unesco heritage swidnica (schweidnitz), PL

swidnica (schweidnitz, schweinz, svidnice, świdnica) in silesia (schlesien, slask), poland PL => the unesco heritage evangelic peace church (friedenskirche, kosciol pokoju) with a capacity of 7,500 people from 1658, which is the biggest timber-framed church (fachwerk) in europe. 

the unesco heritage status is shared with a similar timber-framed evangelic peace church planned by the same architect / master-builder from breslau (wroclaw) in nearby jauer (jawor). there was a 3rd peace church in the as well predominantly evangelic glogau (glogow), but it was destroyed during a town fire in 1758. why peace churches? well, they were part of the peace agreement 'westfälischer friede' (Pax Westphalica) which ended the thirty years' war (1618 - 1648) between catholics and protestants in europe.

i'm quite sure we will visit the church in jawor soon as it is close to the highway from dresden DE to breslau (wroclaw) PL we use so often. INDEED, our lunch break on the way to lodz PL was jawor (in 03/2024) 😇🚙🍀

we ha've had unbelievable fantastic light conditions today => i hope you will like the pictures 😄

the wooden evangelic peace church from 1657-1658 in swidnica is

both, europe's biggest timber-framed church and unesco heritage 😇

the bell tower

the evangelic hochberg family, the owners of the fürstenstein castle, 

contributed most for the building of the church

there is a quite sad and almost abandoned cemetery too, as the initial german

population was forced to leave the area which became polish territory after WW II

there is a nice city center in świdnica (schweidnitz), too:

main town square in the city center

town hall's cellar restaurant was unfortunatelly closed due to restauration

coat of arms at swidnica's (main) market square

1984. big brother is watching you.

town hall

what a nice historic style cafe we've found 😊

this town hall's tower picture in cafe is nicer than the one made by me outside, isnt it?  😇

this church is quite similar to the dome of sacred elisabeth in my home city kosice, SK

good-bye świdnica (schweidnitz) and thanks for the nice time spent here.

even more pictures here. 😉