Commune of Krapkowice

Location: in the northern part of the Poviat of Krapkowice, on both sides of the Odra River;
in a very profitable communication position - two important communication tracks cross there: the highway A-4, joining East with West with 2 exits: No. 241 - in Otmęt and No. 248 - in Dąbrówka Górna, and 2 ways: Opole-Racibórz and Strzelce Opolskie-Prudnik with a bridge over the Odra River.
It borders communes of: Gogolin, Walce, Głogówek, Strzeleczki, Prószków, Tarnów Opolski.
Administrative composition – the town of Krapkowice and 11 villages: Żywocice, Żużela, Pietna, Borek, Ściborowice, Kórnica, Nowy Dwór Prudnicki, Steblów, Gwoździce, Rogów Opolski, Dąbrówka Górna.
Commune area: 97 km²
Number of inhabitants: 25 130, including 17 900 living in Krapkowice, density of population amounts 259 persons per 1 km².

It is worth seeing and visiting…

   «•»  Village of Żywocice
On the way from Krapkowice toward Głogówek a village of Żywocice is found. Its name descends from a personal name the Life(s). For the first time it was mentioned as Ziboczicz (1300), afterwards Zywotitz (1453).
Taking in Żywocice the way Kozielska, we reach an old cemetery, whereon one ceased burials in 1934. The neglected necropolis was arranged only in 1995. A marble- cross with a figure of God’s Mother is a worth attention object, founded by a local teacher Joseph Reinkober who was killed in 1914 and there was buried. In post-war years, a commemoratory monument of killed in both world wars inhabitants was also put there.
Going still with the Kozielska Street, we reach a wayside chapel- belfry, the date of construction of which is unspecified. Services had been held there until a church was built, important church- ceremonies, and a bell placed there announced every time of a day and a death of a local recruit during wars. Going still the way, straight on we can see an old building of the Voluntary Fire Brigade, built in years 1885 - 1889, and inside a horse-drawn fire truck from 1911. Opposite, there is a little chapel with a picture and a figure of God’s Mother, Saint John Nepomucen and unidentified saint. We get off the Świętego Józefa Street (Saint Joseph) and we walk to the main street and the village of Pietna. There, we can see a church of St. Florian (1989), a corner-stone of which was consecrated by the pope Jan Paul II during his pilgrimage onto the Mount St. Anna in 1983.

   «•»  Village of Żużela
Moving with the main road from Żywocice towards Pietna we reach a wayside- cross from 1902. It is placed on the way, called “concrete pavement” that runs to Brożec. It was placed there as thanks for its building. Moving with the “concrete pavement”, just before a forest we turn left and by a field- way we get to the first buildings of Żużela. A name of the village originates probably from a word żużel (slag), żużelica and means filings of iron, coal waste. For the first time it was recorded as Susela in 1213.
After you got to the Krapkowicka Street, we come upon the XIX- century wayside- little chapel with a picture of Mother of God of Incessant Help, (founded by Maria Tomanek). It commemorates Bartholomeo Thomanek, rammed by frightened horses. When the way was repaired in 1934, the little chapel was disassembled, but after one year it was put again. Moving inside the village, it is worth paying attention to a pre-war smithy, situated on the left hand side. Today it belongs to the family Studniorz. In the center of the village, on an estate of the family Glombik, there are: a stone- cross, 3-storyied chapel – belfry, and close by it a monument to commemorate killed inhabitants during the World War I and II. Over an entry to the chapel, there is a picture of St. Urban – a patron of Żużela, topped with a cross. Inside the chapel, there is a picture of God’s Mother of Czestochowa and on its sides, there are paintings presenting a grave of Jesus and a personage of God’s Mother. Inside the chapel, there is also a processional cross from the XIX century and the new figure of St. Dorothea, founded on the occasion of 3rd millennium by inhabitants of the village, including members of the Culture-Civic Society of the German on Opolskie Silesia – a Circle in Żużela (an old one was stolen in 90s . of the last century).
Entering from the side of a ring road to Żużela, we could see a little chapel of St. Urban. A precious, wooden figure of this saint was also stolen from there in the 60s of the previous century. Wilibald Gabrielczyk, an inhabitant of the village, founded the new one. In 2002, inhabitants renewed the little chapel and solemnly sacrificed it. It is also worth looking into a nearby country- park, wherein the fragment of old trees remained. We can see there a mansion of the former administrator of the family von Haugwitz, as well as a tomb of the family Gödeke, being not the Catholic confession. When during the epidemic his wife and children died, and a local priest did not allow for their burial on a Catholic cemetery, then the desperate father built a tomb for them at the mansion. Probably still until quite lately, there was inside a secret passage to the mansion. Moving from Żużela towards Brożec, we can see on the way a sumptuous votive cross with a niche little chapel from 1913. Its founder was the family of Pietruszka. At first, in a niche, there was a statuette of God’s Painful Mother which in process of time spoilt. Because of that, it was replaced with a statuette of God’s Immaculate Mother. Besides, there are three monuments of inanimate nature in the village: one is pink granite - on a private property, in a garden of the family of Donitza at 18 Krapkowicka Street, the two others – these are: granite pink and grey at a pond near a gravel-pit.

