Koźmin Wielkopolski Castle

Koźmin Wielkopolski Castle is a Gothic stronghold from the second half of the 14th century that the Górka family turned into a Renaissance residence and that has housed a succession of schools since the 19th century. Above the plastered wings rises a brick tower containing the Museum of the Koźmin Land – with a dungeon more than 9 metres deep, where Maćko Borkowic "serves his sentence", and a viewpoint over the town.

History: from Borkowic to a horticultural school

Maćko Borkowic held the Koźmin estates from 1338 to 1358, before he was sentenced to death by starvation for rebelling against King Casimir the Great. Archaeologists who studied the castle in 1983–1985 concluded that the brick fortress was built by his successor, the owner of Koźmin from 1358 to 1392, Poznań voivode Bartosz Wezenborg. In 1419–1449 Mościc of Stęszew enlarged the castle, and from 1471 it belonged to the family that took the name Koźmiński.

At the beginning of the 16th century Łukasz Górka bought the estate, and Andrzej II Górka, governor-general of Greater Poland, converted the fortress into a residence: three two-storey wings and a curtain wall dominated by an octagonal tower. Its heyday came under Stanisław Przyjemski, owner from 1621, who added the south wing, drained the marshes around the castle and laid out a Renaissance garden. In 1623 he hosted King Sigismund III Vasa and his son Władysław here.

The last Polish owner, Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha, sold the estate in 1791 to Field Marshal Friedrich Adolf Kalckreuth, who received the Prussian King Frederick William III at the castle in 1802. In 1856 the castle was bought by the Royal School Board in Poznań, and from then on it housed a teachers' seminary, a renowned horticultural school and other schools – it is still a school today.

What to see in the Museum of the Koźmin Land

The museum opened on 22 December 1988 in two rooms and was initially run by the Society of Friends of Koźmin Wielkopolski. After a major renovation in 2022–2023 it occupies eight rooms, and its curator from the very beginning has been Dr Michał Pietrowski.

• The Renaissance room in the tower, with the castle's only working fireplace and sandstone decoration from the early 16th century; copies of portraits of Łukasz of Wielki Koźmin, author of the Gniezno Sermons, and of the Przyjemski coffin portraits.
• Maćko Borkowic's dungeon – a figure of the prisoner on a stool and, since 2023, a throne with King Casimir the Great.
• Reconstructions of the castle from the 14th to the 19th century, memorabilia of the schools and of the Greater Poland Uprising, and banners of local organisations.
• The ethnographic room on the third floor, which leads out to a viewpoint with a panorama of the town.

Tripto tips

• Opening hours: Wednesdays 9:00–10:30 and 16:00–18:00, first Sunday of the month 14:00–16:00; other times by arrangement with the curator, tel. +48 694 621 289 (municipal website, as of October 2026).
• Tickets: PLN 15 standard, PLN 10 reduced, children under 7 free; buy them at the Public Library, ul. Zamkowa 2a. A guide for groups of up to 15 costs PLN 75.
• The castle is still a school, so outside museum hours you can only see it from outside – the best view is from the gate.
• The Gothic parish church nearby, with the tomb of Andrzej Górka, pairs well with the castle.