Przemyśl Castle or Casimir Castle ( or ) is a Renaissance castle in
Przemyśl
Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, located on the Castle Hill, which rises to a height of 270 metres above sea level and 70 meters above the city and the
San River
The San (; ''Sian''; ) is a river in southeastern Poland and western Ukraine. It is a tributary of the river Vistula. With a length of , the San is the 6th-longest Polish river. It has a basin area of 16,877 km2, of which 14,426 k ...
.
History
The location of Przemyśl castle and the earlier settlement lay on an important river crossing on a trade route running from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea and through the Carpathian passes, and was a site of a fortified grod belonging to the
Lendians
The Lendians () were a Lechitic tribe who lived in the area of East Lesser Poland and Cherven Cities between the 7th and 11th centuries. Since they were documented primarily by foreign authors whose knowledge of Central and East Europe geogra ...
White Croats
The White Croats (; ; ; ), also known simply as Croats, were a group of Early Slavs, Early Slavic tribes that lived between East Slavs, East Slavic and West Slavs, West Slavic tribes in the historical region of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia n ...
.
In 1018, the Polish king
Bolesław I Chrobry
Bolesław or Boleslav may refer to:
People
* Bolesław (given name) (also ''Boleslav'' or ''Boleslaus''), including a list of people with this name
Geography
* Bolesław, Dąbrowa County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland
* Bolesław, Olkusz Coun ...
Casimir III the Great
Casimir III the Great (; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, retaining the title throughout the Galicia–Volhynia Wars. He was the last Polish king fr ...
was responsible for the building of a Gothic castle in 1340, of which only a gate in
Ogive
An ogive ( ) is the roundly tapered end of a two- or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture, woodworking, and ballistics.
Etymology
The French Orientalist Georges Séraphin Colin gives as ...
style survives to this day. The buildings were damaged by the invading
Vlachs
Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
style in 1616. The works were supervised by the Italian architect Galleazzo Appiani. Towers were raised and attics finished, and more housing was attached, however after Krasicki's death, the reconstruction of the castle stopped.
From 1759 to 1762, Przemyśl mayor and future Polish king Stanislaw Poniatowski rebuilt the castle, rebuilding the ruins of two towers, the wall between them, building a new castle and adding stepped buttresses.
After the partition of the
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
, the
Austrians
Austrians (, ) are the citizens and Nationality, nationals of Austria. The English term ''Austrians'' was applied to the population of Archduchy of Austria, Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, ...
stationed troops in the castle. Eventually in 1865, the castle was handed over to the city where from 1884 the dramatic society ''Fredreum'' has been based. During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the Austrians held two thousand Russian prisoners in the castle. Further restoration of the castle was carried out in 1920, and in 1980 two corner towers and curtain wall between them were rebuilt.
Перемиський замок.png, Castle in 1617
Przemysl, baszta zamkowa. ante 30 12 1937 (93611926) (cropped).jpg, Tower, before 1937
Brama zamkowa w Przemyslu. ante 1939 (10189311) (cropped).jpg, Gate, before 1939