services Company later moved its offices there, and since 1973 the Bolesławiec Municipality Office has been housed in the refectory.
