Daisy Days in Pszczyna

Before moving to Tychy, where we are staying now, we spent three weeks in Pszczyna (read: ..."psh'chyna"...), where our friends live. We had thought about a possible hike from Tychy to Pszczyna. On a fine spring day, when we had a clear goal – visiting Daisy Days Festival in Market Square in Pszczyna - we set out on foot. The distance was about twenty kilometers, which did not deter us. It took us five hours to get to Castle Park in Pszczyna. We were blessed with nice forest roads and a good asphalted cycling trail.

The River Gostyn at the city border, Tychy

We passed two villages: Kobiór and Piasek and found ourselves in Katowice Street in the north of Pszczyna. We had been to Kobiór three times before, and it was our first visit to the village of Piasek, which we had passed on the way to Psycyzna many times by train.

We were impressed by a variety of excellent private houses and many road chapels on the way.

This wooden bridge is remarkable indeed. It stands under the motorway bridge on the Korzeniec River - a unique view that makes you want to return to it. Locals cal it "A bridge under the bridge near the bridge".

Roadside chapels on our way

A forest chapel at the crossing of roads, Tychy-Piasek

Aleja Dębowa (Oak Alley) is one of several roads leading to the former princely estates from the Prince’s Palace in Pszczyna to Promnice hunting residence of the Hochberg Family located on the shore of Lake Paprocany in Tychy. The alley started in the Castle Park in Pszcyna and passed, among others, the picturesque courtyard of Ludwikówka in Łowiecka Street, which we saw.
This several-kilometer-long road was commonly called "Reitweg", that is, the horse trail. We walked along its three-kilometer section in Piasek and admired the old oaks growing along the road.
The road was built in 1861 in the English Neo-Gothic style. Oaks were planted on both sides of the road every ten meters. They say the oldest oaks are 250 years old, and most of them are 150 years old.
By the decision of the Silesian voivodship dated September 17, 1981, the avenue was recognized as a natural monument. 290 pedunculate oaks (Quercus robur) were listed as protected ones. 270 trees have survived to this day.
A fragment of the red cycling route connecting Pszczyna with Tychy runs through this alley.

Oak Alley in Piasek

Nice houses in Piasek

Walking along Forest Street, Piasek

Forest Street is on the bicycle trail, Piasek

Walking along Forest Street, Piasek

Silesian Insurgents memorial, Piasek

Forest Corner cafe in Forest Street, Piasek

62 Lowiecka Street, Piasek

Accomodation poster in Piasek

While walking along Forest Street, we saw this advertisement reassuring us that there is an accomodation opportunity in Piasek in case we happen to arrive there late.

We saw this house in Lowiecka Street. It was assembled by a construction company for passersby to see that new projects were available.

We have never seen such a hotel for useful and hard-working insects. Live and learn! The information boards explains to us why pollinators are so important. Nearly a third of the food we eat depends on pollinators, and thanks to bees, 85% of plant species exist. Instead of thrushes, it is worth planting melliferous plants and varieties that have different flowering times. Thanks to this, we provide insects with food for as much as possible the longest time. Here is how to build a pollinators’ hotel:

• The diameter of holes for insects is 2-8 mm. The house for pollinators should be made of natural materials. The entire surface of the hotel should be covered with a wire mesh with small meshes to protect tenants from insectivorous birds.
• Thick branches should be properly drilled. They attract solitary wasps, bees and golden-lites.
• Bricks: Solitary bees (e.g. boreal owl) protect themselves in them, but the gaps in the brick must be no more than 10 mm.
• Straw: it will be a shelter for the golden-eyed.
• Plant pot should be inverted and filled.
• Cones/dry leaves: cones and dry leaves are the habitat of many beneficial insects, such as ladybirds.
• Flower stalks: rose, barberry or blackberry stems will be the perfect place for a nest for hymenoptera and wintering grounds for hoverflies.
• Reed/bamboo: the insides of hollow stems will be ideal for nests for solitary bees (masons or scissors).

