Opava is a city in Cieszyn Silesia, near the border with Poland. It is one of the oldest Czech cities and has two nice market squares with partially preserved buildings and an interesting Silesian Museum.
The first mentions of the city come from the end of the 12th century, and it was granted city rights in 1224. In the Middle Ages it was a very important commercial center and the seat of the princes ruling Opava Silesia. In the local church of St. Of the Spirit there is a crypt where the princes of the Przemyślid family are buried. According to sources, there is also the grave of the Polish alchemist Michał Sedziwoj.
Most of the medieval churches in Opava, which survived to this day, underwent baroque reconstructions in the 17th and 18th centuries. This is what happened, among others with the Franciscan and Dominican monasteries and the aforementioned church of St. Spirit.
The city has preserved a large part of the buildings from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These include town houses and public utility buildings. One of them is the Museum of the Silesian Region in Opava with a rich collection of relics from the region. An interesting building is the Breda Department Store, which is in poor technical condition, but still impresses.
