Chudów (German ''Chudow'' also ''Chutow'') is a village in the district of Gliwice County, within the municipality of

Gmina Gierałtowice __NOTOC__ Gmina Gierałtowice is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Gliwice County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. Its seat is the village of Gierałtowice, which lies approximately south-east of Gliwice and west of the re ...

, Silesian Voivodeship, in the historical region of Silesia. It lies approximately east of Gierałtowice, south-east of Gliwice, and west of the regional capital

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

. The village has a population of 1,493 (2012).

History

The village was first mentioned in 1295 as ''Chudow'' attested in the Latin manuscript ''

Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis ( pl, Księga uposażeń biskupstwa wrocławskiego, ''Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław'') is a Latin manuscript catalog of documents compiled in the later 13th or in the early 14th centu ...

''. Chudów was a privately owned medieval manor purchased in 1532 by the Roman-German Silesian nobility House of Saszowski family, who already owned the neighbouring manor of Gierałtowice.Castle Chudów (Polish ''Zamek w Chudowie'') (in Polish)
/ref> Chudów is famous for its 16th-century Renaissance castle residence, built by the nobleman and scion John Saszowski von Geraltowitz (alias ''Geraltowsky'' in German, ''Gierałtowski'' in Polish).Chudów Castle Foundation (in Polish)
The village remained part of the House of Saszowski estates and a residence of its branch scions alias Geraltowsky von Geraltowitz (in Polish: Gierałtowski z Gieraltowic) until it was sold in the first half of the 17th century. Historical sources say, it was one of the most magnificent castle residences in Upper Silesia, host to many

banquet A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

s and sport

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

activities of the

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...

, in later times even included its own castle brewery and inn. The original entrance to the castle was via a

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

over the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

, which lead directly to the second floor of the castle tower. In 1706 new owners of the castle was the family Foglarów. After 1768, the castle changed owners quite often, losing in importance. In 1837, the castle owner Alexander von Bally, made several reconstructions to the original design of the castle. The castle suffered severe fire damage in 1875, and its last owner left it as a picturesque ruin. Abandoned to ruin since the late 19th century, only parts of the walls, four-sided tower and outline of the

survived to the present day. In 1995, the newly founded Chudów Castle Foundation, has since began gradual castle restoration and reconstruction work. Since 1966 the castle ruin is under registration No. A/568 categorized as of significant cultural value and tracked as objects of cultural heritage in Poland by the National Heritage Board of Poland. In an already restored tower, there is a small museum that shows one of the most interesting exhibitions of ceramic medieval Gothic cocklestove tiles found in Poland, discovered on the castle grounds during restoration works and archaeological excavations. Since 2000, the Chudów Castle Foundation organizes in August an annual medieval fair along with historical reenactments of

medieval tournaments A tournament, or tourney (from Old French ''torneiement'', ''tornei''), was a chivalry, chivalrous competition or Mock combat, mock fight in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (12th to 16th centuries), and is one type of hastilude. Tournaments inc ...

and warfare on Chudów castle grounds.

External links

Chudów Castle (Polish ''Zamek w Chudowie'') (in Polish)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chudow Villages in Gliwice County Ruined castles in Poland Castles in Silesian Voivodeship Tourist attractions in Poland Tourist attractions in Silesian Voivodeship Former castles in Poland

History

See also

External links

References