The tour bus and the kapoera performance were the fist things we saw in Castle Park on our way to Market Square in Pszczyna.

The Tenth Daisy Days 2023 coincided with the Year of Daisy. 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Princess Daisy and the 80th anniversary of her death. The city councils of Wałbrzych and Pszczyna adopted resolutions to declare 2023 the Year of Daisy. The Princess Daisy Days 2023 lasted for three days. The program included a garden exhibition, a horse picnic, a night game, a festival of non-governmental organizations as well as concerts and shows.

Among the souvenirs you could see beautiful cups with Daisy's signature. Cups also appeared in the garden arrangements. Here and there you could see as if forgotten cups, and there were also large wicker baskets in the shape of a cup or wire.
Princess Daisy is known for her love of gardens.
We sat in Market Square and listen for a lecture of Marek Jezierski, TVP journalist, and invited experts.

We also walked around Market Square enjoying the festive atmosphere.
After that, the 15th City Game began, which was followed by arias and songs from operettas and musicals in Market Square.

We found out a lot about Princess Daisy and her life from the exhibition in Market Square. Her real name was Maria Theresa Olivia Hochberg von Pless. She was born on June 28, 1873 in Denbighshire, Wales, at Ruthin Castle. She came from an impoverished aristocratic Cornwallis-West family.
Duke Hans Heinrich XV and Daisy had grown up in the province having close contact with nature. Dogs and horses enjoyed their special liking. They also fostered love for animals in their sons. The family were dog livers. One of the first famous dogs, for both Hans and Daisy, was the Irish terrier, whose nickname was Peter. The dog was not only very intelligent, but also patient and seemed to understand almost every word. The duchess herself had a weakness for small dogs.

In the second decade of the 1900s, the duchess was the owner of three female dogs: Suzy, Tussie and Fiend. The latter enjoyed the duchess’ company and posed with Daisy in the portrait painted by Reginald Arthur. Fiend the Black Devil accompanied the duchess in her six-month journey to India, and then to Vienna in 1896, where this dog could even bite the loved ones.

Princess Daisy as Mother

On February 25, 1893, during a visit to England, the only daughter of the Pless Family, who lived only a few days until March 11, was born. She was not even baptized or given a name. She was buried in the Hochberg mausoleum in Książ.

On February 2, 1900, the long-awaited heir was born in Berlin - Hans Heinrich XVII, called Hansel in the family (he died on January 26, 1984).
“The year 1900 was full of events. My oldest boy, Hans Heinrich XVII, or what we called him Hansel, was born in Berlin on February 2, 1900, the emperor and King Edward were his godparents, and thus he bears additional names William Albert Edward. His birth that took place nine years after the wedding was a source of my great happiness. Earlier I gave birth to the dearest girl, but she died.”

“Of course, the birth of the eldest son and heir overshadowed Hans and everything else for me. I organized my life so that while staying in Książ, I could spend at least an hour in the evening with my baby and insisted to personally bathe him and be present when refusing a bead when he had already learned it. I have never departed from these rules. My father-in-law was delighted with Hansel, which I was observing.”

“Even when Hansel was still tiny, Hans and I liked having him with us and as often as possible, he walked and rode a horse with us, and I did not miss a single word he said.”

Aleksander Friedrich I Wilhelm, called in the family Lexel (he died on February 22, 1984), was born in London.
,,My second son was born in the good old London, but Lexel is in terminally English and loves London like no other city in the world. His baptism - for which he was dressed in a robe covered with Brussels lace remembering the wedding of grandmother Olivia, and then the wedding of Shelagh and mine - took place in the chapel of the royal palace of St. Jacob. The main godparents were: King George V (then Prince of Wales), Queen Alexandra and Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm, and additionally: grandmother Olivia, Patsy and brother George. So the poor baby came to bear the burden of names: Aleksander Frederick Wilhelm George Conrad Ernest Maximilian. No wonder we called him simply Lexel! The ancient chapel was decorated with my favorite flowers: lilies and daisies."

