Castle of Bishops in Siewierz - a castle formally housing

castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

s who raised the castle in the thirteenth century. The stronghold formerly fortified a hamlet in the area, which can be traced back to the origins of the Church of

St. John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

; now located close to the National Road No. 78 - for rapid travel to

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most populo ...

. The names of the first

s were Jaks and Wawrzyniec. The castle is located in Siewierz (31 km north-east of

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

History

The Castle in Siewierz was built in the first half of the thirteenth century on a man-made hilltop, where formerly stood a wooden fortress. The oldest of the stronghold's fortifications come from the fifteenth century. In 1443 Duke

Wacław I of Cieszyn Wenceslaus I of Cieszyn ( pl, Wacław I cieszyński, cs, Václav I. Těšínský, german: Wenzel I. von Teschen; 1413/18 – 1474), was a Duke of Cieszyn from 1431 (until 1442 with his brothers as co-rulers), Duke of half of Bytom during 1431–1 ...

sold the town and the castle to

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

's bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki. The Bishops of Kraków expanded the castle and its fortification walls. The castle began to crumble in the seventeenth century, and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

raids quickened its deteriorating. After The Deluge the castle was rebuilt by that didn't stop it from deteriorating and turn into a ruin. The last resident of the castle, Feliks Paweł Turski, left the residence in 1800. The only reason the building did not diminish is due to extensive reconstruction and renovation works in the 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century Castles in Silesian Voivodeship Będzin County Gothic architecture in Poland