Siedlęcin Tower ( pl, Wieża książęca w Siedlęcinie; german: Wohnturm Boberröhrsdorf) is the 14th-century

tower castle A tower castle is a small castle that mainly consists of a fortified tower or a tower-like structure that is built on natural ground. It is thus different from the motte-and-bailey castle, which it may resemble, but whose main defensive structure ...

situated in the southwestern

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

village of

Siedlęcin Siedlęcin (german: Boberröhrsdorf) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Jeżów Sudecki, within Jelenia Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It lies approximately west of Jeżów Sudecki, north- ...

, (''Boberröhrsdorf'') in the

Karkonosze County __NOTOC__ Karkonosze County ( pl, powiat karkonoski; german: Riesengebirgslandkreis) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, a ...

. The

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 ...

in Siedlęcin is one of the best-preserved examples of such buildings in Central Europe; its construction was probably started in 1313 or 1314 by

Henry I of Jawor Henry I of Jawor ( pl, Henryk I. Jaworski; german: Heinrich I. von Jauer; – 15 May 1346), was a duke of Jawor-Lwówek-Świdnica- Ziębice during 1301–1312 (with his brothers as co-rulers), sole Duke of Jawor-Lwówek since 1312 and Duke of Gło ...

. He and his wife

Agnes of Bohemia Agnes of Bohemia, O.S.C. ( cs, Svatá Anežka Česká, 20 January 1211 – 2 March 1282), also known as Agnes of Prague, was a medieval Bohemian princess who opted for a life of charity, mortification of the flesh and piety over a life of luxury ...

also commissioned the medieval

Gothic fresco Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Northern, Southern ...

murals depicting the legend of

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...

that are painted in the great hall of the keep. The tower, surrounded by a moat, is a keep of a relatively modest sort, which combines the functions of housing, ceremony, and defence in a vertical disposition analogous to those found in other castles in Europe: the lower storeys were designed for defence and for trade and business; the upper floors consisted of living quarters, and fulfilled the ceremonial functions of the dukes; the topmost floor also served defensive purposes.

References

External links

History and photos of the Ducal Tower in Siedlęcin
Castles in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Karkonosze County Tower houses {{Poland-struct-stub