On September 23, 1910, the third son Bolko was born (he died on June 22, 1936). Princess Daisy survived the delivery hard and never returned to full health. Her long recovery lasted until mid -1911. The childbirth was heavy, and the child was diagnosed with a heart defect. As she described in her diaries: “The baby boy is sweet with his pink cheeks; full of life and impudence. I do not believe because I am not able to believe the doctors when they say that a child like Bolko will not live long. I know he has a weak heart, but I trust that he will grow out and lead a peaceful, useful life. Not everyone has to ride a horse or to conquer the Mont Blanc to be happy. Anyway, we have already experienced many joyful moments.”

“I would never spoil my children, just as some of my German friends do. From the moment of their birth, I stated that they should be brought up in such a way as to do immediately what they are told."

Princess Daisy's quotes

"Growing up is like opening a magic door, like making many wonderful and endless travels, like the sounds of laughter, dance and singing."

“In June, my favorite garden in Książ was, however, a forest with lots of strange flowers and white lilies as high as English blue bells. I used to lie with a book among this delicious, honest beauty, breathe its smell and consider whether I am very unhappy or just sadly happy. "

“Life in Germany brought me a lot of joyful and happy experiences. I achieved great social success and maybe, I did some good political and social work. I gave birth to three sons. I spent nice and cheerful moments with friends and family."

"When I intend to do something, I usually succeed. If I were a great statesman or a businesswoman, it would be called that I am tenacious, but because I am a woman - it is called stubbornness.”

"I know that my biggest disadvantage is that I do not like to wait and I want everything to be done immediately... But everyone thinks that I am only a beautiful woman and I only want a sophisticated compliment. Now I will show them that I expect something completely different and some day I will get it! "

“I did not expect anything unexpected, sudden and wonderful to happen. And it happened, I go back to the Pless Castle, to my beloved home, which I unnecessarily left and unnecessarily twelve years ago. The place to which my children and me belong.”

“Even if the modern education system causes that most of the population becomes secondary illiterates, writing books will be continued, because the talkativeness helps to relieve the most terrible element of human life - our eternal loneliness - and satisfy the greatest need for man, incurable desire for communication."
"There may be too many books in the world, but there are many more houses without books. Once I visited the house of a great lady, who is a well-known person, a woman with blood, literally hundreds of kings in her veins, who is the mother of the monarch herself, a person embodying history and surrounded by souvenirs from the last fifty years of Europe, but not a single book under her roof! Something like this is like existence in the tomb, because the belongings and material goods are dead, while the book - of course the real one - is alive."

"Traveling was always life. I wanted it as much as a man wants wine. I loved moving on foot, on horseback, by automobile, by airplane, but, probably, most of all, by ship. I was still missing unknown scenes, people and experiences, even if I didn't have enough courage and decided to experience everything. Like with many other people, my hunger was satisfied with books and whims of nature. Nothing brings me to the heart of life more than a violent storm at sea. I also found luck in dealing with other people."

One of Daisy’s first journeys as a married woman was a trip to Paris, where she spent her honeymoon. Daisy and her husband Hans Heinrich XV spent a lot of time traveling around the world. These were trips both to European capitals and farther trips, for example, to Egypt, India, Ceylon, and Sudan. Daisy also reached Portugal (visiting Lisbon and Sintra) and South America, where she visited Brazil and Argentina. The visits to London and Berlin were quite frequent and took place even several times a month thanks to a convenient rail connection from Wroclaw.

The merits of Princess Daisy for the Wałbrzych land are invaluable. The project of the Pełcznicy River envisaged the separation of drinking water intake from industrial sewage, which inhibited the spread of typhus epidemic in Lower Silesia (the last known case took place in Stary Zdrój in 1905).

Daisy continued the tradition of giving out small Christmas gifts to employees. She did this taking into account the urgent needs of the population. In 1902, on the occasion of Christmas, she invited residents to the Duke’s Castle. Daisy planned refreshments and gifts for 2,500 people. Delighted with the success of the event, she soon organized a similar party in Pszczyna.

