Dominican Square
On the other sid e of St. Maria Magdalene church there is Plac Dominikański Dominican Square
From the Middle Ages the quadrangular monastery buildings of the Dominican Friars, with a cloister yard in the middle, adhered to the church. They were also burnt in 1789 and had to be pulled down, and the Dominican convent was dissolved. In place of the monastery a big square, called the Dominican Square, came into being. In 1894 a Cieszyn master-builder, Antoni Jonkisch, erected a three-storey building along one of its sides, in place of the former presbytery. The building was erected according to Albin Teodor Prokop’s design (the Archduke’s architect), neo-renaissance in style and it functioned as the Parish Office. In that building there was a seat of the General Vicariate for the Austrian part of the Wrocław (Breslau) diocese until 1925. It came into being in 1770 after the partition of Silesia between Austria and Prussia, as a result of the Silesian wars (1740-1763). Rev. Franciszek Śniegoń was one of the vicars general and also the only bishop among them. He was consecrated bishop, at the Emperor Franz Josef’s approval, by the Apostolic See in 1883. On the 30th of September of that year the formal ceremony of Bishop Śniegoń’s consecration took place in the parish church. On that solemn occasion the Church Committee dedicated a plaque to him, made of grey Silesian marble, on which was written in golden letters: ‘Diese Gedenktafel widmet zur immerwährenden erfreulichem Erinnerung, dass der heutigen Tage in dieser Pfarrkirche consecrirte erste Weihbischof des Teschner Antheils der Breslauer Diözese: Sr Hochwürden Herr Franz Sniegon Pfarrer, Dechant und i.b. General Vicar zu Teschen Sr päpstlichen Heiligkeit Hausprälat, Ehrendomherr der Kathedralkirche zu Breslau, Ritter des k. k. Franz Josefs Ordens, Ehrenbürger der Stadtgemeinde Jablunkau etc etc. ein Teschner ist. Das Teschner Kirchenkonkurenz Comité. Teschen am 30. September 1883’. (‘This commemorating plaque is dedicated to an unceasing, joyful remembrance that today in this parish church His Reverence Mr Franciszek Śniegoń, the first bishop suffragan of the Cieszyn branch of the Wrocław (Breslau) diocese, a parishpriest, a dean and Vicar General in Cieszyn, a home prelate of His Holiness Pope, an honorary canon of the Cathedral church in Wrocław, knight of Franz Joseph I’s royal order, an honorary citizen of the municipal parish in Jablonkov, etc, etc, who is a Cieszyn citizen - was consecrated. Cieszyn Church Committee. Cieszyn 30th September 1883’). For many postwar years the plaque lay in the church’s attic waiting to find its proper place again, in one of the aisles, which happened in 2003 during the celebrations commemorating the 120 anniversary of the consecration of the Cieszyn bishop. In August 1883 the Town Council, dominated by liberals, decided to commemorate the Emperor Joseph II by putting up a monument. Out of contrariness it was decided that the monument of the enlightened monarch would be situated in the place of the former monastery on the Parish Square (today the Dominican Square), between the church and the Parish Office. According to the intentions of the architects, it was supposed to constitute a visible symbol of the new religious policy, carried out by the Emperor, that limited the influence of the Catholic church in the country. They chose a ready-made monument that archduke Salm’s steelworks in Blansko (near Brno) cast serially. It represented the standing figure of the Emperor in his frock-coat, holding a document with the following inscription ‘Aushebung der Leibeigenschaft. Josef II.’ (‘The abolition of serfdom. Joseph II’). The figure was placed on a stone plinth that was 2 m high. Numerous identical monuments were put up in many towns all over the monarchy on the occasion of the 100th anniversary (in 1881) of the Emperor’s announcement of the ‘Patent of Tolerance’ and the abolition of the personal serfdom of peasants. The formal unveiling of the monument, carried out by the Mayor of Cieszyn, dr Jan Deml von Elswehr, took place on 31st of August, 1884. After that event a formal dinner was given in the rooms of ‘The Russet Deer’ Hotel in Cieszyn where the Emperor had stayed twice, in 1770 and 1779. The monument of Joseph II remained on the Dominican Square until 1920 when, following the decision made by the allied Administrative Committee of the town, it was removed . For many years it was kept in the yard of the Cieszyn museum, until it was finally placed in the Peace Park, in the section where there is a collection of stones and stone fragments.
Photographs: Dominik Dubiel, Paweł Halama, Daniel Hryciuk, Magdalena Jańczuk, Renata Karpińska, Mariusz Makowski, Joanna Rzepka-Dziedzic, Anna Szostok-Fedrizzi, Henryk Tesarczyk
Translation from Polish: Lucyna Krzanowska and John Whitewood
Reproductions of exhibits, documents and photographs from the collections of:
- Museum of Cieszyn Silesia in Cieszyn,
- Cieszyn Historical Library,
- Cieszyn Branch of the State Archive in Katowice,
- Cieszyn Town Council,
- Museum of Beskidy in Frýdek-Mistek,
- private collection of Mariusz Makowski
- H. Wawreczka, J. Spyra, M. Makowski, ‘Cieszyn i Czeski Cieszyn na starych widokówkach i fotografiach’, WART, Nebory 1999