Every design for Wodzisław Śląski

Wodzisław Śląski takes its name from the Piast Duke Władysław of Opole, who granted the town its rights and founded its monastery in the thirteenth century. Three Slavic settlements had stood here before that and grew together into one town, which under Duchess Constance became one of the most populous and richest in Upper Silesia. Later it was the seat of the Duchy and the State of Wodzisław, and in the second half of the twentieth century a mining and industrial centre.

The town lies on the Rybnik Plateau, between the Vistula and the Oder, close to the Czech border and the Moravian Gate, whose winds shape its mild climate. It is built across several hills cut by deep ravines, with the Lesznica flowing below, and on a clear day the Beskids and the Czech Jeseniki come into view. Pałac Dietrichsteinów wraz z Parkiem Zamkowym, Baszta Rycerska and Wieża Romantyczna hold the old town's memory, and the Muzeum w Wodzisławiu Śląskim tells the rest.

For anyone who grew up here, the map is the climb between the hills and the streets you took to school.