Romanesque Rotunda of St. Nicholas
The Rotunda is the oldest stone church in Cieszyn Silesia. According to legend it was built following the introduction of Christianity to Polish territories in 965 on the site of the former pagan temple of the goddess Marzanna. The church has even been taken for the pagan temple. For instance Jacob Schickfuss, in his chronicle of Silesia published in 1625, wrote that in the castle of the Cieszyn Princes there was a pagan temple from which all the idols had been removed after the introduction of Christianity. In fact the rotunda has no connection with pagan times and was built in the 11th century. It is located in the south-west part of the Castle Hill, much lower than the present level of the ground. It consists of a circular nave and a semi-circular apse to the east accessed by three steps. A gallery supported on three arcaded columns runs along the western part of the nave. The gallery was reserved for the castellan and by means of a doorway gave access to the palatium – the castellan’s residence, and later to the princely castle. Initially the rotunda functioned as a castle chapel, but it also served the people of the borough. The rotunda was first mentioned in documents of 1223 as St. Nicholas’ chapel, which was obliged to pay a tithe to the convent of the Norbertine Sisters in Rybnik. In 1284 there is a mention of a certain Bartłomiej, the castle chaplain in Cieszyn. Following the establishment of the Cieszyn Duchy and the foundation of the Gothic castle the rotunda changed its character and form. The floor level was raised by 2 metres, and the Romanesque windows of the apse were replaced by larger Gothic ones. In 1361 another castle chaplain, Wolzobius, was mentioned, and in 1460 Franciszek, an acolyte. In 1484 the chapel and castle were damaged by fire, which most probably destroyed the roof and gutted the interior of the chapel. In 1495 Vaclav Hynal, a parish priest of Pszczyna who came from Stonawa, founded the altarpiece dedicated to Divine Providence, the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, St. Erasmus and St. Wenceslas. This gave grounds for later attempts to establish St. Wenceslas as the rotunda’s patron saint.
During the period of Reformation when Lutheranism became the dominant religion of the Cieszyn Duchy, the position of princely chaplains of the chapel was held by Lutheran pastors and preachers employed by the Princes. The chapel was occasionally used for non-religious purposes. For example in 1617 the body of Prince Adam Wenceslas was placed in the chapel for nine months until his burial in April of the following year in the crypt of the Dominican church. After the Cieszyn line of the Piasts died out in 1653the rotunda lost its function as a castle chapel and the administrators of the Cieszyn Chamber paid little attention to it. Documents dating from the 18th century mention the fact that the rotunda is old and domed, with the only furnishings being a wooden altar and a silver chalice. Church services were held there only twice a year; on St. Nicholas’ and St. Wenceslas’ days. During the rest of the year it functioned as a storehouse for tools used in trials by ordeal, and occasionally weapons. During the modifications to the Lower Castle between 1838and 1840 the rotunda, which by then was already below ground level, was covered halfway up with earth. The part above the ground was faced with bricks and plaster, the windows were enlarged, and it was given a neo-Classicist elevation to match the style of the new castle. The interior was furnished with a new neo-Gothic wooden altarpiece with a painting depicting St. Wenceslas. It was only during the Second World War that German archaeologists began to remove internal and external plaster and uncover the original ground level of the floor. The reconstruction, which restored the original Romanesque character to the rotunda, was completed between 1947 and 1955. The original windows, the altar and fragments of the floor were exposed and the gallery was reconstructed. Since the 1990s church services have been held again in the rotunda on the day of its patron saint, St. Nicholas.
Editing and selection of illustrations: Renata Karpińska Photographs: Renata Karpińska, Paweł Halama, Anna Fedrizzi, Joanna Rzepka, Tomasz Matysiak, Henryk Tesarczyk, Dominik Dubiel Photograph of the heller of Premislaus I: Wojciech Woźniak
Translation from Polish: Irena and David French