A 5 km walk through the historic parts of the ‘new’ city of Karviná: Fryštát and Darkov spa

• The city of Karviná, located in the far east of the country on the border with Poland, would probably not win many prizes for its variety of walking routes. However, Czech Republic’s largest border town is definitely worth a visit to explore its interesting recent history. In addition, the oldest part of the city (the district of Fryštát) and the Darkov 19th century spa with its mature park areas, are both attractive and can be combined together in a pleasant 5 km loop.
• Karviná city was established in 1948 by the merger of several independent municipalities, one of which was the old town of Fryštát, which traces its history back to the 13th century. Fryštát was an important town on the Olše river, which formed part of the historical (and probably prehistorical) trade route from the Baltics into Hungary. For most of the early Medieval period the area around Karviná was part of a Silesian duchy under the control of Polish dukes. It was not until the 14th century that this part of Silesia became attached to the Bohemian crown. Hence the significant Polish population in the Karvina region.
• The Karviná region’s importance dramatically grew in the final quarter of the 18th century after the discovery of substantial hard coal deposits, which resulted in an influx of primarily Polish speaking workers. The area became a critical manufacturing and mining center for the Habsburg Empire.
• After the end of the first world war, and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, ownership the border area including the Karviná mines, became the subject of a heated dispute between the Polish and the newly created Czechoslovak governments. The dispute culminated in the infamous 7 days war which took place in January 1919 between Poland and Czechoslovakia.
• The result was that Czechoslovakia gained control of the Karviná mining area (despite the Polish speaking population being in the majority) as well as the strategically important railway junction at Bohumín. The Poles gained control of much of the remaining historic Cieszyn region, but never gave up their territorial ambitions concerning Karviná.
• Immediately after the signing of the September 1938 Munich agreement, which conceded the German speaking Czech border lands to the Nazi regime, Poland once again claimed the Karviná mining area, sending a ultimatum to the Czechoslovak government, which was powerless to resist. At the beginning of October 1938, Karviná became Polish again, but this status lasted less than a year. After the Nazi Germany invasion of Poland, the whole region was annexed and remained part of Nazi Germany until its liberation by the Red Army in May 1945.
• Fryštát is the Gothic-Renaissance historical center of Karviná. From the times when it was the center of the Cieszyn region and the principle castle (which became a chateau) has been preserved, where the highest Silesian aristocratic families resided for 700 years. It is the only settlement town of the Silesian ruling princes from the Piast family in the territory of Bohemian Silesia.
• The chateau was acquired in the late 18th century by the the important Austrian-Silesian aristocratic family Larisch-Mönnich who also owned the Karviná land on which the coal deposits were discovered. They subsequently became the wealthiest coal family in Austro-Hungary, and used some of this wealth to establish the Darkov spa, which is still operational today. They also converted the Renaissance chateau into its current Empire style form and developed the garden areas into an English style park, with game areas (which are sill present). All the family’s properties in Czechoslovakia were confiscated in 1945 under the Beneš decrees. The chateau can be visited on guided tours throughout the year.
• The route shown in the map below assumes a start in the large parking area near the chateau park area. If travelling by bus or train to the Karviná main station, it is approximately 1 km from there to the edge of the park. The suggested route heads firstly across the main park to reach the river Olše and then returns back through the spa area and university park before reaching the main square and chateau area.
• It is a completely flat route suitable for strollers. There are various cafés and restaurants on the main square for refreshments. Try the Hejlík recommended BISTRO BOK of Ka, on the northwest corner (map point 6).

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• As there are no marked hiking paths around town, this is a route best followed using the mapy.com phone application or a good paper map.