Piast Castle in Racibórz - Station 10 – The brewery of Racibórz

Description

You are now in front of the gate leading to the ducal brewery (fot.10.10.001), which fate is closely related with the history of the castle.

The castle brewery in Racibórz has the oldest brewing tradition in Upper Silesia. It existed already before 1532, brewing beer for the needs of the court of local princes. In 1567, it was mentioned in the book of ground of goods of Racibórz chamber. In the inscription was reported that the holder of the castle maintained a brewer and his helper, and the ”browar z dobrą panwią” (brewery with a good bowl) was located at the castle wall. In 1840 the breweries and the castle passed into the possession of the family of princes von Ratibor, Upper Silesian large landowners. The new owners did not initially developed the production of beer. But in 1858, after a fire in the factory, Ratibor family decided to take up brewing more intensely.

In place of the old brewery it was built a modern workplace with a steam engine. While expanding, it was decided to demolish the entire north wing of the former headquarter of the Upper Silesian princes, and in this place to build a brewery, and in the slope of the castle hill, deep underground, fermentation and storage cellar were located. The new workplace, which used technological revolution brewing achievements from the second half of the 19th century, could produce beer on an industrial scale and compete not only with local city breweries, but also with large ones, as in Tychy.

After a further modernization in the late 19th century, began to produce beer pilzeńskie of Racibórz, which has become an export hit. The key to success turned out to be the acquisition by the mansion of Ratibor of master Kaufmann, still regarded by historians as a mysterious figure. Most likely he practiced in the Czech city of Pilsen and came from a family with a long tradition of beer brewing. He died during World War I, and the castle brewery fell then into serious trouble - also because recruitment to the army deprived the workplace of skilled workers and customers. The recipe for surviving this difficult times occurred to be hop lemonade, cheap ”war“ beer with a low content of the extract.

On the other hand, the brewery survived unscathed from World War II. From the end of the war, it produced beer only with a break in the 90s. The workplace is currently in private hands and brew gold drink under the name ”Browar Zamkowy” (Castle Brewery).

Behind the gate, you can see the main building of the 19th century (photo 10.10.002), with a big sign ”Browar Racibórz, rok zał. 1567” (Brewery Racibórz, est. 1567) (photo 10.10.003). Before the building there is a silos with a former logo (photo 10.10.004). Over the workplace dominates the well-preserved 19th-century chimney (photo10.10.005). You can visit the brewery, upon reservation.

This completes our walk around the castle in Racibórz. Thank you for your attention and we invite you to visit again our city.