Silesian architecture

The name is also applied to buildings made within its geographical limits before the constitution of Silesia as a duchy (earlier than 1172) or before this name was given to those territories, and largely depends on the historical moment.

The first monasteries and minsters, in Wrocław and Lubiąż, were built, and the quality of work improved significantly, as the builders adopted architectural styles from Southern Germany and Meuse.

Two monasteries, in Trzebnica (Trebnitz) and Henryków (Heinrichau), as well as two residences, in Wrocław and Legnica (Liegnitz), were early examples and referred to architectonic standards in Southern Germany and along the Rhine.

This dynamic sacral development program lasted the entire 14th century, and starting around 1370 many bigger cities added guild and family chapels to their parish churches.

As it was obvious that local workshops, represented by Hans Berthold, could not meet the expectations, the city decided to invite experts from Saxony and Lusatia around master builder Paul Preusse.

At the beginning of the new century, this influence from Saxony and Lusatia was most notably in western parts of Silesia, where Conrad Pflüger and Wendel Roskopf from Görlitz built city halls and churches in Löwenberg (Lwówek Śląski), Bunzlau (Bolesławiec), Sagan (Żagań) or Gröditzberg (Grodziec), all in the tradition of Benedikt Ried from Prague.

As a great patron of the arts he introduced the new style in Silesia as he commissioned two foundations plates (1505, 1509) at his residence in Jauernig (Javorník, today in the Czech Republic) and the sacristy portal (1517) on the cathedral in Breslau.

The oldest preserved Renaissance buildings today are house "To the golden crown" (1521–28) in Wrocław (demolished in 1906 and rebuilt after World War II) and the castle of Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels in Ząbkowice Śląskie (Frankenstein), built after 1524 by Benedikt Ried.

Many buildings of that time still show the transition from Gothic to Renaissance, for instance the castle in Wojnowice (Wohnwitz) or the city halls in Bolesławiec (Bunzlau), Lwówek Śląski (Löwenberg) and Grodziec (Gröditzberg).

A great exception was the conversion of the medieval church in Rothsürben (Żórawina) by Hans Schneider, which resulted in one of the best examples of Protestant ecclesiastical architecture in Middle Europe.

It was built between 1544 and 1570 by Franziskus Parr, the figurative architectural sculptures, the biggest ensemble in Silesia, were carried out by Saxon master Andreas Walther d.Ä..

Similar buildings soon followed in Falkenberg (Niemodlin), Kreppelhof (Zamek Grodztwo) in Landeshut (Kamienna Góra), Sorau (Żary) and Plagwitz (Płakowice, now a district of Lwówek Śląski).

Stylistically the early buildings were connected to Bohemian and Lusatian traditions, represented by Wendel Roskopf, Benedikt Ried and Hans Lindener and were still influenced by Gothic ideas.

After 1560 Dutch Renaissance styles, imported by pattern-books and master builders like Hans Vredeman de Vries, replaced Italian elements.

These Dutch forms were first visible at Oleśnica Castle in 1542. Notable representatives of this era were Gaspare Cuneo, Gerhardt von Amsterdam and Hans Lucas.

Buildings influenced by this style were the castles in Alt Warthau (Warta Bolesławiecka) or Gießmanndorf (Gościszów) and the majority of the civic architecture of that time.

The only new development of sacred architecture in Silesia which fully adopted Mannerism was the palace chapel of Siedlisko (Carolath), commissioned by Valentin von Säbisch.

They were responsible for the spread of basilicas modeled after Il Gisu, stylistic vocabulary of the Bohemian Dientzenhofer family and the baroque theatricalism found for instance at Leopoldina university in Breslau.

The privileged higher Catholic nobility, often immigrated, at that time laid the base for large possessions, whereas the Protestant bourgeoisie lost its role as a patron of the architecture and compensated this loss with outstanding achievements in literature, music and science.

The early period of the baroque era (1640–80) was marked by the activity of Italian masters, which after the Thirty Years' War filled the gaps in the entire Holy Roman Empire.

Its constructor, military engineer Albrecht von Säbisch from Breslau, had to deal with a number of political constraints defined at the Peace of Westphalia.

The Althans family constructed several palace ensembles in Wölfelsdorf (Wilkanów) and Mittelwalde (Międzylesie), Konrad Ernst Maximilian von Hochberg expanded castle Fürstenstein (Książ; 1718–25, carried out by F. A. Hammerschmidt and F. A. Scheffler), 10 years later Martin Frantz enlarged Kotzenau palace (Chocianów) and created one of the finest baroque garden in Silesia, and even some Palais entre cour et jardin emerged in Gröditzberg and Briese (by Johann Blasius Peintner from Austria).

The biggest secular urban developments of that time were the Ritterakademie (knights academy) in Liegnitz, built for aristocratic children of both religious conviction, and the destroyed episcopalian spital in Neiße.

The liberated Protestant population built large quantities of modest churches in the first years of Prussian rule, which were portrayed by Friedrich Bernhard Werner.

The public initiatives affected mainly military buildings: monumental fortifications in Silberberg (Fort Srebrna Góra), Neiße and Glatz (Kłodzko Fortress) as well as new barracks in Breslau and Brieg.

According to the welfare policy of Frederick II of Prussia new hospitals and workhouses were erected (Kreuzburg, Breslau), and with the beginning industrialization of Upper Silesia entire residential developments were planned.

Thanks to the Prussian reforms in the beginning of the 19th century the bourgeoisie became the dominant group and replaced the patriciate, which partially left their town palaces and concentrated on big industrial investments in Upper Silesia.

The bourgeoisie also became the foremost patrons and consumers of the arts and initiated the construction of many theaters, museums or galleries, in addition they also gave an impetus to the beautification of the cities with parks and promenades.

Silesia was without a doubt scenically the most beautiful part of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was the reason for the speedy development of several railway lines to the spas at the foothill of the mountains in the second half of the 19th century.

After the royal court left Hirschberg valley (which is also a part of the Sudetes) the region became attractive for a number of famous people from the German intelligentsia, among them Nobel Prize winner Gerhart Hauptmann, whose villa in Agnetendorf (Jagniątków) was designed by one of the best architects from Berlin, Hans Grisebach, or political economist Werner Sombart, who resided in a villa in Schreiberhau by Fritz Schumacher from Hamburg.