Leczyca Castle
The Łęczyca Royal Castle was erected by Casimir III the Great as a fortification during 1357–1370. Immediately after its completion, the Castle became a residence of king, and then was the seat of the governor of Łęczyca. In 1406 it was burned by the Teutonic Knights and rebuilt in the following years to serve as a place of a conference in 1409, where decisions were taken in connection with the approaching war with the Order. After the Battle of Grunwald many of the Teutonic Knights were incarcerated here. In subsequent years, four diets were held here (1420, 1448, 1454 and 1462), and the castle became the seat of the king Casimir IV Jagiellon during another war with the Order (1454-1466).
After a great fire in the second half of the 15th century the castle remained in ruins till the early 1560s. Then, in 1563–1565, Jan Lutomirski, Grand Treasurer of the Crown completely rebuilt the castle. The cost of the entire project amounted to nearly 3,000 florins, derived from the royal treasury. The disasters that struck the stronghold in the first half of the 17th century helped the Swedish General Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge to take the castle, which was defended by starosta Jakub Olbrycht Szczawiński, during the Deluge in 1655. The destruction was completed in 1707 during another Swedish occupation.
Over the next years local residents used the remains of the castle as a source of building materials. After the World War II, the castle became the seat of the scout troop, and in 1964 reconstruction started.
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User Reviews
A nice twist into the castle and into the lord , who was accused of having a pact with the devil and also tried to ripp off a cross of a church after he gotten it instead of a tavern. On top a lot of old relics from stone till the early medival age.
Pretty castle, absolutely worth a visit. It’s small but the inside is very mysterious for its channels and rooms and the museum is very interesting. Nice town view from the top of the tower. All descriptions are in polish, no english!
Respectable reconstruction
Not very impressive
The Museum in Łęczyca exists from 1949 and it’s the one and only this kind of place in our administrative district. Its seat is the XIV century defensive castle which was built during the reign of King Kazimierz Wielki in the south-east border of this mediaeval city. Monumental Gothic building, which was visited by polish Kings: Władysław Jagiełło and Kazimierz Jagiellończyk, was rebuilt in the Renaissance style (“a new house“) in the second half of XVI century by Jan Lutomirski – the diplomat, treasurer and votary of reformation in Poland during the reign of Zygmunt August. The XIX century Prussian “powder-magazine” is the remainder of Polish Republic decline.
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St. Martin Rotunda
The Chapel of St. Martin is the only completely preserved Romanesque building in Vyšehrad and one of the oldest in Prague. In was built around 1100 in the eastern part of the fortified outer ward. Between 1100 and 1300, the Rotrunda was surrounded by a cemetery. The building survived the Hussite Wars and was used as the municipal prison of the Town of the Vyšehrad Hill.
During the Thirty Years’ War, it was used as gunpowder storage, from 1700 to 1750, it was renovated and reconsecrated. In 1784, the chapel was closed passed to the military management which kept using it as a warehouseand a cannon-amunition manufacturing facility. In 1841, it was meant to be demolished to give way to the construction of a new road through Vyšehrad. Eventually, only the original western entrance was walled up and replaced with a new one in the sountren side. The dilapidating Rotunda subsequently served as a shelter for the poor.