   «•»  Village of Pietna
Moving from Żywocice towards Głogówek, we pass the village of Pietna. So far, the date of the beginning of the village is not fixed. At first, the village was known as Laschkowic, Lascicz, Laschicze. Only after its restoration in 1550, it was named Pieten. The following change on Teichgrund (for numerous ponds being found in neighbourhood) came after the Hitler rising. After the World War II, the village was given the name Pietna again.
Behind the village, on the right side, going to Steblów, there is a cemetery on a not very high hill, among fields and meadows. Amazing is an arrangement of graves; all are turned toward the village. It is not known, when exactly burials began there. Probably from the half of the XIV century, whenas the plague epidemic raged. Then, its victims were buried in a common tomb. Other say that the cemetery came into being during „the Swedish” deluge. Nowadays, on the area of that necropolis, on a place of an old wooden cross, a cemetery chapel stands. Inside, there is an altar with a cross and a picture of St. Jadwiga, a patron of Silesia and Pietna hung over it. There are boards commemorating victims the World War I and II on the side-walls, as well as pictures: the first one - God’s Mother of Czestochowa, second one - painted by a painter from the Mount St. Anna – as a legend says – according to a night- dream of the contemporary country- beggar Alojzy Kasperek. In 1968 in the eastern part of the cemetery the Lourdes Grotto was built, and on cemetery- trees Stations of the Cross Way were hung. Going toward Głogówek, we can see a votive chapel, placed on a property of the family Konieczny at Krapkowicka Street, with pictures of Mother God’s and St. Anna. It was built by the ancestry of that family six generations ago, as the thanks for a rescue from the deadly disease or from a death of hunger in times of a bad crop. Moving from the Krapkowicka street toward the Stawowy (Pond’s) Square, in a place it meets the Łąkowa (Meadow) street-, a wooden belfry once stood. Today, on its place, there is a chapel-belfry built in 1922, a patron of which became St. Jadwiga. A curiosity is the main altar, whereon they are: a cross from 1728 and statuettes of the Heart of Jesus Lord and Holy Virgin Mary.

   «•»  Village of Borek
Going toward Głogówek, behind a bus stop you have to turn left to reach the smallest village of Borek, for the first time mentioned in 1784. Its name originates from a word borek, that is to say small wood, a forest.
In the middle of the village, there is a country- chapel with a wooden altar, a tabernacle and three figures of: Saint John Nepomucen, God’s Assampted Mother and God’s Mother with Bambino Jesus. You can also admire the XVIII-century little chapel in Borek, built by Józef von Oppersdorf from Głogówek. There, on the Krapkowice – Głogówek way, on the left hand side of the road we reach a monument of nature – white oak, 22 meters of height, with its circuit of 470 cm. Its age is estimated at 250 years.

