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Międyrzecz Castle was built around 1350 by Casimir III the Great in the place of a former gord from the second half of the ninth century, located on a small hill in between two floodplains of the Obra and Paklica Rivers.
Due to the location of the stronghold, the castle was expanded and modernised, although that caste itself did not go through any major battles in the medieval times. In 1474, King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary took over the castle. In 1520, the castle was heavily damaged by the Teutonic Order during the war with Poland, after which the castle was modernised and in 1574 two bastions were built around the castle.
In 1655, the castle was destroyed by the Swedes. In the first half of the eighteenth century the castle was so damaged that even after reconstruction the castle was not able to be used. After the Second Partition of Poland the Prussian forces gave the castle to a Prussian family. The interior of the castle was used as a warehouse and the top floors for a winery.
Since 1945 the castle is used to house a museum. In the years of 1954 to 1958 a number of archaeological excavations were carried out. In the 1950s and 1960s the castle was renovated and stopped the castle from becoming a ruin. The gatehouse and nearby living quarters were reconstructed.
References:Roman Walls of Lugo are an exceptional architectural, archaeological and constructive legacy of Roman engineering, dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The Walls are built of internal and external stone facings of slate with some granite, with a core filling of a conglomerate of slate slabs and worked stone pieces from Roman buildings, interlocked with lime mortar.
Their total length of 2117 m in the shape of an oblong rectangle occupies an area of 1.68 ha. Their height varies between 8 and 10 m, with a width of 4.2 m, reaching 7 m in some specific points. The walls still contain 85 external towers, 10 gates (five of which are original and five that were opened in modern times), four staircases and two ramps providing access to the walkway along the top of the walls, one of which is internal and the other external. Each tower contained access stairs leading from the intervallum to the wall walk of town wall, of which a total of 21 have been discovered to date.
The defences of Lugo are the most complete and best preserved example of Roman military architecture in the Western Roman Empire.
Despite the renovation work carried out, the walls conserve their original layout and the construction features associated with their defensive purpose, with walls, battlements, towers, fortifications, both modern and original gates and stairways, and a moat.
Since they were built, the walls have defined the layout and growth of the city, which was declared a Historical-Artistic Ensemble in 1973, forming a part of it and becoming an emblematic structure that can be freely accessed to walk along. The local inhabitants and visitors alike have used them as an area for enjoyment and as a part of urban life for centuries.
The fortifications were added to UNESCO"s World Heritage List in late 2000 and are a popular tourist attraction.