Przemyśl is a city where the East meets the West. The city, which has been lying between Poland and Ruthenia for centuries, has retained its specific borderland atmosphere, and its monuments are testimony to a multinational history.
The city center is located on the southern bank of the San River, at the foot of the hill called Zniesienie. It is concentrated around an inclined market surrounded by tenements. In the nearby streets you can admire a galaxy of Przemyśl churches. The most important of them is the Gothic-Baroque cathedral of St. John, under which Romanesque crypts were discovered. From the cathedral bell tower you can admire the beautiful panorama of the city. Nearby, there is a Renaissance Carmelite church and a Baroque Franciscan temple. The former Baroque Jesuit church is today a Greek Catholic cathedral, and inside it is a richly decorated iconostasis.
Above the Old Town rises the Castle Hill, on which stands Kazimierzowski Castle. It owes its present shape to the Renaissance reconstruction under the direction of the owner of nearby Krasiczyn, Michał Krasicki. In its courtyard you can see the remains of a Romanesque rotunda and princely pallatium from the 10th / 11th century
On the nearby Independence Square stands the baroque tower of the unfinished Greek Catholic cathedral. Today it houses the Museum of Pipes and Bells. A modern edifice of the Przemyśl Land Museum rises next to the Old Town, and in the streets you can find the City History Museum and the Przemyśl Fortress Museum.
Przemyśl is also known for military monuments. In the second half of the 19th century and during World War I, the city was an Austrian fortress. The remains of forts on the Zniesienie Hill and the Tatar Mound, as well as the former gates of the fortress have survived to this day. To see the outer forts themselves, go to the villages near Przemyśl. In turn, Molotov shelters come from World War II. In one of them, Kaponier 8813, there is now a museum showing the history of fortifications and fights for Przemyśl during World War II.
