Reszel Castle

Reszel castle was built from 1350 for the bishops of Warmia, a small square brick building on a rock above the Sajna with a cylindrical tower at one corner, and it is intact enough to walk round and climb - the tower gives a view over the town's red roofs and the Warmian countryside. Its darker fact is that Barbara Zdunk was held here and executed outside the town in 1811, accused of arson and of witchcraft; the case is usually cited as one of the last executions in Europe in which a witchcraft accusation formed part of the charge, though jurists argue over how much weight the sorcery element carried in the sentence. The castle now holds a gallery of contemporary art and a hotel, which is an unusual pairing in a medieval keep. The town below has a Gothic parish church, a fourteenth-century bridge and one of the better preserved small Warmian street plans.

History

Jan of Miśnia, Bishop of Warmia, had the castle built between 1350 and 1401. Part of it was turned into a prison in 1780, fire devastated it in 1806 and 1807, and after rebuilding in 1822 it housed a Lutheran church; between the wars it held a museum, and it is now a hotel and a branch of the Museum of Warmia and Masuria (Wikipedia, Reszel Castle).

The main sights

• A small square bishops' castle - built from 1350 on a rock over the Sajna.
• A climbable round tower - the view over the town and Warmia.
• The Zdunk case of 1811 - among the last European executions involving a witchcraft charge.
• A contemporary art gallery - inside the keep, alongside a hotel.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Good to know

The castle is small and partly hotel. The gallery is contemporary work, which surprises some visitors expecting a historical museum. Winter hours are short. The town is very quiet.

Nearby

Swieta Lipka is six kilometres east; Lidzbark Warminski is west.

Key facts