Castles and Palaces in Poland (with pictures)

You sure about that??? Think you need to get ur facts right

It is not only the largest castle in the world(over twice as large as runner up Prague Castle), but also the largest brick building in Europe:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malbork_Castle

I think its largest brick Castle.....dont get all patriotic though it was ze Germans who built it wasnt it ? :)


If your thinking of the one Im thinking of,carefull now, you guys might have built it but only coz the english made you and then they didnt even invite you to the house warming lol

Well, you think wrong and i even linked to the explanation.
You are of course free to continue to believe that the cute Windsor Castle is the largest, doesnt make it right though:

Do you know any decent Polish Castle Tours..in English ?

Książ looks fabulous outside, especially if you go there through main gate and the fog is dense (then you have an impression that on th each side of the gate there is a abyss!), but the interiors were dissapointing unless it has changed recently (I was there more than 10 years ago). If I recall correctly it was because Hitler didn't embrace too decorative art so the nazis made the interiors plain stripping it off all decorations. Is that true?

I have no idea what the interior looks nowadays, what i meant was the rugged exterior look. I prefer it to this new pompous baroque style.

Yes and no. It was confiscated by the Nazis from duchess Daisy von Pless in 1939 and partly changed by the "Organisation Todt" between 1941 and 1945. But these changes didn't affect the stately rooms that much. All the damages that make the interiors so disappointing today happened in Polish times. The castle was looted several times between 1945 and 1960. The old castle also burned down in Polish times, and the mausoleum (last resting-place of the duchess) was destroyed too.

What I hate most is when intelligent posters lie and distort the history. On purporse or by pure ignorance??
Yuk!

No, knowledge. The Nazis destroyed 3 valuable rooms and converted large parts of the castle. Many of these rooms howewer weren't very valuable. The loootings after WW2 destroyed large parts of the valuable interior, but the Nazis were blamed for many of the destructions that happened between 1945 and 1960.

So, you are still lying and distorting the truth.

Lie No 1:


1. Nazis confiscated the owner`s property and looted the castle of its valuable possession: tapestries, paintings, books and other artistic items.
2. They devastated most rooms, including the most valuable ones e.g., Maximilian`s Chamber



It is estimated that 90% damage to the castle interiors happened during Nazi times.

Compare:

Konrad`s Chamber before Nazi devastation



During





Today:



Check more photos:

Distortion No 1:


Yoiu easily omitted the fact that the Red Army was stationed in the castle for nearly a year. Do you include it in the times of Polish rule too?

If you think the Welsh built Windsor castle there is not much hope in a rational debate....was talking about the Welsh castles,they are huge and taking in the outer walls would dwarf Malbork, but like I say,why so chippy,its not even a Polish castle,its a German castle that happens to be in Poland at the minute. :)


No, you linked to wiki.....

Castle in Nowy Wiśnicz, visited last year: polishforums.com/travel-5/traveling-around-poland-photo-stories-personal-52658/5

You are right, not much hope, since you are the only one talking about it.


You mean like Caerphilly Castle which dwarfs Malborks 144000m² with its impressive 21000m²?


Where you can find additional links backing up the statements.
You are however more than welcome to "rationally debate" this.

BTW: Some of the Welsh castles really do look badass.

Not so fast! You should give Norman invaders more time to become fully English! :):):):)


I had a look at some of Welsh castles.
castlewales.com/caerphil.html
Nice fortresses, indeed. They reminded me of one Polish castle built in that style:

Będzin Castle



Locals think it is too small so they are going to reconstruct the outer walls and towers:

Too right, the Welsh were a Badass enemy for the English invaders :)


Nah, Caernarfon mate :) Thing is though, it included an entire town within its outer walls, do we include that or only the actuall castle,bearing in mind this is not like the european idea of a seperate citadel at the time but a fully enclosed town within the defences. ? If we dont Ill probably give you Malbork having the edge :)

Seeing as we are using Wiki
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caernarfon_Castle
Anyway,enough thread hijacking from me,back to castles in Poland :)

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  Caernarfon_Castle_19.jpg
  
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  Caernarfon_Castle_an.jpg
  

I found no mention of the size in the Wiki article you linked, but after some measuring it would be still shy of Malbork.
And if we are talking walls and not castles the Kumbhalgarh Fort encirled by a 36km wall beats all of them. ;)

I tried to find it for you but to no avail. I am sorry, you have to wait.

The level of constant endeavors to diminish our heritage among some of you amazes me. An example is in this thread. So, I will try to bring some historical facts about Malbork.

Firstly
Of course Malbork castle is the biggest castle in the world. A simple Google in the internet will provide you with the proper information. Malbork is the biggest – no question about it.

Secondly
Why do you diminish our pride by saying – zee Germans built it?
We have the right to boast with Malbork too, why, just read this:
Zee Germans had this obsessive idea of settling on Polish territory from the beginning of modern Europe, but their endeavors were always build on treachery and bribery .The story of Teutonic Order was not different. After the fall of the Latin countries, the Crusade`s military orders have moved their headquarters to Europe. Initially placed their headquarters in Hungary, in 1226 year , the order was brought by Prince Conrad Mazowiecki to Poland to fight against Prussian pagan tribes ( Prussian pagan tribes were not Germanic ).

