Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic (, , ) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Baltic region, Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resources of standing rock (though Glacial erratic, ...
castle built at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. It is situated in the town of
Ciechanów
Ciechanów is a city in north-central Poland, seat of the Ciechanów County in the Masovian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, it has a population of 43,495.
A city with almost a thousand years of history, recorded in 1065, Ciechanów is one of ...
,
Masovian Voivodeship
Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw.
Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 po ...
, in
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 ...
.
History
Initially, it was believed that the castle was founded by Siemowit III in the middle of the 14th century. However, according to dendrochronological tests, the foundations made of wooden stakes date to around 1399.https://rcin.org.pl/Content/62848/PDF/WA308_82562_P331_Zamek-Ksiazat-Mazowi_I.pdf The castle was erected thereafter with the assistance of
Janusz I of Warsaw
Janusz I of Warsaw (pl: ''Janusz I warszawski''), also known as Janusz I the Old (pl: ''Janusz I Starszy'') (c. 1347/52 – 8 December 1429), was a Polish prince member of the House of Piast in the Dukes of Masovia, Masovian branch, from 1373/74 D ...
, Siemowit's son and successor who was
Duke of Masovia
Duke of Masovia () was a title borne by the sons and descendants of the Polish Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth. In accordance with the last will and testament of Bolesław, upon his death his lands were divided into four to five hereditary provinces ...
. Records indicate that a structure was completed in 1429.
The circular towers located in the four corners of the castle's
square
In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
formation and an additional 10 metre high walls suggested that its initial purpose was a defensive stronghold. As a result of many reconstructions and expansions, the militaristic stronghold was gradually transformed into a royal residence by 1547. In the 1400s, the castle was raised by an additional level and a raised courtyard. After the
Third Partition of Poland
The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...
in 1795, the complex was acquired by the
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, ...
n authorities, and its walls were partially deconstructed for cheap building material. By 1818, the castle belonged to the Krasiński noble family, and in the 20th century it was partially rebuilt.