Koło Castle

On an artificial mound in a bend of the Warta river, just outside the town of Koło, stand the brick ruins of a royal castle from the time of Casimir the Great. Since 2026 there has been a viewing terrace on top of the surviving tower, and entry is free. From the top you can see the Warta valley and the surroundings of the town, which was governed from this fortress for almost two centuries.

History: a residence of kings and royal governors

The castle was built on the orders of Casimir the Great after 1365, to guard the road from Greater Poland towards Łęczyca through the Warta valley. Historians long argued over who founded it, until in 2019 archaeologists found a silver coin minted in Kraków in the 1360s in the foundations of the residential tower. Sandstone blocks taken from an older Romanesque building were used to build that tower.

The earliest mention of the castle dates from 1383, when the royal governor Krystyn of Koziegłowy rode out from here to plunder the archbishop's estates. King Władysław Jagiełło stayed here many times, and the nobility of Greater Poland held their assemblies in Koło. King Casimir Jagiellon spent Christmas 1475 here with his wife Elizabeth of Austria. At that time the retinue returning from Bavaria after the wedding of Princess Hedwig Jagiellon arrived at the castle, bringing plague with it. In 1476–1481 Duchess Anna of Sochaczew lived here, and in 1513 King Sigismund the Old was a guest.

Among the governors of Koło was Jan of Garbów, son of the famous knight Zawisza the Black, who was killed at the Battle of Chojnice in 1454. In 1577 the governors moved to nearby Kościelec and the castle began to fall into ruin. On Erik Dahlbergh's plan of 1655 it is already described as "castellum destructum", and in the 18th century the Bernardine friars took stone and brick from its walls to rebuild their church.

What to see

• The corner tower: square at the base (about 8 × 8 m) and round higher up. It survives to a height of about 17 metres. It was entered from the wall walk via a staircase hidden in the thickness of the wall, high above the ground, to make this "tower of last defence" harder to take.
• The curtain walls, forming a rectangle of about 50 × 30 m, up to 10 metres high in places, with a diamond pattern of darker bricks.
• The foundations and cellars of the keep, the oldest part of the castle.
• The viewing terrace on top of the tower, opened in 2026.

Tripto tip

The terrace is open from 1 May to 30 September, daily from 11:00 to 20:00, and entry is free. After dark the ruins are floodlit, so it is worth staying into the evening. Allow 30–60 minutes for a walk round the walls and a climb up the tower. The castle mound is part of the Warta flood embankments, and you reach it along dirt paths through the meadows. Since 2005 the Koło Bluesa festival has been held near the castle.