   «•»  Village of Ściborowice
Going towards Głogówek, we reach the next village of Ściborowice, mentioned in 1300. Its name originates from an old Polish name Ścibor.
On the way running to the village, we can see a wayside- cross, put after the World War I by the family Kruppa. Just near the way on the right side we can notice a little chapel of Holy Mary Virgin from 1891, at which May- services are celebrated until today. A little bit farther, on the left hand side there is the former grange, which since 1761 belonged to the family von Oppersdorf. It is not known, when it was built, but what is certain – in the XVII century it belonged to the family Hylach, and then to the family von Schonburg. Leaving the village, a figure of Saint John Nepomucen from 1890 standing on a basement bids us good-buy as well as being found on the right side, built in 1938 on a field of the count Oppersdorf, a monument commemorating killed inhabitants of the village in both world wars. Just behind the monument, there is a little chapel of Saint Crux built by the family Reymann in the half of the XIX century.

   «•»  Village of Kórnica
Going still by the main road toward Głogówek we reach the village of Kórnica. For the first time, it was mentioned in 1217 as Carnici, and in 1339 as Kornicz. Its origin comes from a common word kora (bark), meaning here a bark settlement, dealing with trees barking.
At an entrance to the village, there is a little chapel, which - similarly as the 3 others - rich farmers built for keeping altars during ceremonies of Corpus-Christi Day. A little bit farther there is a cross from 1894 and a late-Baroque church of St. Fabian and Sebastian, built in years 1794-1795 as a branch of a church from Krapkowice, founded in 1851 as the separate parish. For the first time, the church in Kórnica was mentioned in 1433. At the church, there is a cemetery, and before an entrance to the temple there is a cross from 1893, put on the occasion of a jubilee of the priest Krecik.

   «•»  Village of Nowy Dwór Prudnicki
Going toward Głogówek we quickly reach an outlying, typically agricultural village of the Commune of Krapkowice – Nowy Dwór. A name of that village comes from a word dwór (mansion), what meant a farm fortune or a grange. Probably that village came into being in years 1623-1626, as a menial settlement to a grange of Oppersdorf- the Lord of Głogówek established at the same time. In 1845 a name Neuhof was noted.

   «•»  town of Krapkowice
It is worth longer stopping in one of the oldest Poviat towns in the Opolskie voivodeship - in Krapkowice, situated on both sides of the Odra River. It is easy to get there both from Opole, Prudnik, Kędzierzyn, Strzelce Opolskie, as well as leaving a highway in nearby Dąbrówka or Otmęt. On the ground of numerous excavations, it is assumed that already in antiquities the organized society lived on the area. A trade route, called „amber-”, joining Baltic Sea with Balkans, run there.
History of that XIII-century town, situated on a little hill c.a. 160 m above sea level is strictly connected with history of two different localities which today create one administrative unit. Already in the Middle Ages, two fortresses appeared on the opposite river banks: on the left bank, where Osobłoga flows the Odra River, Chrapkowice (1294) descending from an old Polish personal name of Chrapek (from 1204 chrap describes boggy, miry grounds), and on the right side of the Odra river – Ocnant (1223) // Othmant (1302), from a word odmęt, describing topography of ground which means deep, rough water, an abyss (of course, on the Odra River).
Krapkowice received its municipal rights most likely already in 1275 from hands of the prince Wladyslaw. However, no act remained from that period. The oldest document originates from 1294, wherein Bolesław I, a son of Wladyslawa gave inhabitants the pastures between the Osobłoga and Odra rivers, also fisheries in two not far situated ponds. In exchange, the town was obliged to pay charges of total amount of 14 thalers on the day of St. Martin (11th November) each year. From the beginning of history of the town the management and the judicature were managed by a voit and 7 town councilors, chosen among inhabitants. In process of time, municipality was created - councilors and a mayor, at first chosen by a landowner. A document from 1406 informs about it, with immortalized a coat of arms of the town placed on it for the first time - with a half of the golden eagle and with a half of silver wheel on a blue background.


