Swiny Castle, Gmina Bolków, Poland

Świny Castle, formerly a gord, as a stronghold existed in its location already in the 5th century - securing the Lubawecki mountain pass, the site was recorded in Cosmas' documents from 1108, where the gord is recorded as Suini in Poloniae. Possibly, soon after, the gord had been expanded into a military stronghold, at which time it was the seat of the castellans. The castle was mentioned in Pope Adrian IV's Papal bull. After the Bolków Castle was constructed, the castle began to lose its significance, this continued up to the nineteenth century, when the castle suffered severe damage due to hurricanes (1762, 1840, 1848, and 1868). The castle suffered further devastation - it was not until 1931 when the authorities had engaged in securing the castle's ruins. Currently the castle is privately owned.

References:

Castles and fortifications in Poland

User Reviews

Katarzyna Kretowicz (22 days ago)
B)

Владимир Ипатьев (5 months ago)
Very good!!!

Morris Laflamme (6 months ago)
Great place to visit. Peaceful.

klamka23 (6 months ago)
I was there at 7pm sunday. Castle was closed for visiting so we did trip around the walls and was nice. I will be back here when Gates are open.

Kiryl Maushuk (8 months ago)
The only thing you can see here is just the remains of walls, but they are remained pretty well in all their scale. Good to see the scale of the building where you can go everywhere inside. In this case it's even more interesting than freshly renovated bigger castles, because the spirit of that epoch is not ruined by fresh plaster and overall cleaniness. That's only my point but may be yours as well. Don't expect to spend much time there, but it will be a pleasant time.

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Lednice Castle

The first historical record of Lednice locality dates from 1222. At that time there stood a Gothic fort with courtyard, which was lent by Czech King Václav I to Austrian nobleman Sigfried Sirotek in 1249.

At the end of the 13th century the Liechtensteins, originally from Styria, became holders of all of Lednice and of nearby Mikulov. They gradually acquired land on both sides of the Moravian-Austrian border. Members of the family most often found fame in military service, during the Renaissance they expanded their estates through economic activity. From the middle of the 15th century members of the family occupied the highest offices in the land. However, the family’s position in Moravia really changed under the brothers Karel, Maximilian, and Gundakar of Liechtenstein. Through marriage Karel and Maximilian acquired the great wealth of the old Moravian dynasty of the Černohorskýs of Boskovice. At that time the brothers, like their father and grandfather, were Lutheran, but they soon converted to Catholicism, thus preparing the ground for their rise in politics. Particularly Karel, who served at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, became hetman of Moravia in 1608, and was later raised to princely status by King Matyas II and awarded the Duchy of Opava.

During the revolt of the Czech nobility he stood on the side of the Habsburgs, and took part in the Battle of White Mountain. After the uprising was defeated in 1620 he systematically acquired property confiscated from some of the rebels, and the Liechtensteins became the wealthiest family in Moravia, rising in status above the Žerotíns. Their enormous land holdings brought them great profits, and eventually allowed them to carry out their grandious building projects here in Lednice.

In the 16th century it was probably Hartmann II of Liechtenstein who had the old medieval water castle torn down and replaced with a Renaissance chateau. At the end of the 17th century the chateau was torn down and a Baroque palace was built, with an extensive formal garden, and a massive riding hall designed by Johann Bernard Fischer von Erlach that still stands in almost unaltered form.

In the mid-18th century the chateau was again renovated, and in 1815 its front tracts that had been part of the Baroque chateau were removed.

The chateau as it looks today dates from 1846-1858, when Prince Alois II decided that Vienna was not suitable for entertaining in the summer, and had Lednice rebuilt into a summer palace in the spirit of English Gothic. The hall on the ground floor would serve to entertain the European aristocracy at sumptuous banquets, and was furnished with carved wood ceilings, wooden panelling, and select furniture, surpassing anything of its kind in Europe.

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