Łęczyca Castle

A brick stronghold raised by Casimir the Great shortly after 1345, the Royal Castle in Leczyca is one of the most recognisable castles of central Poland. A residence of the Jagiellonians, the venue of four sejms and today home to the Museum in Leczyca — with the legend of the devil Boruta in the background.

A Gothic fortress of Casimir the Great

The castle stood on an artificial hill surrounded by a moat fed by the Bzura river. A quadrilateral with sides of 43-66 m and an area of 2,600 square metres was enclosed by walls up to 10 metres high, with an octagonal Szlachecka Tower and a quadrangular gate tower holding a prison. Almost the entire structure was built of red brick.

The Jagiellonian castle

In 1406 the Teutonic Knights burned the stronghold down, but it was quickly rebuilt: in 1409 Wladyslaw Jagiello held council here before the war with the Order, and after Grunwald, in 1410, Teutonic captives were imprisoned here. Four sejms took place at the castle between 1420 and 1462. According to accounts, it was here that Jagiello received the Hussite envoy offering him the crown of Bohemia. In 1563-1565 the starosta Jan Lutomirski carried out a major renovation costing nearly 3,000 florins, erecting the New House.

The Deluge and the ruins

In 1655 the castle fell to Swedish forces under General Douglas, and on 7 October 1656 it was retaken by the troops of John II Casimir. After the Third Partition the Prussians built a powder magazine on the site, which survives to this day. After 1831 the castle was dismantled for brick, until partial reconstruction began in 1964 — the New House was rebuilt and now houses the museum.

Good to know

A visit takes about an hour: the exhibition rooms, the courtyard and the walls. The interiors are plainer than the walls suggest, but the story of the place — Jagiello's councils, the sejms, the Grunwald captives — leaves an impression. The castle sits in the centre of Leczyca, between Lodz and Kutno, so it is easy to work into a tour of the Lodz region.