In 1908, Princess Daisy visited one of the lace workshops in Kowary, from which she learned about the difficult situation of women dealing with this craft. Their income depended on dishonest intermediaries. On May 11, 1911, Daisy purchased the Arts Crochet School of Margarethe Bardt and Hedwig Baronowa von Debeneck in Jelenia Góra. The lace workshop became Princess Daisy von Pless Lace Schools (Spitzenschulen der Fürstin von Pless). These schools took the form of social cooperatives, where all the income from the sale of lace went to the women who did the work. In 1911, an exhibition was organized at the princely hotel in Szczawno Zdrój, which aroused great enthusiasm among the patients, and the local press was delighted with the original designs: the Silesian lace that went beyond the borders of the province.

The "dairy station" network became another example of how Duchess Daisy cared for the local community. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the Wałbrzych agglomeration, where 75% of miners lived, the average mortality of children up to six months was 45.5%. Princess Daisy decided to organize pasteurized milk in special arranged rooms, where the wives of the Wałbrzych miners could receive them for their children for free. The duchess was supported by Catholic and Protestant churches and reasons for disseminating this child care system.

In 1906, thanks to Daisy's initiative in Wałbrzych, the first school for the disabled and crippled children was opened. It was something special at that time because the handicapped children were most often closed. Princess Daisy showed that such children, despite the illness, can learn the profession and go to school. In 1908, 47 children studied at that school. Children and their health was supervised by a doctor hired by the prince.

In 1914, Princess Daisy started working as a sister in the Red Cross in hospital No. 2 in Tempelhof on the outskirts of Berlin. However, already in October this year, after a visit to the British prisoners, she was accused of spying for England by the orders of the military authorities, she had to leave the hospital. She had to give up the activities of the Red Cross sister and went to Pszczyna. In 1915, the duchess was allowed to work on a sanitary train, and then in Belgrade.

In the same year, the Grand Hotel in Szcawno Zdrój was adapted to a field hospital. Daisy brought a new team of qualified nurses from Berlin. The duchess personally looked after the functioning of the field hospital. In Wałbrzych, Daisy founded a field hospital, and in nearby Mokrzeszów she founded a sanatorium for soldiers and personally looked after their functioning. For her Samaritan activity during the war, she received the Austrian Medal of the Second Class of the Red Cross with the war badge on October 18, 1918.

Harold Nicholson wrote in his story about Daisy: "The world of snobbery was the personification of naturalness. In the world plunged into the dark, her joy and goodness were the leitmotif. She had only one opponent in the world - loneliness. What a pity that loneliness was finally the winner."

Princess Daisy’s diaries are the most important source of knowledge about her. Throughout her life, the duchess kept a diary, which she decided to edit and publish in 1928. Three volumes appeared on the publishing market. The first of her books, published in 1928, was entitled “Daisy, Princess of Pless” by herself. The continuation of the Duchess's memories was the second volume called “From My Private Diary” published in 1931 (its New York edition had the title “Better Left Unsaid”). The last volume of “What I Left Unsaid” published in 1936 was complemented by two previous publications.
The manuscript of the diary of “Princess My Diary” 1896 has also survived, which is currently deposited in the castle in Pszczyna.
Thanks to the efforts of the Duchess Daisy Foundation, three published volumes of the Duchess's diaries were published in Barbara Borkowy:

• “Dance on the Volcano” in 2022,
• “Better to Remain Silent” in 2019
• “What I was Silent about” in 2013.

Olivia Larisch, Daisy’s cousin, in her letter addressed to Daisy’s son Hansel, described the last moments of Daisy's life:
"Dear Hansel, I am writing these words to you with a heavy heart. Your dear mother died calmly, the day after her birthday.

