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A castle (cum castro) in Żywiec was first mentioned in 1467, as destroyed by an army, under Casimir IV Jagiellon's command against the House of Komorowski, with the Korczak Coat of Arms, recorded by Jan Długosz. However it is not certain whether it denoted the castle in the town or a fortifications on a nearby Grójec hill. Archaeological scrutiny dates the origins of the castle in the first half of the 15th century. A later expansion was constructed in 1567 by the House of Komorowski. Under the ownership and will of Jan Spytek Komorowski, during the castle's expansion a Renaissance style courtyard was built, which is still untouched in its current form.
Since 2005, the Old Castle in Żywiec hosts the City Museum in Żywiec. The Old Castle's permanent exhibition includes an ethnographical exhibition - which completes the Wooden Architecture Trail in the Silesian Voivodeship, in Poland.
Żywiec's Old Castle is encompassed by a 260,000 square metre landscape park, which was established initially in the 17th century.
References:Built around AD 90 to entertain the legionaries stationed at the fort of Caerleon (Isca), the impressive amphitheatre was the Roman equivalent of today’s multiplex cinema. Wooden benches provided seating for up to 6,000 spectators, who would gather to watch bloodthirsty displays featuring gladiatorial combat and exotic wild animals.
Long after the Romans left, the amphitheatre took on a new life in Arthurian legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the somewhat imaginative 12th-century scholar, wrote in his History of the Kings of Britain that Arthur was crowned in Caerleon and that the ruined amphitheatre was actually the remains of King Arthur’s Round Table.
Today it is the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain.
