Krasiczyn Castle

Krasiczyn was built between 1580 and 1633 for the Krasicki family and its plan is a piece of argument in stone: a square around a courtyard with a tower at each corner, and each tower given a meaning and a form to match - the Divine Tower with a dome and a chapel in it, the Papal Tower with an attic copying a papal tiara, the Royal Tower with six small corner turrets, and the Noble Tower crowned with a copy of a royal crown, so that the hierarchy of the world is stated in the order they are named. The walls are covered in sgraffito, scraped decoration in two layers of plaster, covering some 7,000 square metres with medallion portraits of emperors, popes and Polish kings, along with hunting and biblical scenes - one of the largest surviving sgraffito programmes in Europe. Around it is a park of about seventeen hectares with old trees planted, by tradition, for the birth of each child of the house.

History

Stanisław Siecieński, who later took the name Krasicki, began the castle in 1580, and his son Marcin, voivode of Podolia, finished it in 1633, after 53 years of building; it stayed with the Krasicki family until 1687. The Sapieha family bought it in 1834 and began the custom of planting a tree in the park at each child's birth, an oak for a son and a lime for a daughter, and Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha was born here (Wikipedia, Krasiczyn Castle; Polish Wikipedia, Zamek w Krasiczynie).

The main sights

• Four meaningful towers - God, the pope, the king and the nobility, each shaped for it.
• 7,000 square metres of sgraffito - medallion portraits and scenes scraped in plaster.
• A chapel in the Divine Tower - domed, at the corner of the square.
• A seventeen-hectare park - trees planted for the births of the family's children.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

What to expect

Interiors are largely empty - the castle was burned in 1852 and again during the wars, and the visit is about the exterior and the courtyard. Tours are guided and timed. Part of the complex is a hotel.

Nearby

Przemysl and its fortress ring are ten kilometres east.

Key facts