Lidzbark Warminski Castle

Lidzbark was the main residence of the prince-bishops of Warmia from 1350 to 1795 and the castle they built is the most complete of its kind in northern Poland: a square brick block around a courtyard with a corner tower, a drawbridge and outer ward, and inside, a two-storey cloister of star-vaulted Gothic arcades running round all four sides of the courtyard, which is the thing that survives nowhere else at this quality. There are wall paintings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the chapel and the great refectory. Nicolaus Copernicus lived here for several years from 1503 as physician and secretary to his uncle, Bishop Lucas Watzenrode, and worked on the ideas that became his book while in residence. The castle is a branch of the Olsztyn museum with painting, icons and Warmian material. A rococo orangery of the 1720s stands in the grounds.

What you actually see

• A two-storey Gothic cloister - star vaults round all four sides of the courtyard.
• Medieval wall paintings - in the chapel and the great refectory.
• Copernicus's residence - years spent here as his uncle's physician and secretary.
• A rococo orangery - of the 1720s, in the grounds.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The museum is regional in scale and the labelling mostly Polish. Closed Mondays. Winter hours are short. The town around it has little else.

Nearby

Swieta Lipka is south-east; Olsztyn is south.