Olsztyn Castle Ruins

The castle above Olsztyn - the Silesian village, not the northern city - is one of the largest of the Eagles' Nests, spread over a limestone ridge with a cylindrical stone tower standing about twenty metres high as its landmark, plus a square tower, gate and walls. It was a royal castle from the fourteenth century, was held for a time as a fief by Duke Wladyslaw Opolczyk until royal troops took it back after a week's siege in 1391, and declined after Swedish damage in the 1650s. Its best-known story is that of Maciej Borkowic, a Greater Poland palatine who plotted against Kazimierz Wielki and, by tradition, was imprisoned here and left to starve to death; local legend says his ghost still haunts the ruins. The rocks around it are one of the main climbing areas of the upland, with hundreds of routes on the crags, and the surrounding grassland is a protected xerothermic habitat. The site is floodlit at night and visible from the Czestochowa road.

History

A watchtower stood here from the second half of the thirteenth century, and Kazimierz Wielki enlarged it in the fourteenth into one of the strongest castles on the border of Silesia and Lesser Poland; its burgrave Zbyszek is first mentioned in 1349. In 1370 King Louis of Hungary gave Olsztyn as a fief to Duke Władysław Opolczyk, and in 1391, on the orders of Władysław Jagiełło, Spytek of Melsztyn took it after a week's siege and returned it to the Crown; the settlement below became the seat of a starosty in 1406 and received town rights in 1488 (Wikipedia, Olsztyn Castle (Silesian Voivodeship); Polish Wikipedia, Zamek w Olsztynie (województwo śląskie)).

What's there

• A twenty-metre round tower - the surviving landmark on the limestone ridge.
• Walls and a gate - the spread of one of the largest Eagles' Nests castles.
• Climbing crags - hundreds of routes on the rocks below.
• Dry grassland - a protected xerothermic habitat around the ruins.

When to go

April to October. Two hours.

Practical notes

It is a ruin with minimal interpretation. The tower interior is not generally accessible. Paths on the rock are slippery when wet. Weekend crowds come out from Czestochowa.

Nearby

Czestochowa and Jasna Gora are twelve kilometres north-west.

Key facts