The picture of the town as of today is still dominated by works of medieval builders. This includes the Town Hall, the ramparts and the Holy Assumption/St. Nicholas church. All those were works of groups of stonemasons and bricklayers that used to migrate across Silesia. An unusual technical solution on the European scale was the Bolesławiec Aqueduct that delivered water to the town and disposed of the sewage to the Bober river. It was fed by the Spring - Queckbrunnen, whose water was supposed to hold miraculous qualities. Another group important at the time of the town’s twilight were gold miners. Gold mining was probably so profitable at the times that it led prince Bolesław Wysoki (Boleslaw the Tall) to set up the Bolesławia settlement in 1190. The settlement, later to give rise to the urban development, evolved at the place where the legendary Three Inns stood before, providing shelter to travellers due to cross the Bober.

Wendel Rosskopf /approx. 1480 - 1549/

One of the most prominent Silesian architects in the 1st half of 16th century, whose works united late-gothic and renaissance motifs. He earned his experience at the Royal builders group of Prague, at the guidance of Benedikt Ried. The first works of the future master were created in the south of Bohemia. Since 1518 Rosskopf was very active in Upper Lusatia and Silesia - his projects included rebuilding of the castles in Grodziec, Brzeg and Legnica for the Prince Friedrich II, managing the renaissance-style remodelling of a large group of civil buildings in Görlitz, as well as town hall extensions in Bolesławiec and Lwówek, which produced admirable rooms with magnificent curvilinear vaults.

Town Hall - 41 Market Square (1)

It is likely that the very first, wooden town hall building was erected in the 2nd quarter of the 14th century. Destroyed by the Hussites, it was later replaced by a new brick-based edifice in 1432. The oldest part of today’s town hall is the northern tract with the tower, dated for the end of 15th century and connected with the Saxon-Lusatian masons, which can be substantiated by certain design details of windows and the entrance. Seriously extended by Wendel Rosskopf in the period of 1525-1535, when the south tract was added, including the prestigious Hall of Deputies (today: the Wedding Hall). Between 1776 and 81 the building was remodelled in the baroque style, and at the end of the 19th century its overall shape was ‘purified’, with removal of surrounding market stalls and - in the façade - addition of renaissance portals (originally from the market square’s tenement houses).

The Wedding Hall (Sala Ślubów) - a relatively small room (just 10.5 x 7 metres), designed by Wendel Rosskopf, with a magnificent curvilinear vault - the gentle lines of the ribbing create six-pointed stars, yielding the impression of a delicate, vibrating movement. This decorative solution was taken over by Rosskopf from his master, the famous Benedikt Ried, who had used a similar design in the royal Vladislav Hall in the Prague palace of Hradčany.

The Hunger Dungeon (Loch głodowy) - a dungeon situated under the Town Hall’s tower that remained in oblivion for many years, until the discovery in 1921. The dungeon served as a regular prison, which is indicated by the inscription in the north tract of the town hall: Jus cole; perniciosa viris iniuria res est (Observe the law; injustice is a pernicious thing). It is in that dungeon, in the early 16th century, that the several-times mayor Anshelmus Scholz was imprisoned, who had dared to stand up to authorities after leaving the office. The case used to be very loud at the time, since the town hall people, by putting Scholz in prison, ignored the royal verdict, they did not turn up at the trial, either, when the fiery mayor sued them. The conflict escalated into a “private war” waged by Scholz’s sons against the town hall, and dealt many serious blows to the city.

The Holy Assumption/St. Nicholas church (2)

The original 13th century building was destroyed during the Hussite invasion in 1429. Reconstruction of the church was started around 1442 and soon suspended. Its contemporary shape was given to the church in the years 1482-92. The Gothic pseudo-basilica with the nave and two transepts was erected by the Saxon-Lusatian masons. At the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, the edifice was completed - from the south and the west - with lavishly decorated late-gothic portals, and in early 16th century a range of chapels was appended to the southern transept. The vault of the empore (the gallery under the choir) in the same southern transept, with the crossing, stemmed ribbing, a recurrent motif of a four-pointed star and a cartouche with the date of 1521 is generally seen as connected with Rosskopf’s studio.

