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| Zamek Bedzin (Bedzin Castle) |
Castles (zamek) are numerous in Poland and are medieval in form with elements from the Renaissance, Baroque and neo-Gothic periods. The first castle on the tour is located about 15 minutes from our house in the town of Bedzin.
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| Bedzin Castle |
The Bedzin Castle was built in the 14th century and was used as a point of guarding the southern border of Poland. Bedzin was an important market town due to the salt trades and the castle was to also help protect the town from Germanic Silesians. Prior to the stone castle, there was a castle of wood construction that was built in the 11th century. In 1358, Casimir the Great replaced the timber castle with the current stone castle.
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| View from Watchtower |
When visiting the castle, you can climb up the watchtower for a couple of dollars and take in a great view of the area. From this point, you can see everything from the city, to rolling farmland to a magnificent nuclear plant.
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| View from Watchtower |
Next on the tour is Zamek Mirow. Mirow Castle was also built by King Casimir the Great around the middle of the 14th century. The castle was originally only a watchtower that served the neighboring Bobolice Castle.
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| Zamek Mirow |
The Mirow Castle along with the Bobolice Castle consist of two of the several castles that make up the "Eagles' Nests" defense system. The Eagles Nest castles are a string of castles that run from Krakow to Czestochowa (169 kilometers).
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| Mirow Castle |
During the Swedish Deluge in 1657, most of the walls were destroyed and from this point the castle gradually fell into ruin and was abandoned in 1787. At this point the building became a source of building material for local residents. In the 1920's and 30's portions of the building continued to fall and in the 1960's, an attempt was made to preserve the castle as a ruin but there were insufficient funds. In the 70's and 80's, further portions of the castle continued to collapse.
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| Mirow Castle |
The castle is currently privately owned and since 2006 the family has begun to restore it. If you look closely you can notice the new stones as they are a bit more sienna in color. There are hiking paths around the castle that also connect it to Bobolice along with plenty of rock climbing. The landscape and medieval castle silhouette may be recognized as it was the setting for film production of Disney/Pixar's Brave.
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| Mirow Castle |
To finish today's tour, we take the 1.5 kilometer hike over to Bobolice Castle. Also built by Casimir the Great around 1350 as part of the "Eagles' Nests", Bobolice was used to protect the Silesian side of the western border.
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| Bobolice Castle |
The Bobolice Castle also faced great demise after the invasion of the Swedes. By 1700 the castle was in a dire state and from there collapsed into ruins. In the 19th century, treasure was discovered under the castle and the castle was further devastated by the treasure seekers. Rumor has it that not all of the treasure was found... Some believe that the bulk of the treasure still lies in the underground tunnels that connect Bobolice to Mirow...
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| Bobolice Castle |
The castle is now privately owned (by the same family that also has Mirow) and has recently been reconstructed. On Thursday's edition of Castle Trekking, we will visit Siewierz Castle and my favorite of the bunch, Ogrodzieniec Castle.
Do widzenia!
Such a fun read and loved the photos! Looking forward to part 2!
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