Oleśnica Castle () is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

in Oleśnica,

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship (, ) in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. It covers an area of and has a total population of 2,899,986. It is one of the wealthiest ...

, southwestern Poland.

History

It was erected in 1542–1561, replacing a Gothic fortress from the thirteenth century. It was the seat of the Dukes of Oleśnica until the nineteenth century, became the property of the crown prince of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, and was restored in the 1890s. A fortified settlement was mentioned before the year 1238, and the first record of the castle dates from 1292. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the surviving buildings held Hungarian and Italian prisoners of war. Later, there was the Soviet branch office of the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

. In the 1970s, the castle underwent another renovation and it became a branch of the Archaeological Museum in Wroclaw, until abandoned in 1993. It has since been reoccupied by the Voluntary Labour Corps.

References

External links

Official website of castle
Castles in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Oleśnica County 1561 establishments in Europe Buildings and structures completed in 1561 {{Poland-castle-stub

History

See also

References

External links