Uraz Castle

The main tower of Uraz Castle is shaped like an equilateral triangle with sides of about 23 m – its sharp corners point towards the little town and the Oder, and tradition says that cannonballs were meant to "glance off" such walls. It is a rare design, often compared with the drop-shaped tower of Bolków Castle. Today the ruin with its empty windows stands in a bend of the Oder, about 20 km north-west of Wrocław.

History: a stronghold at the river crossing

As early as the 13th century the sources mention a castellan's stronghold guarding a crossing of the Oder. It first belonged to the dukes of Wrocław; under the will of Henry IV Probus it passed to Henry III of Głogów, and in 1312 to his sons Konrad I of Oleśnica and Bolesław. Documents of that time call Uraz "civitas et castrum" – a town and a castle. Around 1319 three brothers of the Radak family received the estate as a fief, and Andrzej Radak strengthened the fortifications. Who originally built the castle remains disputed; one hypothesis attributes its beginnings to the Knights Templar.

The castle later changed hands many times: in 1336 it went to Konrad von Borschnitz, governor of Wrocław, in 1428–1443 to the von Tschirna family, and in 1466 King George of Podiebrad granted it to the knight Christoph von Skopp, who is credited with adding upper storeys and new defences. After an episode under Duke Konrad X the White of Oleśnica, the von Joerger family ruled here for almost 150 years from 1492, remodelling the castle in Baroque style. From 1640 the owners were the von Saurma-Jeltsch family, later followed by Baron Balthasar von Logau and others. Around 1810 Baron von Koschuzky had the defensive walls and drawbridge pulled down and the moats partly filled in, and in the second half of the 19th century the residence was rebuilt in Neo-Gothic style.

Decline

At the start of the 20th century the neglected castle began to fall into disrepair. In 1945 it burned down after Soviet soldiers set it on fire, and after the war it was plundered by looters. In 1952 the vaults and ceilings collapsed, in 1953 the southern corner fell, and in 1956 the ruin was secured.

What to see

The residential tower was built of bog iron ore and brick, with walls 2.5 m thick at ground level. It originally had three storeys with rib vaults resting on central pillars; two more storeys under a steep roof were added later. Today the outer walls of the tower still stand – three storeys high on the north side and only the ground floor on the south – along with vaulted cellars, part of a round pillar and the foundations of the curtain walls.

Tripto tip

The ruin is privately owned, and the current owner is gradually trying to rebuild part of it. The site is surrounded by a high fence; according to some sources you can enter only by arrangement with the owner, while others say the castle is closed to outsiders. The best view of the triangular tower is from the dirt road that runs along the bend of the river. Uraz lies on regional road 341 towards Brzeg Dolny; half an hour is enough to see the ruins from outside, and nearby you can add the castle in Wołów (about 19 km).