The town of Wisła - official website

Originally the mansion was situated in a forest clearing (Przysłop) on one of the slopes of Mount Barania and it used to be a hunting lodge of archduke Fryderyk Habsburg. It was built in 1897 in alpine style, in a form of a square with wooden pile walls and two floors. The ground floor was surrounded by a very original gallery. The mansion was probably designed by Mr. Albin Teodor Prokop – an architect and building councilor of Cieszyn Chamber Office.

Fryderyk Habsburg visited his new possession for the first time in 1880 and he had a great opening hunt organized to mark the occasion. His wife managed to shoot 30 grouses and this form of entertainment became so popular among the aristocracy of all Europe that in a very short time the population of grouse in the Beskid Mountains was on the verge of extinction. In 1915 the mansion was visited by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II Hohenzollern with his Field Marshal Hindenburg. In the same year Wisła was visited by archduke Karol Habsburg who later became the Emperor of Austria. The last grouse hunt was organized in 1916 and the archduke managed to shoot two grouses.

After the First World War all the Hapsburg’s property was nationalized and taken over by the state of Poland. Unfortunately, the mansion had been completely robbed and devastated by the local people. A decision was taken to reconstruct the building and transform it into a tourist shelter of PTTK (Polish Tourism Society). The building served in this role from 1925 to 1986 with an interval during the Second World War when it became a guerilla hideout. In 1986 the building was moved to the centre of Wisła to its present location – next to the main bus station. It is now the seat of Wisła PTTK, a tourist information point and a café ‘Kultura’ with live musical concerts.

The Mansion is on the route of Silesian wooden architecture trail.

Admission is free of charge.