Sucha Beskidzka Castle

The castle at Sucha was built at the end of the sixteenth century and enlarged in the 1610s for the Komorowski family into a three-wing Renaissance residence around a courtyard with arcaded loggias on two levels and a tower, and the resemblance to the Wawel courtyard is close enough that it has been called Maly Wawel for a long time. It later belonged to the Wielopolski and Branicki families; the Branicki library here was substantial and part of it survives in Krakow. The buildings now hold a museum, a hotel and a music school. Across the road stands Karczma Rzym, a wooden inn of the eighteenth century - Rzym means Rome - which is linked in local tradition to the Pan Twardowski legend, in which a Polish nobleman's contract with the devil specified Rome as the place of collection and he was seized in an inn of that name. The inn still serves food and plays the story up.

What you actually see

• Two levels of arcaded loggia - the courtyard that earned it the Little Wawel name.
• A three-wing Renaissance plan - built about 1600 and enlarged in the 1610s.
• Karczma Rzym - the wooden inn opposite, tied to the Twardowski devil legend.
• A museum inside - local and family collections in part of the building.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Much of the building is a hotel and school, so access is to the museum and courtyard rather than the whole house. The devil legend is folklore worked up for the restaurant. The town itself is a road and rail junction with little else.

Nearby

Zawoja and Babia Gora are south; Wadowice is north.