Gryf Castle (Greiffenstein)

The castle is said to take its name from a large griffin once painted on the chapel wall. Gryf, Greiffenstein in German, was for almost four centuries the family seat of the Schaffgotsch dynasty — one of the most powerful families in Silesia, who began styling themselves "of Chojnik and Gryf" after it. The extensive ruins of the three-level stronghold stand on a basalt hill above the village of Proszówka, between Gryfów Śląski and Mirsk in Lower Silesia.

History: the Schaffgotsch family seat

The first certain record of the castle dates from around 1305. It is linked to Duke Konrad of Głogów or Duke Bolko I the Strict of Jawor and guarded the road from Lwówek Śląski to Bohemia on the Silesian border. Until the end of the 14th century it belonged to the dukes of Świdnica and Jawor, and then to King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia, who pledged it to the knight Beneš of Choustník. In 1399–1400 the lease passed to Gotsche II Schoff, lord of Chojnik, and his family kept the castle, with brief interruptions, until 1798.

In the 15th century stone middle and lower wards were added to the old upper castle, and from 1546 Hans Schaffgotsch extended the fortifications. During the Thirty Years' War the Swedes besieged Gryf twice: in 1639 the garrison held out, and in 1645 it surrendered after heavy fire and two assaults. In 1745 the castle was taken by the Prussians. In 1798 Johann Nepomuk Schaffgotsch built a modest palace at the foot of the hill, and in 1799 much of the fortress was demolished for building material.

What to see

• The walls of the upper castle on an irregular pentagonal plan — the oldest and highest part.
• The circuit walls of the middle and lower wards with parts of the gate complexes and the entrance tower.
• Remains of the chapel and of residential and service buildings.
• At the foot of the hill, the palace of 1798 in late Baroque and Neoclassical style, with farm buildings around a courtyard.
• On the hill next to the castle, St Leopold's Chapel — according to legend founded in 1657 in thanks for a lost ring that was found again; the present building dates from 1780.

Good to know

In 1617 Hans Ulrich Schaffgotsch, born at the castle in 1595, held a knights' tournament beneath its walls. Less than twenty years later, in 1635, he was executed in Regensburg as an alleged co-conspirator of the imperial general Wallenstein. Several legends surround the ruins — of the griffin bird, of a ghostly ancestress of the family and of the knight Gotsche. The German poet Theodor Körner also visited the castle and dedicated a poem to it.

Tripto tips

The castle is privately owned and, according to heritage researchers, remains in a neglected state. Access to the ruins is not regularly offered, so check the current situation with the tourist information office in Gryfów Śląski before you go, and do not enter closed areas. The hill with its ruins is clearly visible from regional road 361 between Gryfów Śląski and Mirsk, and from the village it is worth walking up to St Leopold's Chapel as well.