Grodziec Castle (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: Gröditzburg or Gröditzberg) has a history dating back to 1155 and is located in the

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 ...

region of

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 populou ...

History

The first confirmed reference of Grodziec comes from

Pope Adrian IV Pope Adrian IV ( la, Adrianus IV; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear); 1 September 1159, also Hadrian IV), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 to his death in 1159. He is the only Englishman t ...

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

of April 23, 1155. In 1175, Prince

Bolesław I the Tall Bolesław I the Tall ( pl, Bolesław I Wysoki) (born 1127 – died Leśnica (now part of Wrocław), 7 or 8 December 1201) was Duke of Wroclaw from 1163 until his death in 1201. Early years He was the eldest son of Władysław II the Exile by h ...

drew up a privilege for

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

from Lubiąż at the castle. In the time of his heir, Henryk I the Bearded, the wooden terrestrial castle was replaced by the building of a brick one. The foundation of the castle church is attributed to Saint Hedwig. In the 14th and partially in the 15th centuries the castle was the property of the knightly family of Busewoy. In the period of the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, Eur ...

, the building was captured and plundered by a

Hussite The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Huss ...

detachment. In 1470, the Prince of

Legnica Legnica (Polish: ; german: Liegnitz, szl, Lignica, cz, Lehnice, la, Lignitium) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River (left tributary of the Oder) and the Czarna Woda. Between 1 June 197 ...

, Friedrich I repurchased it. Master bricklayers brought from

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...

and

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and is the largest town in Upper Lus ...

gave the establishment its present-day spatial structure. After the Prince's death by the order of his son, Friedrich II, work on the castle continued. It then become one of the most beautiful

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

residences in Silesia. The final work coincided with the wedding of the Prince to Princess Sophie von Hohenzollern. A grand feast was held in the castle and a great knightly tournament outside was arranged. In the time of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

, the castle was captured and burned by the forces of Prince

Albrecht von Wallenstein Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein () (24 September 1583 – 25 February 1634), also von Waldstein ( cs, Albrecht Václav Eusebius z Valdštejna), was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Th ...

. Because of the amount of damage due to the war, the fortress was left with some parts of the stronghold missing. In the 17th and 18th centuries efforts were made to rebuild Grodziec, however they were not completed. The Swiss art dealer Martin Usteri acquired 32 glass panes in 1796, which were sold from his legacy in 1829, and thereafter installed in the Gröditzberg castle. From there, six of the former stained glass windows of the

Augustinerkloster Zürich Augustinerkloster was one of the eight monasteries within the medieval city of Zürich in Switzerland. It was founded around 1270 as an Augustinian Order priory on the site of the present Augustinerkirche Zürich on Münzplatz, and was abolished in ...

were bought by the Gottfried Keller Stiftung in 1894, exhibited in the cloister of the

Fraumünster The Fraumünster (; lit. in en, Women's Minster, but often wrongly translated to urLady Minster) is a church in Zürich which was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for h ...

cathedral in Zürich, and then entrusted to the Swiss National Museum on deposit. In the 19th century, when the owner of property became Prince Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg-Pless from Książ, more work of preservation and reconstruction was taken up. Reconstruction was stopped during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

, but in the mid-1830s the castle became an object of many tourist excursions. At this time, it developed the reputation of being one of the most attractive historical buildings in Europe. Reconstruction was started again in the 20th century, when became the owner of the castle. He ordered an elaboration of the design to the most well-known and respected architect and conservator,

Bodo Ebhardt Bodo Heinrich Justus Ebhardt (5 January 1865, Bremen – 13 February 1945 at Marksburg near Braubach) was a German architect, architectural historian, castle explorer, and founder and longtime president of the German Castles Association (''Deutsc ...

, who also supervised the work. In 1908,

Emperor Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

was a guest during the solemn reopening of the castle after the completion of renovations. The castle was inherited by Dirksen's son, Herbert von Dirksen, who become a prominent German diplomat serving as the ambassador to the Soviet Union, Japan and Great Britain. At the end of World War II in 1945, the castle, with some of its possessions, was burnt. The castle was later transferred to Silesian Society of History and Antiquarianism Lovers for use as a museum, restaurant and a shelter-home. As of 2006, the castle is partly in ruins, but also features a hotel, splendid eatery services, as well as many

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

s featuring

jousting Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying to strike the opponen ...

and

sword fighting Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to a ...

Gallery

File:Gröditzberg.jpg, ''Grodziec Castle'', 1837 File:Brama zamkowa (07.2011).JPG, Castle gate File:Grodziec(js)05.jpg, Castle courtyard File:Zamek Grodziec - widok z murów.jpg, Tower File:Sala na zamku (07.2011).JPG, Interior

History

Gallery

See also