One of the oldest sacred architectural relics on Polish soil is the Cieszyn Rotunda of Saints Nicholas and Wenceslas situated on the Castle Mount in Cieszyn. From the moment this stone structure was erected in the first half of the 11th century it fulfilled the function of castle church.
      The Cieszyn Rotunda belongs to a fairly numerous group of simple rotundas known from the territories of Moravia, Bohemia, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, parts of Germany, the Balkan peninsula and Spain. This type of sacred building is most commonly found, however, in the region of Moravia, Bohemia, Slovakia and Hungary. The situation looks slightly worse in Poland, as a result not only of the rotundas being fewer in number, but also of their poorer state of conservation (often in the form of the barely recognisable remains of stone foundations found beneath newer churches, and only discovered during archaeological excavations).
      Apart from the Cieszyn rotunda, we know of a further eleven surviving rotundas of this type on Polish territory. It must be pointed out, though, that most of them exist only as stone remains of parts of different constructions, or merely as foundations. These buildings are as follows: St, Benedict’s on Krzemionki in Krakow, two examples on Wawel hill, in Wiślica, two in Przemyśl on the castle hill and under the presbytery of the cathedral, in Płock, Strzelin, St. John the Baptist’s in Grzegorzewice, in Stronia (Lower Silesia) and one discovered recently in Łękno in Wielkopolska.
      Before we proceed to a broader description of the Cieszyn rotunda, let us consider the origins of this form of church. It is rightly maintained that this form spread along with the christianisation of Europe, but the question of whether it was based on building forms of the Roman Empire, such as martyries or memoriae, adapted by early Christians to their liturgical requirements, or whether its genesis should be sought somewhere in Byzantium or the Holy Land, is uncertain and has been the subject of much discussion and polemicising. A further problem has been the route by which these ancient architectural designs, applied to the needs of the first Christians, reached Central Europe – via the lands of Charlemagne and Otto, or brought straight to the territory of the Greater Moravian state thanks to the missionary travels of Saints Cyril and Methodus, and hence onto Bohemia, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. In recent years, it has been accepted that simple rotundas are not imitations of Western European palatial chapels or Balkan churches, but constitute a form in themselves, developed as a result of various inspirations being applied to the simple constructions known from Moravia, Bohemia, Slovakia or Poland. It is to this group, as has been mentioned, that the Cieszyn rotunda belongs.
      The Cieszyn rotunda is also, along with the one in Stronia, the best preserved specimen of this type of building in Poland. It was erected by an early medieval castellan fort on the Castle Mount, with origins dating back to the 10th century, in the first half of the 11th century. This indicates that it may have been built in the period prior to 1025, during Bolesław Chrobry’s brief reign over the Czech lands, and it cannot be ruled out that he created a strong administrative base in the fort at Cieszyn to rule over the frontier lands in his name, or that in the 2nd quarter of the 11th century, when the Cieszyn province of Silesia was governed by the Czech ruler Břetislav.
      The Cieszyn rotunda is an orientated construction, consisting of a circular nave with an inside diameter of 6.4 m and externally 9.3 m, and a separate apse forming half of a circle 1.5 m in diameter situated on its eastern side. The walls of the rotunda, built of cut limestone, form an inner and outer face. The space between the faces was filled with broken rocks and stone rubble, joined with lime mortar. The thickness of the nave and apse walls measures 1.25 m, apart from the northern section where the wall has been thickened by 0.25 m to allow a staircase to be built inside the wall. This leads from the nave along a kind of balcony, known as an emporium, situated on the western side supported by columns and attached columns. The emporium constructed within the nave attests to the distinctiveness of the Cieszyn rotunda in relation to most of the other rotundas known in Poland. On the southern side of the emporium inside the nave wall, there is a niche above the doorway with jambs made from meticulously dressed stones. The existence of this, the remains of a door leading directly onto the emporium, may be evidence of a connection between the rotunda, serving as a chapel for the fortress’ administrator, with the palladium, which was its showcase and living quarters. Such a palladium has thus far yet to be discovered on the Castle Mount, although this would appear to be simply a matter of undertaking the appropriate archaeological investigation. The nave wall construction is finished with a vault, covered with a conical shingle roof, and the roofing of the apse is similarly executed. The height of the nave walls measures 11.3 m to the base of the roof, the apse walls 6.8 m. The total height of the building is around 15 m. There was an entrance leading into rotunda from the west side, while daylight came in through creviced window openings located three quarters of the way up the wall. It is difficult to say much about the furnishing of the rotunda. It was almost certainly equipped similarly to typical chapels of its time, with an altar, prayer stools or benches, liturgical paraphernalia and wax candles. It can also be expected, at the beginning of its existence, to have had a figure or painting of Saint Nicholas – its first patron – on the altar, a few centuries before the altar dedicated to St. Wenceslas was installed, around 1495.
Let us look at how this chapel has fared over its almost thousand-year history. In the early period of its existence, the rotunda was within the wooden and earth defensive walls of the castellan fortress. As the only walled building at the time, it would have fulfilled the functions of both a sacred and a defensive building. During this period, the chapel was most likely in the care of Benedictines. Owing to a lack of written sources from this era, we do not know the names of any of these monks, and the earliest whose name is known was a priest called Barthlomeus at the end of the 13th century. At the end of the 13th and throughout the entire 14th century rebuilding work was taking place in the early medieval defensive base. The previous fortress structure was gradually replaced by walled constructions to form a gothic castle. This process was connected with the creation in 1290 of a separate Duchy of Cieszyn. The change in architectural style from romanesque to gothic also led to certain changes in the rotunda’s appearance. New windows were constructed, the level of the interior was raised somewhat to give a new floor. The internal walls were probably covered with decorative paintings, which survives in the form of traces of blue ornamentation on the rood arch separating the nave from the apse.
      Despite the various cataclysms which destroyed the ducal castle to a greater or lesser degree over the next few centuries, the architecture of the rotunda itself remained relatively intact. In 1722 and in 1755 the chapel is mentioned, described as being “old, covered with a dome and twice yearly, on St. Wenceslas’ and St. Nicholas’ days, services are held there.”
      It was not until the turn of the 19th century, as a result of a long-lasting complete reconstruction of the Castle Mount, that the chapel was surrounded by a new wall, new windows were carved, a new, tin cupola was placed on top and the levels both of the interior and the grounds outside were raised. The romanesque chapel had been given a new, classical look! This lasted until 1941, when an archaeological investigation led by the German researcher G. Raschke pointed to the building’s romanesque character. It was not, however, until a large scale archaeological excavation was carried in the late 40s and 50s under the direction of A. Kietlińska, and architectural and conservation work was conducted by conservationists led by Z. Gawlik, that the Cieszyn rotunda regained its original romanesque appearance. The restored site now plays host to chamber music concerts, and every year on December 6th, St. Nicholas’ Day, a watchnight service is held.
      The rotunda is open to visitors all year round.