Wawel+Castle

Wawel Castle



Wawel castle is located in Krakow Poland. It sits on Wawel hill along the Vistula River. Wawel castle is considered one of the most important historical sites in Poland. The castle has been dated all the way back to the 11th century. The castle was added to over hundreds of years.

The first buildings were built in the 11th century by King Boleslav the Brave. This is known as the Romanesque Complex and included a residential building, the place hall, a cellar, and a rotunda. In the 14th century the Romanesque complex was turned into a Gothic residence. New buildings were added while some of the old were destroyed. This is also the time defensive walls were added to the castle. The Castle was mostly destroyed by a fire in 1499. Wawel was reconstructed from 1506-1534. The castle had other fires in 1595 and 1702 that also caused reconstruction but not as much as the one in 1499.

The castle was not always under Polish control. Parts of the castle were changed by during wars and by Swedish and Prussian armies during occupation. During their occupation in 1796 the Austrians attempted to change the castle into a military complex. When the Poles retook control of the Castle in 1905 it went under major restoration and was turned into a museum.

Today the castle is one of Poland’s main museums. The castle is made up of six permanent spaces; the State Rooms, the Royal Palace Apartments, the Crown Treasury and Armory, the oriental art collection, the lost Wawel, and the Dragons Den. Some of the state rooms are open to the public where visitors can see some of the original designs. The treasury and armory is an exhibit that houses various historical objects as well as weapons from different times.

A piece of a column from Wawel castle is located in the upper left corner of the main entrance of the Tribune Tower in Chicago. This is a tribute to Chicago’s Polish population which was once the largest presence outside of Poland.

By Brandon Driscoll

The original Wawel Castle was standing in Krakow when it originally became the capital of Poland in 1138. Around three dynasties went through and ruled from Wawel castle. When Casmir III the Great went into the castle he expanded it and turned it into the biggest castle in Poland. Then in 1499, a huge fire burned the castle to the ground. Later on when Sigismund I the Old came he brought in Polish, German, Dutch, and Italian architects to rebuild Wawel castle, as it still is to this day. Sigismund was one of the many kings to go through and rule from the Wawel Castle including his own son and grandson Sigismund the III. In 1609 they switched the Poland capital from Krakow to Warsaw, this left Wawel Castle with no importance to the king. Although the king lost his interest in this castle in 1795 the Austrian Empire became very interested in it. The Austrian Empire took the castle and used it to lodge soldiers at until 1905. Once the Austrians no longer occupied it they decided to make Wawel Castle a National Museum. Originally the castle was a Romanesque stone style building back in the 11th century before it was burned down but still till this day the northern wing of this castle remains a simple stone Romanesque style. As for when Casmir the Great expanded in the 14th century by building a bunch of Gothic style towers around a courtyard, when later in the 15th century they added the Danish tower onto the castle. When 1504 rolled around the king decided to change the building surrounding the courtyard into a Renaissance style. The last time they changed the style was in 1595 when part of the northern wing was changed into an early Baroque style.