Baltic Prussians were tribes who inhabited the territory of present Mazury, Kaliningrad areas, the area of Samogitia (now Lithuania). Prussians did not adopt Christianity; often raided Polish lands especially Mazovia, the raids were the main reason to bring the Knights to Poland by Prince Conrad Mazowiecki. People of Prussia were exterminated by the Teutonic Knights in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, some Prussians assimilated with the Poles and Lithuanians. This is a joke to claim by Germans that the lands of present Mazury region was their, while the truth is so different - the first settlers were Prussian tribes which were totally perished with the hands of Teutonic order – doubtfully German people. After the killing of Prussian tribes the settlement of peasants from Poland , Czech and Germany started .

Kingdom of Poland after many years of fights with Teutonic order defeated them and resolved the order. It was in 1525. The last Grand Master of the Order (Teutonic) in power over the state - Albrecht Hohenzollern, turned the State of the Teutonic Order in the secular state (Prussia) and became its ruler (prince). At the same time paid homage to his uncle Sigismund the Old, king of Poland. So as you see our king was the Master`s uncle. So our relations with longtime enemies were changing over the time and at that time, we as a state were so powerful and could decide about the future of the new state of Prussia which paid us a homage.

Going back to the subject of Malbork, as a payment for their fight with Prussian tribes the knights received from the Polish Duke in land tenancy, a region of Chelmno. With the help of forged documents obtained by the Knights, the Pope (believe it or not, he possessed such power in those times) confirmed that Chelmno was their land and the pagans too.

Malbork castle was sold in 1457 to the Polish king Casimir the Jagiellonian for the amount of 190,000 florins (approximately 660 kg of gold) by the Czech mercenary commander Ulrich, which had a lock on the lien in exchange for overdue wages, in default of the payment of the Teutonic Knights order. Polish king triumphantly entered the castle on June 7, 1457. From then on, until 1772 - partitioning of Poland was one of the residences of Polish kings.

As you can see we could destroy the castle, plunder it or level to the ground, but instead we dealt with it in a legal way - we paid for it. If the house changes its owner in a legal way the buyer becomes his legal owner. So why can`t we be proud of our property? If this property was being well kept and renovated over the centuries by Poles it has become our pride too. You will not change the history.

It has been built on Polish soil , on a land given in tenancy by Polish duke , with Polish bricks and other materials by different nationalities , then legally bought by Polish king .

Did the germans build it.


Good

What are Polish bricks? And the Old Prussians settled on Polish land? And why had the Polish king to buy something he already owned?

You are Czech aren`t you ?

It needs an average IQ level person to comprehend something different after reading my post and come to some conclusions as follows:
1 having defeated Germanic order after 200 years of fighting we could do anything with the castle and pay nothing , but Polish King along with the nobles was an honored person and he felt it was a dishonor not to pay for such a huge structure ( sic!) to a lawful creditor who was not connected with sleazy Germanic order but a legal owner of the castle of that time for their unpaid debts . So the money didn`t go to the Germanic order. What a joke of fate . If they paid their debts we would have taken it over for free.

2 Polish people are not thieves like Germans or Swedes who were plundering our land and whatever couldn`t be taken away and moved to their country it was burned down by them. Those plundered Polish national tresures are kept as theirs in their museums with brazen writtings attached - "spoils of the wars ". Swedes robbed all original works of Mikołaj Kopernik and keep them till today with no intention to return . Napoleon was the same thief and he stole national treasures from Italy , now the whole Louvre is packed with the greatest Italian paitings like Mona Lisa and many others .

The only answer to you is such - because we have morals !

Maybe you Czechs don`t even understand what it means as you helped to Teutonic Knights and fought along with them against Poles as mercenary soldiers . Some of your countrymen were not paid for that service , thats why the huge debt aroused . But it doesn`t need to be smart to conclude that there were a lot of Czechs fighting for the order if the debt for unpaid pay was worth 650 kg of gold .

Apart from grandest Malbork, we can visit other castles built by Teutons with Polish bricks :):):):):) :
Some are well- preserved ruins, but most are fully operational.

Radzyń Chełminski:

Weren't most of the English castles build by the Normans?


Not is but was and not Polish but Lithuania but yes it happened that he was a Polish King at the time.

Kwidzyń


Bytów


Gniew:



Golub Dobrzyń

A almost unknown castle in Silesia:



Oh, and just for Monia: it was built with German bricks. :D

This castle called Tropsztyn in Wytrzyszczka was rebuilt from scratch about 10 years ago. The view the tower offers is OK.

Thats pretty damned cool mate :)

What exactly is cool? The fact of the restoration or the castle itself?


Yes, a species of a a big cockroach is called prusak. :):):):)


Mistake! The bricks were Czech.
Czocha Castle began as a stronghold, on the Czech-Lusatian border. Its construction was ordered by Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, in the middle of 13th century (1241-1247). In 1253 castle was handed over to Konrad von Wallhausen, Bishop of Meissen.

The castle is grand.

Good info here, very useful for those of us getting to know Pland.