Upper Castle in Opole

Opole once had two castles, and of the second, "upper" one, a single Gothic tower survives, now embedded in school buildings. It was built at the end of the 14th century by Duke Władysław II of Opole – a prince who served as Palatine of Hungary, brought the Pauline monks to Jasna Góra in Częstochowa and refused to share a residence with his nephews. Since 2018 the tower has been open for guided tours, and its bare brick interiors are among the least known yet most interesting sights in the city.

History: Duke Władysław's castle

According to current research the castle was built in 1382–1387 on the Górka, the highest point of old Opole, right by the Gosławice Gate, and formed part of the town walls. Władysław had just returned to Opole after a failed bid for the Polish crown and built his own seat on the far side of the Młynówka, then the main channel of the Oder. In 1396 the army of King Władysław Jagiełło besieged the town, and the castle was badly damaged by the bombardment. The defeated duke spent the rest of his life here and died in 1401.

After the Opole line of the Piast dynasty died out in 1532, the castle fell into decay, and a great fire in 1615 consumed what was left. Only the square tower survived, used as a granary. In 1669 the site was given to the Jesuits, who used material from the castle to build their church, and in the 19th century a grammar school was built here and connected to the tower. In 1844 a fourth storey with neo-Gothic battlements was added.

What to see

• The Gothic brick tower, with a diamond pattern of darker, over-fired bricks and the portal of the former entrance gate set in a niche.
• Bare brick interiors with Gothic doorways, and traces of the moat once crossed by a bridge to the gate.
• The reconstructed defensive gallery through which you enter the castle.
• A stretch of curtain wall with a bartizan – a small projecting watchtower, part of the medieval fortifications.
• The monument to Duke Władysław II of Opole in front of the tower.

Interesting facts

A popular 19th-century print labelled as the castle "of the last of the Piasts near Opole" actually shows a different building. Nobody knows what the whole Upper Castle looked like, and the first reliable drawings of the tower were made only in 1844 by a building inspector named Krüger. Some earlier historians doubted that a second castle had ever existed, while others thought it older than the castle on Ostrówek island. Today it is clear that it was Władysław's residence, and this tower is all that remains of it.

Tripto tip

Visits are by guided tour only, in groups of up to 10 people, and last about 40 minutes; last entry is 40 minutes before closing. According to the city website the castle is open on weekdays 9:00–17:00 and at weekends 10:00–17:00, but seasonal changes do happen – call +48 609 648 509 before you go. A standard ticket costs PLN 15, a reduced one PLN 10, and a family ticket (at least 4 people) PLN 9 per person; an English- or German-speaking guide-interpreter costs PLN 35 per group. The entrance is at ul. Osmańczyka 22, next to a small wayside shrine, about 250 metres from the Market Square. Pair the Upper Castle with the Piast Tower on Ostrówek, the remnant of Opole's other castle, and with the nearby University Hill and its church "na Górce".