Będzin Castle

In August 1588 a small castle above the Czarna Przemsza river received Chancellor Jan Zamoyski with 400 hussars, envoys of Emperor Rudolf II and the papal legate Ippolito Aldobrandini — the future Pope Clement VIII. They had come to negotiate the fate of Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg, a claimant to the Polish throne who had been captured at the Battle of Byczyna. Będzin Castle, now home to the Zagłębie Museum, was then the last stronghold of the Polish Crown before the Silesian border, and that position shaped its whole history.

History: from tribal stronghold to royal fortress

A fortified settlement stood on Castle Hill as early as the 9th century, probably linked to the Vistulan tribe. Contrary to a popular story, the Tatars never captured it — newer research has shown that the burn layers in the ramparts are older. In the second half of the 13th century, probably under Duke Bolesław the Chaste, a stone keep was built: a round tower 10.7 m in diameter, entered only at third-floor level.

When Silesia passed to the Bohemian crown in 1348, the border of the Kingdom of Poland ran right at the foot of the hill, along the Czarna Przemsza. King Casimir the Great quickly added a stone castle to the tower — a first burgrave, Wiernko, is already recorded in 1349. In the town charter of 1358 the king described the town as founded "beneath our castle". The walls were built of rough dolomite, with two stone faces filled with rubble and lime mortar.

The talks of 1588 ended with the treaty of Będzin and Bytom in March 1589, and Maximilian left for freedom via Będzin. Then came a fire in 1616, damage during the Swedish invasion known as the Deluge, and slow decline. According to tradition, King John III Sobieski stopped here in 1683 on his way to relieve Vienna.

Saved from demolition

In 1825 a stone falling from a crumbling wall killed a passer-by, and the authorities ordered the castle to be razed. Demolition was halted only by an 1827 decree on protecting historic monuments. In 1834, on the initiative of Count Edward Raczyński, it was rebuilt to a design by Franciszek Maria Lanci in a Romantic, Gothic Revival spirit, with decorative "blind" machicolations and a lowered tower. In 1840 the castle chapel hosted the first Protestant service in the Zagłębie Dąbrowskie coal region, held for miners brought in from Saxony.

After another period of ruin, rebuilding began in 1929 to plans by Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz, and the castle owes its present form to a reconstruction of 1952–1956 led by Zygmunt Gawlik. Only the upper castle was restored, though — the medieval fortress was larger and taller than what you see today.

What to see

• The round tower — the oldest part of the castle, open since 1969 as a viewpoint over Będzin, the Czarna Przemsza valley and the rooftops of the Zagłębie region.
• The Zagłębie Museum, here since July 1956 — the region's first museum, with a collection of arms and armour from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
• The curtain walls and courtyard — walk around the castle to see how the towers grow out of the rocky hill.
• Traces of the lower castle west of the gate — only the lower parts of its walls and foundations survive.

Tripto tip

Allow about an hour for the castle including the tower. The viewpoint on the tower is closed from 1 November to 31 March, so come between April and October for the panorama. Ticket sales stop half an hour before closing; check current hours and prices on the Zagłębie Museum website. The castle stands on Zamkowa Street, a few minutes' walk from the centre of Będzin — easy to combine with the Będzin Underground and the Mieroszewski Palace, both run by the same museum.