Left of the hotel is Szersznika street, where we go, and then, further, past the church of the Holy Cross, we enter Szeroka Street where we find Former Catholic Middle School 13 Szeroka street

When the building of the old Catholic Middle School (located in the former Jesuit monastery on Szersznika street) was destroyed in the great fire of Cieszyn in 1789 and then bought by rev. Leopold Jan Szersznik for his library, the building for a new middle school was erected nearby. It was built in 1802, on Szeroka street according to a design by the Cieszyn architect Ignacy Chambrez de Ryvos. It wouldn’t have been built but for considerable financial help and patronage from Emperor Francis II and Duke Albert of Saxe –Teschen. The classicist façade of the school was marked by three projections; the one in the middle was topped by a triangular fronton resting on two columns. Ionic pilasters in giant order constituted the arrangement of the façade. The symmetry of the building was emphasized by a columnar lantern rising on the roof and covered with a dome. The building was characterized by exceptional balance and elegance, which was destroyed when a second floor was added in 1869 and a lot of architectonic details were changed.

Luckily a commemorative plaque above the entrance portal survived. Its text in Latin was composed by rev. Leoplod Jan Szersznik, the initiator of the school building: ‘ Bonis artibus Impavida Francisci II R. I. Munificientia Gallo Vindobonae propinquante erexit magnanima Ducis Teschinensis Alberti liberalitas ampliavit. MDCCCII.’ (‘For fine arts the fearless generosity of the Roman Emperor Francis II raised this, when the French were approaching Vienna, the magnanimous open-handedness of Cieszyn Duke Albert expanded. 1802.’).

It should be noted that the Catholic middle school was not the only building whose coming into existence was promoted by Albert of Saxe-Teschen and his wife Marie Christine. The Szkoła Główna (the Main School) from 1777 (no longer existing), a townspeople’s brewery at 39 Śrutarska street from 1810 and Cselesta Boarding School at 14 Kochanowskiego street from 1824 were also on the list.