Castle Hill has, for many centuries, been a place that aroused different kinds of emotions and interests. In primeval timed it inspired our ancestors, looking for convenient places to settle, to build a fortified camp here. In the Middle ages the Hill was associated with the power of the Cieszyn Piast dynasty as well as with the castle, in times closer to the present with the Habsburgs, and a palace and a park that were erected by them. Now it is a place that is visited often, both by tourists and the inhabitants of Cieszyn.
      Drawings with the views and some descriptions, preserved in the archives, or stone remains of its old splendour, still exist. They include: a romanesque castle chapel and the so-called Piast tower that had both a dwelling and defensive function. They all give only a general impression of the past splendour, when a formidable medieval castle, beautiful in its form, overlooked Cieszyn.
      Archaeological works conducted on Castle Hill recently revealed a few parts of the former Piast castle which were unknown before. The most important was a fortified stone tower. Built from limestone, the tower has the form of a cylinder, some 12m in diameter and its walls are 4,2m thick. The round, usable interior, on the other hand, is only a little more than 3m in diameter. The uncovered tower is now 12m high, which is probably (judging from the size of other structures of that type)only half its original height. The tower was most likely erected in the second half of the 13th century.
      It was then, too, that the Cieszyn Castellany, hitherto existing, was assigned to a separate Duchy of Cieszyn, and Mieszko I, a Cieszyn prince, assumed authority. He started the building of a mediaeval fortified castle. The tower, as the most important defensive element of those days, was erected in the north-western part of the upper Castle and for its foundation the builder used a huge dike of the former city (from the early Middle Ages). It is not unlikely, however, that the unusual structure had been built earlier, before the 13th century, i.e. at the time of castellany (the castle of a castellan, a prince’s clerk) and that it constituted the beginning of the later Prince’s Castle. Such structures are generally called “towers of ultimate defence”( in Slavic regions also “stolp” or “slup”) because, apart from its function of active defence in the most vulnerable parts of dykes or walls, it also played the role of a so-called “refugium”. That is, the ultimate refuge which – even after the capture of a castle or a city – gave the sovereign and its personnel shelter and the possibility of further and relatively long-term defence.
      In the lower part of such a tower there was most often a prison. The upper levels ewre connected by wooden stairs and in times of peace they were used for dwelling and guarding purposes. A tower also constituted a superb observation post. Its highest part was most often topped with a thinner crenellated wall with a wooden cone-shaped roof. Thanks to the crenellation the occupants could carry out a safe and active defence. Entry to a tower was gained through an entrance placed a few meters above the ground. The ladder or stairs were destroyed in the case of an attack.
      In the 14th century, when the Cieszyn castle was extended and surrounded by defensive walls, the tower was incorporated in the construction of the peripheral walls, thus becoming one of the corner towers. During the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) the tower, slightly changed in the upper part, still played its defensive role. This was illustrated in a military drawing (made in 1647) that shows tha castle being attacked by the Austrian army and defended by a Swedish force. After that event the formidable castle went to ruin.
      In the 19th century the remains of the cylindrical tower were covered with mound of stone and earth, at the top of which artificial ruins were built in 1916 and thus a romantic spot was created in that part of the castle park.
      In the course of conducting archaeological works medieval layers were found both outside and inside the tower. A great number of crocks, jugs, dishes and wine-cups, many broken but some preserved whole, were uncovered, and also a few metal wares, single embellished stove tiles, and a floor tile portraying the Piast eagle. The most precious find is, undoubtedly, the treasure trove of more than 80 silver coins, consisting of hellers of the Duchy of Opava, hellers of Raciborz town from the second half of the 15th century and 4 counters minted in Nuremburg at the end of the 15th century.
      In 2001-2002 the remains of the examined tower were renovated, and the original look of the preserved part was restored. At present the tower is accessible to visitors.