I visited her on her birthday and saw that she was feeling better than during my previous visit. She was incredibly happy to see me. I spent many hours with her and we talked a lot about you and our other loved ones who could not come. However, many elderly people from the area to see her. They brought a lot of flowers and the mining orchestra played for her pleasure. She talked to everyone and shred her memories. She smiled like in the old days and only once there were tears in her eyes when she said: "How sad that Hansel was not with us.
Good and faithful Dolly prepared telegrams from you and from other people who love her and she was very happy with all the gifts that had been sent to her. She asked to read her telegrams several times. In the evening she was already tired and she went to bed earlier than usual. When she felt better, we drank champagne to her health.
On the next day she was very weakened and she had a hard time swallowing because her throat had already been paralyzed. She went to bed again and constantly repeated how sick she was. Dolly comforted me, saying that it often happens that sometimes it was even worse with her, but she always returned to strength and that I could calmly go home.
When saying goodbye, your mother told me: "Now I will die like my mother and my father died." I went away with a squeezed heart, and at home the sad news was waiting for me at night that your mother supported on Dolly's shoulder fell asleep with eternal dream, with a smile on the face, at half past seven in the evening. Your mother was happy and satisfied in her new home, where she did not lack anything.
Your mother looked beautiful and calm. Dolly put three roses into her hand, as a sign of farewell to those who loved her and couldn't come. There was Dolly, old Maria and I myself, when she was taken to the family crypt for the funeral on July 3.”

The funeral was attended by two older cousins, there were many high-ranking officials, old and young employees, the chapel turned into a sea of flowers, especially marigolds. "
Daisy was buried in the Hochberg Family Mausoleum in the Castle Park in Pszczyna. To avoid the tomb looting by the Red Army, her body was moved to another place in the park, and then transported to the Evangelical cemetery in the nearby Szczawienek, which unfortunately was destroyed in the 1980s. It was not possible to finally determine where her remains were resting.

Princess Daisy exhibition during Daisy Days in Pszczyna_Seals

Princess Daisy exhibition during Daisy Days in Pszczyna_Her autographs

We also revisited All Saints' Church, where we used to attend the Sunday liturgy.

Revisiting All Saints' Church in Pszczyna

Admiring the interior of Saints' Church in Pszczyna

The choir at All Saints' Church, Pszczyna

After the church, we decided to take a stroll downtown and see the familiar old streets again. We saw a memorial plaque on an old building hear the church. The memorial plaque is dedicated to Georg Philipp Telemann (14 March 1681 – 25 June 1767), who was a famous German composer of the Baroque period. In the years 1705-1709 Georg Philipp Telemann stayed at the Count’s court in Żary (Sorau) as the leading court musician. In the summer months he came from Żary to Pszczyna and stayed at the castle. During his stay in Pszczyna, as well as in Żary (Sorau) and Kraków, Telemann got to know Polish folk music, both court dance and folk music, which became an inspiration for many of his avant-garde instrumental compositions. References to Polish folk music are present in many works created by Telemann: violin sonatas, Polish Suite Partie polonaise, Polish Concertos for four violins.

As Georg Philipp Telemann himself wrote in his autobiography in 1740, “There is a great deal of good in this music. In this style I later wrote various great concertos and trios, which I dressed in Italian garb with variable adagios and allegrams."
Telemann was one of the most important opera composers of the late Baroque era; Today, his operas are rarely performed. However, the city of Pszczyna remembers his stay and his work there. There is Telemann’s Chamber at the Silesian Labor Museum in Pszczyna.

An icecream or two is a must during Daisy Days (and not only), Pszczyna

Taking a stroll in Pszczyna

Old Silesian style houses in Pszczyna

Traditional architecture in Pszczyna

U Kmecia Cafe, Pszczyna

Under the Ram house, Pszczyna

Some graffiti in the old streets of Pszczyna

The Black Knight, pedestrian presinct,Pszczyna

Walking towards the railway station, Pszczyna

War memorial in Pszczyna

Liberty Square apartment houses, Pszczyna.


By train from Pszczyna to Tychy

Pszczyna, Princess Daisy's Pearl