We propose to begin our tramp from the Krapkowice’s town square which has got typically mediaeval buildings - a fountain in the centre of the square, old tenement around, one close by second, placed on a circuit of rectangle (the oldest, corner one-, late-Baroque, top situated originates from the XVIII century - today there is the florist’s Margaret), crossed with narrow, access streets. Taking one of them toward Zamkowa (Castle) Street, and from there to the oldest building of the town – a Late-Gothic church of St. Nicholas of the defensive character, mentioned for the first time in 1330. From that period, a stone cross- ribbed vault remained in a presbytery. Thanks to a voit Peter Temchin, the church was enlarged in 1400 with a Rosary- Chapel in which most likely together with his wife were buried, while the bas-relief being visible on the external wall of the church represent their images. His work was also the first hospital built in 1416 - a poorhouse for the ill and poor with a by-hospital chapel which spoilt in 1550. In years 1534-1626, the temple ran into hands of Protestants. It was so as a consequence of the extinction of the prince line of Piast, when the town was mortgaged to the Marcount George von Jägerdorf, the fanatic advocate of Protestantism who added the second aisle. Due to an increase in number of population in the Krapkowice parish, in the XVI century it was necessary to extend the church.
Then a presbytery was developed, and from the south side the third aisle was added along with a chorus gallery. A founder of the reconstruction was an owner of the town the knight Hans von Redern who is buried with his wife and mother in the church- tomb. An emblem of the family von Redern is placed on his tombstone and a bas-relief of woman, most likely his wife. In 1722, the great fire completely destroyed the temple. However, thanks to efforts of the contemporary parish-priest Franciszek Major and numerous founders it was truly restored. The most precious movable ancient monuments at the church are: the XVI-century stone- font, the baroque-neoclassical ambo, the XVIII-century monstrance, chalice and pictures of: Last Supper, St. Anna teaching Mary and God’s Mother Revelation to Saint John Nepomucen. During restoration of the church a school was also built and a by-hospital chapel of Adalbert and Gregory was rebuilt, which was situated at the defense wall, close to the later Opolska gate.
From the church, we walk to a late-Renaissance castle, an integral part of the mediaeval prince town (until 1557). When the emperor Ferdinand, in consequence of battles fought with Turks ran into huge debt, he was forced to give back the town into as a mortgage to Joachim Buchta from Otmęt for only 6500 thalers. In 1582, the emperor Rudolph II sold the town to Hans von Redern for 1600 thalers. Today’s architectural appearance of Krapkowice we owe to the Renderns. Then, the importance of the late-Renaissance castle considerably grown up. On a place of an old, wooden one, that respectable family built the new object in 1678, 2-storyied, 4-wing with a yard in the middle. Only one entrance leads to it, through the passage hall being situated in the west wing. There was an orangery at the castle which directly met a garden, a park and a greenhouse. During their ruling the Krapkowice castle was not inhabited, because they had their own seat at a castle in Rogów Opolski. In 1765, the family of Redern went out, and the last heiress of the family sold her own fortune to the count Haugwitz. In years 1806-1807, there was a weaver’s shop. During the Napoleonic wars (siege of Kożle) a field hospital was created in for French armies. Then the castle was completely destroyed. After a fire of the town in 1854 the object was rebuilt, but it was lowered with one storey. Through certain period of time in the castle apartments were situated: cloth- workshop, evangelic school, as well as the freemason’s lodge. The castle was a property of the family von Haugvitz until 1945. After the war it was restored and since 1947 a school is situated inside.
We come back to the town square and we move toward a taxi-rank. On a crossing, we turn right, passing a bridge over the Odra River. Good to know, it was built of wood and when Prussian armies burnt it up, the town built on its own cost a ferry which through 100 years fulfilled a function of a mean of transport. Small charges were collected for carriage from the one bank of the river to another one.
With the Priest Koziołek road we go to Otmęt, and then we turn left to the Krótka Street which conducts us to the Piastowska Street. Again, we turn left and just straight we can see defense walls of a church of Assumptions of Holy Mary Virgin. First mentions on the church originate from 1223. Since 1302 the Cistercians from Jemielnica patronized it. In 1732 the contemporary owner of the village of Otmęt, Magdalena von Larisch, sold a castle tower to the church for 2403 thalers. At that time, the new corps between the tower and the Gothic presbytery was built. Today’s appearance the church owes to following reconstructions which took place in years 1912-1914. From the former temple only Gothic tower of rubble remained. Tombstones of Jerzy Buchta and Fryderyk Czettricz von Kinsberg deserve also attention.}
