Habsburg Palace, Cieszyn

To achieve the aim the ruins were demolished and the remains of the lower castle were used to build the so-called Hunting Palace between 1838 and 1840.

It was rarely visited by the Habsburgs (who most often stayed in Vienna) and on everyday basis was the seat of the Chamber of Cieszyn.

[1] Occasional visits of the Habsburgs were always special events – one of the visitors was the emperor Francis Joseph the First who stayed in the Hunting Palace in 1880, 1890 and 1906.

[1] When between 1914 and 1916 Cieszyn was the headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian Army (AOK – Armeeoberkommando), the archduke Frederick hosted his allies in the palace, among others the German emperor Wilhelm II, Bulgarian king Ferdinand and Marshal Hindenburg.

The palace, constructed on the plan of an inverted letter T, is located on the site of the lower castle on the eastern slope of a hill and its façade faces the city.

The central part of the palace is of a palladian structure of a serliana; an arch flanked at the sides by flat cornices and crowned by a triangle pediment.

In the 19th century side wings were added; the south one located perpendicularly and the north one parallel to the main part of the building.

A loggia located in the south fortified tower has four opened doric columns that support a triangular pediment.