Castles

Tenczyn Castle

The ruins of Tenczyn Castle rise on the cone of an extinct volcano — Castle Mountain (398 m), the highest point of the Tenczynek Ridge, 24 km from Kraków. The first mention of "in Thanczin" dates to 1308; around 1319 the castellan Nawoj of Morawica built a wooden stronghold (today's Nawoj Tower), and his son Andrzej — the first to take the surname Tęczyński — raised the stone castle in 1331–1361.

The Tęczyński family of the Topór coat of arms owned 45 localities. In 1410 Władysław Jagiełło imprisoned Teutonic captives from Grunwald here, in 1461 the chronicler Jan Długosz lived here for almost a year, and in the 16th century Mikołaj Rej and the Kochanowskis visited. The great Renaissance remodelling of 1579–1593 gave the castle three wings and attics. The Swedes burned it in 1656, and a lightning fire in 1768 left the ruins seen today.

Look for the Nawoj Tower, the towers called Dorotka, Izabela and Małgorzata, the chapel and a Norway maple on the courtyard — a natural monument since 1936. Local legends speak of a wife walled up alive in the Dorotka tower and a treasure vault open only on Christmas and Easter nights. The ruins appeared in "Czarne chmury", "Rycerze i rabusie" and Netflix's "Barbarzyńcy".

Plan 40–60 minutes and wear comfortable shoes; the ruins reopened in 2016 after conservation work.