We leave a gate of a churchside square, we turn left and we go through the Priest Franciszek Dusza Street. On the left hand behind a parish house we see ruins of the XII-century castle, which was then a property of the family Szeliga, afterwards family Strzala, and then till the XVI century - the knight Schielchan. Its following owner Lukasz von Buchtitz rebuilt it into a summer- residence. In the XVII century the castle was sold to Zuzanna von Oppersdorf from Kożle. The new owner executed the following reconstruction. Until today only ruins of the tower remained, surrounding wall and fragments of living rooms.
Going still straight with the ks. Dusza Street, we get to a walking path. There, on the right side we can see a sports hall, and not far away the production halls, owned once by Silesian Leather- Industry Factory. It was founded in 1929 by Tomasz Bata who within 3 years transformed the factory into the Joint Stock Company OTTA producing shoes till 1945. After the war that factory prospered well in years 1960 -1980. Nowadays, it passes restructuring, and on its area the private shoe factories and other business houses are run.
Then we turn left, we cross a railway bridge which in 1997 was destroyed by flood. Nowadays it has been partially rebuilt and it is possible to pass to the other side to Krapkowice, by a foot-bridge for pedestrian and users of single-track vehicles. On the right side we pass an open-air pool and placed behind walls the Jewish cemetery, whereon burials started most likely from the beginning of the XIX century to the end of the World War II. On the Jewish necropolis, c.a. 100 graves and 50 free-standing macewas have remained. In spite that cemetery was one of the greatest, the most of Jews, living in the town, wished their burials in Biała, because just that town was in their opinion Macom Cadik, that is to say the place of the righteous.
Going a path, we get back the Opolska Street, and consequently the oldest part of the today’s town, a district called Oracze (Ploughmen) for the great number of farms. Moving to the centre, we can notice on the right side of the Opolska Street, one from 10 once existing lime-kilns which were owned by the families of Kluczny and Czaja. Soon we get to a nearby little chapel, devoted to the Sweetest Heart of Lord Jesus, and from there to a crossing of 1 Maja Street. When we turn right, on the left hand side we can see the longest fragment of remaining municipal walls together with the XIV century, 3-storyied Upper Gate Tower. The first mention about walls originates from 1348. It is known that at the beginning of the XIX century the Odra River Gate was destroyed, and soon the Upper. In years 1840 - 1860 leveling of the municipal moat followed and consequently demolition of other gates - Opolska and Kozielska. Only Gothic - Renaissance- tower of the Upper gate remained of the fortifications, with adjoined walls and with their fragments in the north-east and south-west part of the town.
Going still the 1 May Street, we get to the former evangelical church of the God’s Charity , built in 1854 on a ground, presented to the evangelical community in 1794 by Chirurgus Samuel Martinin, the former valet of the family von Redern. Consecration of the place of pray followed on 8th November 1858. In the 80s of the last century the Diocesan Curia in Opole bought it from the evangelical commune. Thanks to the parish-priest Edgar Loch and generosity of parishioners the church was restored inside and outside and in 2004 again consecrated. The building close by the church is also remarkable. Today this is a dwelling house, but then there was an evangelic school, built in 1844.
Good to know that in the XIX century the town changed its own visage, new streets and buildings appeared. In 1866 the Odra River was regulated and a water gate was built, and in 1896 the railway line Gogolin - Krapkowice - Biała – Prudnik was opened (closed in the 90s. of the last century). Besides, in 1903 paper- industry factory was established with production of cellulose and paper. Its true development followed in years 1960-1980. Today, the factory has been restructured and became transformed into the factory Metsä Tissue S.A. - the modern factory producing hygienic paper on the basis of waste paper. Since a short time in Krapkowice also printing and building industries have been developed. From today’s Catholic church we move back to the Krapkowice town square where we finish our tramp around Krapkowice.
It is worth spending time on a walk around a track of monuments of animate & inanimate nature. The following specimens of trees are worthy admiration: small-leaved linden of a circuit of 340 cm, European beech of a circuit of 300 cm and wild pine of a circuit of 230cm (ramifying at 4 m into two powerful branches), growing in a park behind a stadium in Otmęt. Besides, it is also worth viewing: Norway maple in a park at Staszica Street, yew and white oak of a circuit 234 cm at Sienkiewicza Street. There also are many sorts of legally protected plants which we can meet there. Among them the following should be mentioned: English ivy, yew, cirsium Pontine in Otmęt on Abisynia, Colchium autumnale in Krapkowice at the sluice over the Odra River, black currant and alder buckthorn. Besides, there also are monuments of inanimate nature in Krapkowice which we can meet in Otmęt, among other things: a stone of pink granite at the Workshop of Occupation Therapy and two stones of grey granite being found at the Office of the Town in Krapkowice.

