Ruins of the royal castle Czchów

Monuments

Widok z lotu ptaka na ruiny zamku zrekonstruowanego częściowo z kwadratową murowaną wieżą z okienkami pod dachem do której prowadzi od prawej strony droga, dalej z murami obronnymi i pośrodku okrągłą, wysoką basztą ze strzelnicami u góry pod dachem na którym powiewa flaga. Wokoło, dużo zieleni, po prawej las. Z tyłu pola, łąki i w oddali pod zalesionymi wzgórzami budynki pomiędzy drzewami. Na niebie cienkie chmury.

32-860 Czchów Tourist region: Pogórza

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Above the village and the picturesque valley of the Dunajec River, on top of the isolated sandstone Baszta Hill, about 310 metres above sea level, towers the mighty oval tower of the royal castle from the 13th-14th century. From its top, there is a wide view of the valley with a bend in the river, the dam and Lake Czchów.

The castle's beginnings date back to the reign of King Wenceslas of Bohemia. At the end of the 13th century, on the lower promontory of the hill, cut off from the rest of the hill by a moat, a masonry circular defensive tower called the stool was erected. It was 28 metres high and had walls several metres thick, topped by an octagon with narrow shot holes. It was surrounded by wooden fortifications. It was a watchtower with a customs chamber, controlling the trade route along the Dunajec Valley to Hungary.

In the 14th century, a small castle was built from sandstone around the tower, the seat of the Czchów starosty. It was surrounded by a stone perimeter wall up to 2 metres thick with a gate tower, and in 1356, the castle first appeared in written sources. Part of the wall was built into a residential building with vaulted cellars, to which a longitudinal wing and an annexe to the tower were added at the turn of the 16th century. A fore-gate with a gate tower supported by massive scarps was also built. The Middle Ages was the castle's heyday.

From the 17th century, the abandoned castle fell into disrepair. In the 18th century, the tower housed a prison, abolished after the First Partition of Poland in 1772. It was then deserted and quickly turned into a ruin in the 18th century.

Conservation work on the castle ruins in Czchów was undertaken in 1928 and the tower was secured. In the 1990s,the outline of the foundations was uncovered, and the appearance of the entire building was reconstructed. The oldest, free-standing cylindrical stone tower, popularly known as the Czchowska Tower, without an upper storey, with a diameter of more than 12 metres and a height of about 20 metres, has been preserved to this day. The foundations of the walls and the keeper's house were also uncovered and rebuilt. The house now hosts an archaeological exhibition with a model of the castle reconstruction.

In 1993, it was decided to expose the castle ruins. In 2018, the castle was partially rebuilt, the gate tower with wooden platform and the preserved part of the Gothic house were reconstructed, the perimeter walls were raised to a height of 2 metres, the cellars were deconstructed, the old cobblestones were exposed in the courtyard, the hill was landscaped and cleared of vegetation. In 2000, an observation deck was built at the top of the tower, accessed by a winding metal staircase. The tower houses an archaeological exhibition. It offers an extensive view of the Dunajec River Valley and Lake Czchowskie.

Copies of medieval defence and siege weaponry were set up near the castle and in the courtyard, including a destroyer's hook, roller crossbows, a crane for pouring tar, an assault ladder and a battering ram, as well as mortars, cannons and a trebuchet. Further afield, the 'Grodzisko', or Municipal Green and Leisure Park, contains armaments from the modern period and the Second World War.