The boulder-memorial of the sewerage foundation - a park square at Bankowa St (3)

The building works of the aqueduct started in 1531, to implement the waterways plotted through underground brickwork tunnels. The system built in Bolesławiec was probably only the second solution of that type in the medieval Europe, after the 12th century invention by the monks of Milan. Owing to the levels variation - the water source for the city: Źródło (the Spring)-Queckbrunnen was located at 205 metres above sea level, and the Bober river at 170 metres - it was possible to bring water to houses and to transport sewage back to moats, and then to the areas close to the Bober. The name of the Spring - Queckbrunnen - was interpreted as a “Living Well” or as a “Cattle Spring” - the watering hole. It was situated no more than a double arrow-length /240 m/ to the east of the town. The four-sided well, originally surrounded with wooden “posts”, only in 1559 it was strengthened with stones. The Spring had the dimensions of 13.80 m (length) x 8.40 m (width), and the water depth was 0.3 m. According to one urban myth, three streams had roots in the Spring: one was for thirsty animals, another for people longing for justice and marital faithfulness, and the third - to secure eternal life. Numerous pilgrimages headed for the Spring, particularly in the Middle Ages. Those drinking from the Spring included King Ferdinand of Bohemia /27th May, 1538/ and King Charles XII of Sweden /14th September, 1707/. The Spring was described and praised by many poets, especially so in the renaissance era. Citizens of Bolesławiec also believed that the extraordinary taste and strength of their well-known local beer are also owed to mysterious qualities of the spring water.

The ramparts (4)

The first written mention of the ramparts comes from 1316, though probably the walls were in existence before that year. The present shape of the town’s fortifications comes from the years 1479-80. It used to be a double ring of walls with towers, on a rectangular and half-cylindrical plan, complemented by a system of moats and ponds. The city had three gates: Upper (Górna - from the east), Lower (Dolna - from the west) and Nicholas Gate (Mikołajska - from the south). At the times of Napoleonic wars, the walls were largely destroyed, and in the year 1841 a decision was taken to turn the former fortress areas into a promenade - a picturesque walking avenue.

The Nicholas Suburb (Przedmieście Mikołajskie) - now the area on both sides of Komuny Paryskiej St (5)

Gold diggers used to populate the oldest of the suburbs, called Przedmieście Mikołajskie (the Nicholas Suburb), where they built the St Nicholas church in 1202, devoted to the patron saint of miners. As an old legend had it, every day diggers brought some stones for the building of the town’s ramparts. Around 1224, the miners of Bolesławiec were to be organised into three guilds: the Gold Plot guild, St Nicholas guild and the Silver Crumb guild. All those who looked for gold had to observe the agreed laws. One could start mining works only after receiving permission from the water master. If gold was found on a plot, the finder had to give up 1/4 to the plot’s owner and another quarter to the miner’s noble master. Inn-keepers were forbidden from selling wine and beer to miners, so as to prevent heavy indebtedness among gold diggers.

The Town Forest at Jeleniogórska St - excavation remains (6)

Gold was mined in the Town Forest situated to the south of Bolesławiec - the fact now confirmed by contemporary archaeological studies. Across the forest, also called Zeche /the Mine/ went the Golden Stream that flowed into the Golden Pond. Geological studies allowed to find that gold-bearing sands and gravels of the Bolesławiec-Lwówek -Złotoryja area are strictly interconnected. The gold-bearing residues, connected with the mountain chains of the Karkonosze and Izera Mountains (the German Riesengebirge and Isergebirge), were washed away by surface waters and further transported by rivers in the form of microscopic metal strips and tiny scales. Secondary deposits were then created at sharp turns, chokes in the river bed and in front of obstacles. Archaeologists have now managed to find some remains of old shafts and excavations. Pure gold was recovered from gold-bearing sand by flushing out in basins and washers. Historical sources and studies suggest that the heyday of mining near Bolesławiec was the time between mid-12th century and the middle of 13th, and the works were less intensive later. The reasons why mining works were gradually stopped should be traced to the death of many diggers in the battle against Tatars at Legnica (1241); the profession’s profitability also decreased. It is very difficult to assess the quantities of gold that was once mined in the Bolesławiec area. According to Gansel, Zeche was a place crossed by a secondary layer of gold-bearing sands at three separate depths, with the width of 8 metres, itself being part of a 56-km long stratum which comprised the area of Lwówek, too. The gold content was supposed to be 25 to 100 grams per ton of sand Other researchers assessed the gold content much lower, at 2 to 14 grams per ton.

The Town Forest at Jeleniogórska St - reconstruction of the tunnel entrance

A reconstructed entrance to the tunnel, based on historical records on gold mining, was opened in 1905. A 16th century chronicler F. Holstein wrote about having seen traces of mine waste dumps, and related how he actually found the mines 2 to 4 miles from the town. Another historian J. Bergemann came across the excavations in early 19th century and attempted to mine for gold himself.