In the second half of the 16th century and in early 17th, a group of outstanding Boleslavians formed an intellectual elite which made a mark in the history of European culture. The school was the first place of schooling for several men of letters, forming part of what’s known as the first Silesian school of poetry - Martin Opitz, Andreas Tscherning, Christoph Colerus, Andreas Scultetus, Kaspar Kirchner and the well known bishop, Martin Gerstmann of Wrocław, as well as astronomers Christoph Neubarth and Kaspar Knoll, the graphic artist of European fame David Tscherning, or Ephraim Ignaz Naso von Löwenfels. That extraordinary phenomenon of the post-medieval Bolesławiec earned the town a label of the “cradle and paradise garden of Silesian poetry”, as well as of art and science.

Martin Opitz /1597- 1639/

That famous poet and diplomat was the most prominent representative of the first Silesian school of poetry. He took his first lessons from Christoph Opitz, the rector of the Boleslavian gymnasium, just to continue his education in Wrocław and Bytom Odrzański. In the year 1617 he published his first speech: “Arystarch, or Against the scornful about the German language”. In the same year he took up his studies in Frankfurt am Oder, and soon after that in Heidelberg. He travelled to Jutland and Holland, and had a short stint in Transilvania. During his studies and on the road he met outstanding European humanists, including H. Grottius and D. Heinsius. In the year 1624 he published a still-famous “Book on German poetry”. To acknowledge his work, emperor Ferdinand II honoured Opitz with a poet laureate’s status and knighted him as von Boberfeld. The poet, well known by that time, became a secretary of the Wrocław duke Hannibal von Dohn, and after the latter’s death - stayed in the service of Silesian princes: Jan Krystian of Brzeg, and Jerzy Rudolf of Legnica. When Silesia was taken over by emperor’s army in 1635, Opitz escaped to the Republic of Poland. His first Polish protector was the Mayor of Kościerzyna, the later Gdańsk castellan and Pomeranian governor Gerard Denhoff. Denhoff recommended the poet and diplomat to king Władysław IV. Opitz accepted the post of a historiographer at the Polish royal court, and later - of the Royal secretary During his stay in Gdańsk, the poet wrote many poems and laudatory speeches, as well as translations of Antigona and Psalms, and a paper on Sarmatia and the Sarmats, dedicated to the great crown chancellor Tomasz Zamoyski. The outstanding nature of Martin Opitz’s work in the field of German literature may be compared with the role played by the works of Petrarca in Italy, Ronsard in France and Kochanowski in Poland. The poet of Bolesławiec set forth the principles of German poetry based on the rhetoric and poetry of the Antique. He proved that poetry in the national language may strike with its sophisticated form and propagate the ideals of humanism.

The tenement house at 1/2 Karpecka St - the birth place of Martin Opitz (7)

Opitz was born on 23th, Dec, 1597 in a house at the former Uliczka Zamkowa (Schlosstrasse, later - Grosse Kirchgasse). The building’s location was established on the basis of the original estate record in the municipal register of 7th October, 1611, as well as of the study by Fechner of 1787 and results of research in the town’s records, pertaining to owners of particular houses at the former Celna St.

Andreas Tscherning /1611 - 1659/

The best known of Opitz’s three disciples of Bolesławiec, who all belonged to the first Silesian school of poetry, Tscherning was the founding father of German orient studies. The majority of his life connected him with Rostock. The young poet liked the city, so distant from the turmoil of the thirty-years war. He wrote that “fish is cooked in an excellent way here, like in Silesia, just the bread is very black”. Tscherning studied the Orient at the Rostock university, with particular emphasis on the Arabic language. He received the post of the professor of poetic art, and later became the rector. His most famous collection of poems was “Deutscher Gedichte Früling”. Tscherning translated Arabic sentences, wrote extensively to scholars all over Germany, and what’s worth a special mention - among his lavish works are the poetic studies devoted to issues of orthography, etymology, syntax and vocabulary of German.

Market Square 6 - the birth house of Andreas Tscherning (8)

It is probably in this house that the well-known poet was born on 18th November, 1611. The imposing baroque edifice is sometimes called the “Tscherning House”, which is supported by the coat of arms placed just over the entrance. The house, erected on a double plot delimited in medieval times, has a characteristic “great order” (pilasters going up through two floors) and an extensive, decorative entrance gate with allegories of weaving business and fecundity.

Kaspar Kirchner /1592 - 1627/

A prominent thinker and poet, he was among the closest friends of Martin Opitz. After graduating from schools in Bolesławiec and Wrocław, he studied in Frankfurt and Strasburg. In 1615 he received a poet laureate title in Basel. After his studies, he travelled a lot in Holland, Britain and France, where he had a chance to make friends with the famous D. Heinisius. In 1618 he came back to Bolesławiec, taking over the rectorship duties at the parochial school, after Valentine Senftleben. Since 1621 he was the cantor at the parish of his birth, and in the following year became a councillor to prince Georg Rudolf in Legnica, and then to the emperor himself. Kirchner, together with Caspar Cunrad, wrote an interesting Latin work entitled “Te Laurca dia koronat”. He died at the age of 35 in Legnica.

The Holy Assumption/St. Nicholaus church - the south portal, the Kaspar Kirchner epitaph (2)

The poet was buried in the Bolesławiec church and honoured with an inscriptional mannerist epitaph by Jan Pohl of Głogów. The oval marble plaque bears a Latin text surrounded with a rich auricular ornament:

“To Kaspar Kirchner, the most outstanding man, the wisest poet and philosopher - no one before him planted so many arts, and missed so few, the jewel of this city, where he was born and wanted to be buried.

Has the war not taken away all things
From Your Silesia, Kaspar
Look! Here we are, looking for the home town in the fatherland.
The Muses have survived, but they, too, oh poet most magnificent -
Can hardly go on living after your death.”

The author of the epitaph text is unknown, but it can surely be attributed to one of the poet’s Bolesławiec friends, maybe Martin Opitz himself.

The first school of Bolesławiec, 1-2 Kościelna St, (a parish building at present) (9)

The first school in Bolesławiec was already open in the Middle Ages - chronicles mention the year 1392, but most probably it was there before. Subjects taught included grammar, rhetoric and dialectics (the Trivium), as well as geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music (the Quadrivium). At the turn of 16th and 17th centuries it was the Alma Mater of many prominent men of culture and science: founders of the first Silesian poetry school - Martin Opitz, Andreas Tscherning, Christoph Colerus, Andreas Scultetus - as well as future bishop Martin Gerstmann of Wrocław, astronomer Christoph Neubarth, an artist of Europe-wide fame David Tscherning, or Ephraim Ignaz Naso von Löwenfels. The famous school in Bolesławiec was even compared to the seat of Apollo - the Olympus.

The Spring - Queckbrunnen at Karol Miarka St /not preserved/ (10)

One of the most famous poems devoted to the spring was written by Martin Opitz during his studies in Frankfurt. The poem compared the Bolesławiec spring to a well of Naiads, a magnificent fountain, a noble source, place of joy and never-exhausted pleasure

The Opitz stone at Jeleniogórska St (11)

The legendary boulder, where the poet was to write his juvenile works, was on the western side of Jeleniogórska St. As chroniclers reported, the stone was destroyed on 13th June, 1849, while extending the road. To honour the place, on 5th February 1852 residents planted three oak trees around the preserved fragments of the boulder. Under the trees a bottle was placed, with the poet’s short biography, some historical notes on the town and a poem devoted to Opitz, written by Dr Eschenbach.