Oświęcim

State of preservation:		The castle has preserved in its entirety, but is strongly converted. About its medieval nature reminds the tower only.
Admission:		The entry to the building is paid for the museum has its seat here
Parking:		The castle is located in a restricted parking zone, which denotes that in weekdays parking is paid here
Searching difficulty:		The castle may be seen from afar and stands by Zamkowa St., thus it is very easy to find it
Access difficulty:		Access to the castle is easy since you walk along the stone-paved road slightly up the hill
Subjective rating:		The building of an average beauty

Driving directions:

Oświęcim is located 50 km west of Cracow, right by the frontier of the Lesser Poland and the Silesian Provinces. If you arrive in the town from the west, down the road no 44, then you should direct to the center and after driving over the bridge on Sola river turn left straightaway. The castle is on the left side, by Zamkowa St.


Historical outline:

The history of the castle in Oświęcim commences in 1179 after committing castellany of Oświęcim to dukes of Opole-Racibórz. There existed then a borough, which soon was destroyed by Tartars. In the place of the borough a stone castle was raised, to which for the first time refers a document from 1324. The castle was the seat of castellans, judges and district governors of Oświęcim through centuries. In 1503 the castle together with the town burnt down. The castle rebuilt by a district governor, Jan Jordan burnt down again. After the following reconstruction it was demolished by the Swedes. In spite of constant rebuildings the castle was in worse and worse condition, which inspections from the years of 1660 and 1765 bear out. In the time of Austrian partition the castle was utilized as stores of salt, which was removed from there after an outpour of neighboring river Sola, which brought about sliding of part of the buildings. Construction works from the beginning of the XXth cent. completely changed an appearance of the castle. Only the XIIIth-century tower maintained its incipient looks. Since 2010 the castle has housed a museum.


Pictures:




Nearest castles:

Babice

Pszczyna