Bielsko-Biala Audio Tours

Bielsko-Biala is a city with a split personality, literally. It was formed in 1951 by merging two neighboring towns: Bielsko on the Silesian side and Biala on the Galician side, separated by the Biala River that once marked the border between two empires, Prussian and Austro-Hungarian. Walking through the city, you can still sense the different administrative traditions in the street patterns and architecture. The historic center, particularly around Plac Wolnosci and the castle hill, retains the Central European elegance of Habsburg-era urban planning.

The textile industry built this city's wealth in the nineteenth century, and Bielsko-Biala was known as 'Little Vienna' for the prosperity that fine woolen cloth manufacturing brought.

The castle on the hill, Zamek Ksiazat Sulkowskich, now houses a local museum, and its courtyard is a genuine pleasure to sit in. The Austrian-era architecture along Ulica 11 Listopada and around the main market square is notably better preserved than in many Polish cities, partly because the city changed hands between empires rather than being fought over destructively.