Bodzentyn Castle ( pl, Zamek w Bodzentynie) is a ruined castle in

Bodzentyn Bodzentyn is a town in Kielce County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,168 inhabitants as of December 2021. Bodzentyn belongs to Lesser Poland, and was granted town charter in 1355. The town lies in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, her ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. It was built in the second half of the fourteenth century.

History

At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the

Bishop of Kraków A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Bodzanta Bodzanta or Bodzęta ( pl, Bodzęta) (1320–1388) of Szeliga coat of arms was an archbishop of Gniezno (1382–1388), Polish noble, governor of Kraków–Sandomierz lands (1350, 1357–1370, 1372–1379, 1381).http://dir.icm.edu.pl/Arcybiskupi_ ...

, built a wooden mansion on a hill above the Psarką river. This manor house was destroyed fairly quickly and the later Bishop of Kraków

Florian Mokrski Florian Mokrski Jelita coat of arms, (Jelita Coat of arms) was born around 1305 and died on February 6, 1380 in Kraków) and the son of Piotr Mokrski, Peter Mokrski. Florian was a Polish Roman Catholic priest who served as the Archbishop of Krakó ...

erected a stone castle on a hill, surrounded by a moat. One of the greatest events in the history of the castle took place in 1410 when King Wladyslaw Jagiello visited it on pilgrimage to the Holy Cross before the

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respec ...

. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were a time of unprecedented prosperity of the castle. It was expanded after the great fire of 1413 and at the end of the fifteenth century, Cardinal Fryderyk Jagiellończyk added a new east wing with the residential towers. Construction work continued during the sixteenth century by successive bishops Jan Konarski,

Piotr Tomicki Piotr Tomicki (1464 – 19 October 1535) was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Przemyśl and Poznań, Archbishop of Kraków, Vice-Chancellor of the Crown, and Royal Secretary. Celebrated as one of the most important representatives of the Polish Renaiss ...

Franciszek Krasiński Franciszek () is a masculine given name of Polish origin (female form Franciszka). It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, François, and Franz. People with the name include: *Edward Pfeiffer (Franciszek Edward Pfeiffer) (1895–1964), Polish gener ...

and

Piotr Myszkowski Piotr Myszkowski can refer to: * Piotr Myszkowski (bishop) Piotr Myszkowski (c. 1510 – 1591) was a 16th-century Roman Catholic Bishop of Plock and Kraków, in Poland. Early life Piotr Myszkowski was born about 1510 at Przeciszów into the Ja ...

, who gradually gave it all the features of the Renaissance style. All the activities were led by the Italian architect, Jan Balcer. Last significant reconstruction of the castle took place between 1657–1691, under the leadership of the bishops Jakuba Zadzika,

Piotr Gembicki Piotr Gembicki (10 October, 1585 – 14 July, 1657), Deputy Crown Chancellor and Bishop of Przemyśl from 1636, Grand Crown Chancellor from 1638, Bishop of Kraków from 1642 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Biography Piotr Gembicki was bo ...

, Piotr Tylicki,

Marcin Szyszkowski Marcin II Szyszkowski of Clan Ostoja (1554 – 30 April 1630)Andrzej Trzebicki Andrzej Trzebicki (23 November 1607 – 28 December 1679) was a nobleman and priest in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Deputy Chancellor of the Crown from 1652, bishop of Przemyśl since 1655, bishop of Kraków since 1658. Loyal to king ...

and

Jan Małachowski Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

. The building took the form of the Baroque, with a horseshoe-shaped plan. The last investor in the residence was in the 2nd half of the eighteenth century by Bishop Cajetan Sołtyk, employing eminent architect, Jakuba Fontanę. The importance of the castle in Bodzentyn began to decline following the construction of the episcopal palace in

Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the bank ...

. In 1789, the Diet decided to proceed to nationalize episcopal property. The castle was converted into a granary and a military hospital. In 1814 the building was finally omitted. The medieval castle became mainly a source of free building materials for the local population, consequently to erode the monument into ruin. Only in 1902 did the building become protected. But it was never rebuilt to its former glory.

History

See also