   «•»  Village of Steblów
Moving from Krapkowice towards Prudnik, an old village of Steblów greets us soon. Archaeological researches confirm that colonization in that village reaches times of Stone Age - Neolithic age. For the first time, its name was noted in 1294 in a document of the Opolskie prince Bolesław as Styblow, and its etymology derives from an old Polish personal name Stebel. Crossing that village, it is worth viewing 2 niche little pillar chapels on a square base. One of them comes from 1807.

   «•»  Village of Gwoździce
Going from Krapkowice through the Opolska Street towards Opole, we pass the village of Gwoździce a name of which descends from a personal name Gwozd (from1257) or an old Polish word gwozd, meaning forest. The local tradition binds the name of the village with existence in the past of a smithy in which nails were forged. The name of the village for the first time was mentioned in 1723 as Gwosdzûtz.

   «•»  Village of Rogów Opolski

From Gwoździce, we go the main road to Rogów Opolski. A name of that village originates from a word bend (arch) which refers to a bend formed by the flowing nearby Odra River, though some people derives it from a nickname Róg (Horn). For the first time, Rogów Opolski was mentioned in 1305 as one of the rent- villages of the Wroclaw bishopric.
At the nearby crossing you should turn right, pass close by a building of the Voluntary Fire Brigade, on a yard of which a fire truck from 1902 stands. Going straight, we soon reach the Early-Gothic with Renaissance- elements church of St.Philip and Older Jacob. The oldest mention about it originates from 1335. In wartime of the thirty-year war (1618-1648) it was a Protestant church. The oldest part of the temple comes from 1300, while a tower with the lierne vault and an aisle come from the end of the XVI century. To the most precious movable ancient monuments belong: a baroque main altar with sculptures of saint and angels, a stone Roman font from the half of the XII century, an ambo with bas-reliefs of evangelists and crucifixes.
Going through a park, on a road junction you should turn left. It is worth stopping at the XIX-century mausoleum of the family von Haugwitz, whence after the world war II coffins with debris of deceased were moved to a cemetery in Krapkowice. Getting a yard of a castle, on the left hand a building of servants is visible. The mediaeval hunter’s castle in Rogów, as the legend tells, was owned by the Order of Templars. Built by them in the XIII century, it had to be joined with an underground tunnel to their main seat in Otmęt. That object for the first time was mentioned in an act of sale in 1393. Then, the estate, owned by Herfert Pause Younger –a governor of the king Louis Hungarian, was sold to brothers Jan and Adam Beess. At their times, reconstruction of the castle took place in the XV century. The family Rogoyski was following owner of the castle, and since 1596 it was a property of the family von Wbrsky and in its rule it stayed through 135 years. In 1757, the Rogow’s property along with the castle purchased the count Henry Adolph von Redern from Krapkowice, and after his death Charles William von Haugwitz.

