Brzeg Castle is located in

Brzeg Brzeg (; Latin: ''Alta Ripa'', German: ''Brieg'', Silesian German: ''Brigg'', , ) is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants (December 2021) and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on t ...

Opole Voivodeship Opole Voivodeship, or Opole Province ( pl, województwo opolskie ), is the smallest and least populated voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province's name derives from that of the region's capital and largest city, Opole. It is part of Upper Si ...

, within the Polish part of the Silesia region. Now a museum, the structures includes the

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir III the Great. Branch ...

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be cons ...

Geography

Brzeg Castle is located on a cliff to the west of the

Oder River The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows t ...

, in the city of Brzeg on the border of Lower Silesian Voivodeship and the Opole Voivodeship provinces in southwestern Poland. It is situated near the

national road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

39 between Namysłów and

Strzelin Strzelin (german: Strehlen, cz, Střelín) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is located on the Oława river, a tributary of the Oder, about south of the region's capital Wrocław. It is part of the Wrocław me ...

History

Earliest reports of the castle's existence describe a small fortress with a moat and fortified walls, built in 1235 during the reign of

Henry I the Bearded Henry the Bearded ( pl, Henryk (Jędrzych) Brodaty, german: Heinrich der Bärtige; c. 1165/70 – 19 March 1238) was a Polish duke from the Piast dynasty. He was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1201, Duke of Kraków and High Duke of all P ...

. A square tower known as "The Tower of Lions" was built adjoining the castle. The Piast family branch, which ruled over

Duchy of Brzeg The Duchy of Brzeg ( pl, Księstwo Brzeskie) or Duchy of Brieg (german: Herzogtum Brieg; cs, Knížectví břežské) was one of the Duchies of Silesia, created in 1311 during the fragmentation of the Duchy of Wrocław. A Bohemian fief from 132 ...

, lived in the castle between 1311 until 1675. In 1342, the castle was made the capital seat of the duchy after which it was refurbished many times. In 1370, Prince Ludwik I extended the castle and constructed its chapel which includes the

. During

Frederick II of Legnica Frederick II, Duke of Legnica ( pl, Fryderyk II Legnicki) (12 February 1480 – 17 September 1547), also known as the Great of Legnica ( pl, Legnicki Wielki), was a Duke of Legnica from 1488 (until 1495 and 1505 with his brothers), of Brzeg from ...

's reign in 1544, more buildings were added to the castle, with the construction completed in 1560. The additions were in the form of two new buildings, a large courtyard enclosing the buildings and an

ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...

. Additional structures built during this period included a tower gate which was the entrance to the structure. Busts of the Piast princes were part of the gate's decor. Modifications in design were from the Gothic style fort to the Renaissance type of architecture in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

. In 1741, the castle was destroyed by the Prussian forces in the First Silesian War, during which the ruins were used as a warehouse for the Prussian Army. After the war, the town – called Brieg in German – with most of Silesia was annexed from Austria to Prussia. Brieg was part of Prussia and Germany until most of Silesia was transferred to Poland in 1945, when the region suffered a nearly complete exchange of population. During a fire in 1801, there was further damage to the castle. In 1920, reconstruction of the abandoned castle began, but during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, damage to the castle was quite extensive. The castle was rebuilt in Renaissance style during 1966–78 and again from 1980 to 1994. It currently serves as the Museum of the Silesian Piasts (''Muzeum Piastów Śląskich'').

Features

The rebuilt castle is also called "The Silesian Wawel". It was rebuilt by Jakub Parr, Franciscus Pahr, and Bernard Niuron from Italy. Its present facade is known as "one of the most magnificent historical monument of the Renaissance period in Central Europe". The courtyard has been restored with triple story galleries. The interior of some rooms in the eastern wing, which are in the Renaissance style on the ground floor, are well preserved. The museum, which is part of the castle, has exhibits which trace the history of the Silesian Piasts. Some of the notable paintings exhibited are from a collection of the National Museum of Wrocław and paintings of Michael Leopold Wilmann, a well known Silesian Baroque painter. The museum also has well-preserved

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Gre ...

es of the dukes of Legnica and Brzeg. Dating to the 14th century, Poland's only "perfectly preserved medieval hunting bow" is an archeological find from excavations at Brzeg's Mleczna Street. File:Zamek Piastów w Brzegu front3.jpg, Brzeg Castle in the nineteenth-century with a view of the castle gardens File:Brzeg, zamek, detal.JPG, Front portal of the Brzeg Castle Gatehouse File:Brzeg - brama zamkowa.jpg, Brzeg Castle Gatehouse File:Brzeg, zamek,1547-1586.JPG, Courtyard

Geography

History

Features

See also