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- Escape From the Tower
Escape From the Tower
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| Source: Museum of Old Commerce. The fragment of a copper-plate with the view of the town according to Mathaeus Merian of 1650. Church under the invocation of St Nicholas in the old days situated in the vicinity of Plac 1000-lecia Państwa Polskiego. At the church cemetery, a nobleman who escaped from the tower, was supposed to be buried with honours. |
In the collection of chronicles of Świdnica written by anonymous authors which date back to the period between the 16th and 17th century, Sobiesław Nowotny (historian of Świdnica) found an interesting note testifying that the Town Hall Tower was previously used as a prison.
According to one of the notes in 1525 a Hans Gross (a nobleman from Jędrzejów near Dzierżoniów) was imprisoned there. Gross was supposed to be tried for threatening the municipal councillors with gun. His companions helped him to escape providing him with a rope which he used to escape from the tower and then from town. They did not manage to catch him. Nevertheless, after five years he was caught by people from Świdnica. After passing the judgement on the 12th July 1530 he was beheaded and buried at the St. Nicholas cemetery which was once situated where the present building of Bank Zachodni and the surrounding square are situated now.
Source: Sobiesław Nowotny „Historia wieży ratuszowej” available on www.ws-24.pl.