During their rule, reconstructions and extensions of the castle took place, what raised it to the rank of a residence in the Neo-Gothic style, surrounded with a garden and a landscape park. The family of Haugwitz ruled over the castle until 1945. After the World War II, the castle and castle properties were nationalized. The State- Holding Farm was established which in the course of time was transformed. Today, there is a branch Of the Public Voivodeship Library. There are collections of, among the others, precious old prints from which the oldest proceed from the XIV century. To the most precious belong: a letter of the lord Georg Byron to an owner of the Rogów’s castle, the oldest printed book from 1486, antique maps of Silesia from 1561, 1645 and 1736, ennoblement acts, urbariums etc.
Close by the castle, an extensive park spreads which distinguishes itself with magnificent old trees of both native, as and allogenic. We can see there specimens of huge trunks circuits of which reach almost 4 m, among other things: 150-year- European beeches, reaching up to 40 m of the height, maidenhair-tree, the most decorative American tulip tree of a circuit of a trunk 253 cm., Turkey oak and huge, over 250-year- petiole oaks, 30-metre height, buttonwood of a circuit of a trunk 344 cm and American arborvitae of a circuit 130 cm. Besides, many legally protected plants appear in the park. These are: English ivy, yew and Pontic azalea.
It is worth paying attention to a stone plate at stairs, leading from the castle yard to the park. There is an inscription in French on it which in translation into Polish means: All Your sins are wiped off, let you be troubled by nothing. As a legend tells, that is a grave, wherein a knight from the Order of Templars was buried, or, what is more probable, that is a place of burial of a French officer from the period of the Napoleonic campaign.

   «•»  Village of Dąbrówka Górna
Leaving Rogów Opolski, you should go towards Opole, to run an overpass over a highway and reach the village of Dąbrówka Górna. A name of that village descends from a word dąbrówka which describes small oak wood, oak brushwood. For the first time, that village was mentioned in 1403.
At the main way, on the left hand there is a little chapel the beginning of which is bound with two legends. One of them points out that that is a collective grave of Napoleonic soldiers, who died during the return of Napoleon after the lost war with Russia. Instead, the second tells that there are inhabitants of the village buried in it who- victims of the cholera epidemic. Because of that, children were warned not to eat apples from an apple-tree which grew once close by the chapel. A church of St. Roch is visible nearby which is also a patron of the village. It was built in years 1957 - 1960. Moving still with the main road along a brick- wall, we reach a gateway to of a castle in Dąbrówka. It was built in the half of the XVII century, however probably earlier a building of that type of the defensive character existed there. As a legend tells, a queen Dąbrówka lived there who was buried in a silver- sarcophagus in the old part of the castle. The first well-known owner of possessions is the family Rogoyski who bought it in 1490 and resided absolutely until the XVIII century. The following was Jerzy Ludwik von Dalwig who sold it in 1850 to Walter von Teichmann – Logischen. The castle surrounds an extensive park, wherein we can muse over graves of last owners of the castle, the family Teichmann – Logischen. The last from the family, the baron Gotfryd got married to an actress Christina Duschanek, dissatisfying his mother. As a legend tells, after their marriage during one night a wall was built in the palace dividing it into two equal parts. The count died in 1944 and was buried, as his ancestries were, in the park, instead his wife together with their son left to Germany. After the World War II, granaries and an office of the State- Holding Farm and a nursery school were situated in the palace. Today, the palace is a private property. The magnificent old trees and interesting specimens of legally protected flora (English ivy, Colchicum autumnale, guelder rose) we can meet in the castleside park. There is also a pond of surface of 4.30 ha and a legendary water hole of St. Jadwiga. As a legend tells, St. Jadwiga during her trip around Silesia stopped there and drank water which is probably of curing power.
Leaving the castle, just on the opposite side of a way a figure of Saint John Nepomucen from 1719 bids us good-bye, placed on a basement with a heraldic cartouche of the founder, Wacław Leonard Joseph Rogoyski. In those times, he was accused by the local population of manslaughter of his own brother, a co- owner of Dąbrówka which de facto committed suicide. Because St. Nepomucen is not only a patron of the good confession, but also fame, he had to defend a founder before slander and false calumnies.
At that point you can finish your travel around extremely rich history of the town and the commune of Krapkowice. It is proper so to begin the tramp there, where stones tell their own history.