Bydlin Castle

For years the ruin on a wooded hill in Bydlin divided scholars: some considered it a castle, others a church from start to finish. The question was settled only by excavations in 1989, which uncovered the foundations of a gate tower and a silver penny of Louis of Hungary from around 1370. This 14th-century stronghold was first a knight's defensive tower, then a church, and in 1914 it became a trench line for the Polish Legions.

History: castle, Protestant chapel and church

The stronghold was built at the end of the 14th century on a high, rocky hill. It is usually attributed to the knight Niemierza of Gołcza (Strzała coat of arms). For about two hundred years it served a defensive purpose, passing through about twenty owners before the 16th century. In the 16th century the estate went to the Boner family and then to the Firlejs, who converted the walls into a church.

Around 1570 Jan Firlej briefly turned the church into a meeting house for the Polish Brethren (Arians), and in 1594 his son Mikołaj returned it to Catholic use under the dedication of the Holy Cross — hence the name of the hill. In 1655 the church was destroyed by Swedish troops under General Müller, marching on Częstochowa. Rebuilt by the Męciński family, it was abandoned in the late 18th century and fell into ruin. In the 19th century its stone was used, among other things, to build the chapel in the cemetery at the foot of the hill.

What to see

The walls of a rectangular building measuring 24 × 11 metres survive, with buttresses at the corners. The walls average more than 2 metres thick and reach about 7 metres in height. You can see traces of blocked-up arrow slits, and around the building the remains of a moat. On the hillside you can make out the outlines of firing and communication trenches dug by legionnaires in the autumn of 1914.

Good to know

On 17–18 November 1914 about 1,400 soldiers of Józef Piłsudski's First Brigade of the Polish Legions, alongside Austro-Hungarian units, fought the Russian army here in the Battle of Krzywopłoty. Forty-six legionnaires were killed, and Piłsudski called the battle the "Legionary Thermopylae". The fallen lie in a war plot in the parish cemetery on the eastern slope of the hill, among them Stanisław Paderewski, half-brother of the pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski. In 2009 the south wall of the residential building collapsed, and conservation work followed in 2012.

Tripto tips

The ruin lies on the Eagles' Nests Trail for walkers and cyclists, and entry is free. About an hour is enough to climb the hill and walk round the walls. The ground is wooded and uneven, so shoes with a good grip help after rain. Also walk down to the parish cemetery to see the legionnaires' plot — the most moving part of a visit to Bydlin.