The aim of the study is to reconstruct the evolution of the cultural landscape of a settlement microregion located in Central-Eastern Europe, in the Sudetes Foothills. The microregion selected for the research, Wleń, is a good example to study and describe phenomena that are also typical of other similar administrative and economic territories in this cultural zone during the medieval period and the modern era. Archaeological evidence, written and cartographic sources, Airborne Laser Scanning, Geographical Information System and geomagnetic research were used to reconstruct the development and forms of particular elements of the settlement and the economic structure.

The article is the first attempt to summarize the issue of color in the Renaissance architecture of Silesia. The introduction outlines the purpose of the article; the architectural context of princely residences, noble and patrician houses, and public utility buildings; and also, the timescale of the Renaissance in Silesia. The basis for examining color schemes was the conducted architectural research, in which, in many cases, the authors participated personally. They included the analysis of technology, building materials, and architectural details, as well as stratigraphic studies of plasterwork and paint layers. As a result of the carried-out analysis, two basic colorschemes were specified. One involves contrasting smoothly painted plaster with brightly painted architectural details, and the other consists in covering the entire surface of walls with a network of thin stripes that imitate squares. Both color schemes were present in two different versions - with the use of either two or three colors, with the most common being: white, red, ocher, black and gray.

The historic bricks from the ducal castle on Ostrów Tumski (Wrocław), one of the first brickwork structures in the Lower Silesia, which dates back to the XII and XIII century, were studied and characterised by a combination of classical petrographic studies (polarising microscopy), scanning microscopy, thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction. The combined results of these methods suggest that the firing temperature ranges from 950°C, through the most common temperatures of 850–900°C, to the infrequent temperatures below 750°C. Most of the bricks were fired under oxidising conditions, occasionally over a sequence of oxidising and reducing steps, resulting in a sandwich structure. The results indicate, that low-calcareous raw materials were used, presumably Miocene-Pliocene ‘flamy clays’, exploited a few kilometres away from the castle and tempered with locally obtained sand from the Odra river. Only small differences have been recognized in: 1) clay to aplastic material ratio, 2) amount of accessory minerals, 3) grain-size distribution of aplastic materials, but no significant changes in the brick technology were observed. The observed variability corresponds well to the different constructing phases, identified previously on the basis of archaeological work. Thus, our work proves that a detailed mineralogical and petrological study may help to identify different construction phases in historic monuments.

Praca stanowi próbę podsumowania nowszych studiów nad lewobrzeżną siedzibą książęcą i cesarską we Wrocławiu, w oparciu o kwerendy źródłowe oraz wyniki badań archeologiczno-architektonicznych z lat 1999-2005. Kompleksowo omawia średniowieczne i wczesnonowożytne fazy budowlane wyróżnione w trakcie prac wykopaliskowych. Zwraca również uwagę na związki zamku z organizmem wczesnomiejskim formującym się na lewym brzegu Odry oraz jego najstarszymi systemami obronnymi.

The article briefly presents the author’s hypothesis of architectural changes in the ducal castle on Ostrów Tumski in Wrocław, which was developed based on the results of architectural studies of the relics of the castle walls uncovered in excavations in 2011–2012 and 2014, in combination with the results of laboratory tests such as petrographic and mineralogical analysis of mortars, 14C analysis of charcoal contained in mortars and extensive analysis of brick dimensions using statistical methods. As a result, a chronological stratification into eight phases from the 12th to 15th centuries is proposed. Absolute dating was addressed through radiocarbon analyses and historical context.