workshops, represented by Hans Berthold, could not meet the expectations, the city decided to invite experts from Saxony and Lusatia around master builder Paul Preusse. At the beginning of the new century, this influence from Saxony and Lusatia was most notably in western parts of Silesia, where Conrad Pflüger and Wendel Roskopf from Görlitz built city halls and churches in Löwenberg (Lwówek Śląski), Bunzlau (Bolesławiec), Sagan (Żagań) or Gröditzberg (Grodziec), all in the tradition of Benedikt Ried from Prague. Later Lucas Schleierweber from Schweidnitz (Świdnica) continued this Görlitz style and constructed buildings in other parts of Middle Silesia. Renaissance and Mannerism The Renaissance era began with the accession of Johann V. Thurzó as Bishop of Breslau. As a great patron of the arts he introduced the new style in Silesia as he commissioned two foundations plates (1505, 1509) at his residence in Jauernig (Javorník, today in the Czech Republic) and the sacristy portal (1517) on the cathedral in Breslau. The latter was probably made by a local artist, whereas most other early Renaissance projects were carried out by Italians from Ticino, the so-called "Comasks". The most successful were members of the Parr family (Pahr, Bahr or Pario), which built the fortifications in Bolkenhain (Bolków) in 1539 and later worked in Brieg. The oldest preserved Renaissance buildings today are house "To the golden crown" (1521–28) in Wrocław (demolished in 1906 and rebuilt after World War II) and the castle of Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels in Ząbkowice Śląskie (Frankenstein), built after 1524 by Benedikt Ried. Many buildings of that time still show the transition from Gothic to Renaissance, for instance the castle in Wojnowice (Wohnwitz) or the city halls in Bolesławiec (Bunzlau), Lwówek Śląski (Löwenberg) and Grodziec (Gröditzberg). Most of these buildings were probably built by Wendel Roskopf, a pupil of Benedikt Ried and author of a collection of exceptional Renaissance houses in Görlitz. He probably also was the constructor of Palais Rybisch in Wrocław, which was completed by an unnamed Italian artist after 1526. The high building activity in the Middle Ages resulted in cities which were saturated with churches. Only in exceptional cases new churches were planned, for instance St. Blasius (today St. Maria) in Ohlau (Oława), carried out by Bernhard Niuron in 1587. At that time most Silesian churches became Protestant and the interest shifted to small alterations of church interiors. A great exception was the conversion of