Howling Wolf Village

Wilkowyje (“Howling Wolf”) is a suburban district of Tychy along with a dozen of others that we also visited (Czułów, Mąkołowiec, Cielmice, Paprocany, Urbanowice, Wartogłowiec, Wygorzele, Zawiść and Zwierzyniec).

These agricultural districts used to be separate villages, but were incorporated into the administrative boundaries of Tychy on January 1, 1951, along with the granting of municipal rights to the city that was granted county center rights then.

The information board contains the coat-of-arms of Wilkowyje and words written in Gothic fonts:
Wolves’ Corner Square
Tychy – Wilkowyje
Upper Silesia.
You can see two coats-of-arms below the inscription: that of Silesian Voivodship and that of the city of Tychy, and between them – a wolf’s footprint for fun.
As I found out later, there is a village with the same name in Ukraine: Vovkovyi, Demydiv District, Volyn region. The origin of the Ukrainian village name is similar to that of the Polish village: wolves approached the village and often howled, and apparently the name of the village comes from that.

Visiting Wolves' Corner Square, School Street, Wilkowyje, Tychy

Tyskie Stream in Wilkowyje, Tychy

Tyskie Stream, Wilkowyje, Tychy

The first mention of Wilkowyje dates back to 1287 from the church chronicles. There is a commemoration stone with this date in Wolves' Corner Park. Thus, this chronicle mention remains the oldest information about the modern Tychy and its environs. The village is named after the big number of wolves that was witnessed here in the 13th-14th centuries until the villagers started to build wolf traps to eliminate the wolf dominance in the area.

Walking along School Street in Wilkowyje, Tychy

We admired this natural fence in School Street, Wilkowyje, Tychy

Walking along School Street in Wilkowyje, Tychy

The number of inhabitants is about 1,700. Several traditional buildings and farms have survived in this district. To a large extent, this part of the city is dominated by single-family houses built during the post-war years. There are several modern residential houses.

Mikołowska Street divides Wilkowyje into the southern and northern parts. The northern is known for its modern industrial and service plants. We spent some time in the southern part of Wilkowyje during our two visits. The Church of Our Lady the Queen of Angels is in the southern part. It was built according to the design of the Tychy architect Grzegorz Ratajski, and consecrated on October 13, 1988. This church was our first destination in this part of Tychy.

Approaching the Church of Our Lady the Queen of Angels, Wilkowyje, Tychy_2

Stained glass windows at Our Lady the Queen of Angels Church, Tychy

The icon of Our Lady the Queen of Angels at the altar.

Magdziorz Circle in Wilkowyje, Tychy

We read the information board and saw how local residents revere the history of their settlement. The information board explains that there are many historical and interesting places worth seeing in Wilkowyje:

• Former sawmill (including the management building) – Mikołow Street/Wiejska Streets;
• Former school and later the kindergarten - School Street;
• The building of the former inn - Rural Street;
• Buildings of the former free association – 2 Rural Street;
• The buildings of the former forester's lodge – Forest Street;
• The building of the former Wilkowyje Village Council – Mikołow Street;
• Buildings of the former water mill – Mill Street / Civil Street;
• The buildings of the former free association - 1 Rural Street;
• The place where the first church in Wilkowyje stood - Access Street (Transprzet area)
• Former Civil Brewery – 1 Brewery Street;
• Buildings of the former brewery colony – Brewery Street;
• Former Casino of the Civil Brewery - Brewery Street;
• Church of Our Lady the Queen of Angels - Wolf Street;
• The building of the former Helios Forgery – Mikoƚow Street.

Thus, there is still a lot to explore in this district.

We attended a great children's performance at the leisure center - "Rosie the Princess and Klimek" by Jacob Czacor. It was presented by two actros from Teatr Katarzynka, Gdańsk. It was a fairy tale about two friends - Princess Rosie and Klimek, who in their carefree world suddenly face the cunning and insidious wizard Zoltan. Thanks to this, they get to know the colors of the magic painting of the picture. As the theter actors explain, "We show children how important grandparents are, we teach them culture and respect for their elders." Since we only have an A1 certificate in Polish, we could understand the performance more than 70% (except the parts when the heroes spoke too fast and all the song lyrics).

Wilkowyje Leisure Center, Tychy

Attending the performance in Wilkowyje, Tychy

We saw several horses and the horse manege in this part of Tychy.

The manege in Wilkowyje, Tychy

Passing the Tyskie Stream in School Street, Wilkowyje, Tychy