Nowy Sącz – ruins of the royal castle
Monuments
On the edge of the Nowy Sącz old town, where the Dunajec and the Kamienica rivers fork, stretches a park. Looking through the trees, one can spot a fragment of wall, a tower and the remains of other buildings. These are the ruins of the old Nowy Sącz Castle.
The castle was built at the beginning of the 14th century and later extended by King Casimir the Great. The Gothic stronghold was rebuilt in Renaissance style by the starostas of Nowy Sącz at the begging of the 17th century. The building had 40 chambers and was crowned with attics. Unfortunately, the 18th century fires and the flood in 1813 turned the castle into ruin. In the interwar period, the reconstructed building became a museum. During World War II, the German occupiers stored their ammunition here, and the castle was blown up together with it in 1945. A fragment of the wall and the Kowalska tower crowned with a Renaissance attic were reconstructed after the war. The foundations of the ruined castle can be seen close by.
