The Nowy Sącz Royal Castle is a mediaeval castle in the city of

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; hu, Újszandec; yi, Tzanz, צאַנז; sk, Nový Sonč; german: Neu-Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. It has ...

in Poland. The partially restored ruins of the castle date back to the 14th century during the reign of Casimir III the Great.

History

The edifice was built by king Casimir the Great in 1350–1360 on a slope within the fortifications of Nowy Sącz, at the confluence of two rivers

Dunajec The Dunajec (); Goral dialects: ''Dónajec'') is a river running through northeastern Slovakia and southern Poland. It is also regarded as the main river of the Goral Lands. It is a right tributary of the Vistula River. It begins in Nowy Targ at t ...

and Kamienica. Initially the castle had two corner towers, a

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

and a residential building. The structure was separated from the city by a

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 ...

and a wall. Among the notable inhabitants were king

Louis I of Hungary Louis I, also Louis the Great ( hu, Nagy Lajos; hr, Ludovik Veliki; sk, Ľudovít Veľký) or Louis the Hungarian ( pl, Ludwik Węgierski; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370 ...

and Saint Queen Jadwiga of Anjou. A frequent visitor to the castle was Jogaila (king Władysław Jagiełło). In the following centuries the castle hosted fewer Polish monarchs and became the seat of local

starosta The starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', german: link=no, Starost, Hauptmann) is a term of Slavic origin denoting a community elder whose role was to administer the assets of a clan or family estates. Th ...

. Between 1611 and 1615 the castle was reconstructed in the mannerist style for

Sebastian Sebastian may refer to: People * Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name Arts, entertainment, and media Films and television * ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film * ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film ...

and Stanisław Lubomirski according to design by

Maciej Trapola Maciej Trapola (?-1637) was an Italian architect who worked as the court architect under Stanislaw Lubomirski in Poland during the Baroque era. Biography Maciej Trapola was an Italian architect working primarily in Poland in the early 17th cent ...

. The castle had already 40 well equipped rooms at that time. During the Deluge in 1655 the castle was almost completely destroyed by Swedish- Brandenburgian troops. Since that time, the uninhabited building began to fall into disrepair. The structure was destroyed again in 1945, at the end of World War II, when it was used as a German ammunition store and was the site of mass executions. There are also the remains of the city walls nearby.

References

External links

Tourism information about the park around the castle
Buildings and structures in Nowy Sącz Castles in Lesser Poland Voivodeship History of Lesser Poland Residences of Polish monarchs Royal residences in Poland {{Poland-castle-stub

History

See also

References

External links