Niedzica Castle

Niedzica, properly Dunajec Castle, was built in the early fourteenth century on a limestone spur above the Dunajec gorge to guard what was then the Hungarian side of the border; Czorsztyn, the Polish castle, stands on the opposite bank, and the two face each other across what is now a reservoir created when the river was dammed in the 1990s. Niedzica survived where Czorsztyn did not - it is roofed and furnished, with an upper and lower ward, arcaded courtyard and a museum inside, while Czorsztyn is a ruin. The legend that follows the place concerns a quipu, an Inca knotted cord, supposedly brought here in the eighteenth century by a descendant of Tupac Amaru through a Polish family connection and said to record the location of treasure; a document of this kind was reportedly found at the castle in 1946. There is no confirmed treasure. The rafting run through the Pieniny gorge starts nearby.

History

Kokos of Brezovica built the castle in 1320-1326 on the site of an old earth-walled stronghold, and for centuries it was a border post of Hungary. Under an agreement of 1412 it was the place where the money the Polish king had lent to King Sigismund of Hungary was to be repaid, in return for the 16 Spiš towns held as security; in 1470 it passed to the Zápolya family, and in 1528 to William Drugeth (Wikipedia, Niedzica Castle).

What's there

• A fourteenth-century border castle - roofed and furnished, on a spur over the water.
• Czorsztyn opposite - the rival castle, a ruin, across the reservoir.
• An arcaded courtyard - with the museum rooms off it.
• The quipu story - an Inca knotted cord reportedly found here in 1946.

When to go

May to September. Half a day.

Good to know

The treasure legend is a legend and the castle sells it hard. Rooms are seen on a set route that gets crowded in July and August. Boat crossings to Czorsztyn are seasonal and weather-dependent.

Nearby

Czorsztyn ruins are across the water; the Dunajec raft run starts at Sromowce.

Key facts