Danków Castle

About

Danków Castle - a fifteenth-century fortress, composed of bastions safeguarding a now non-existent Gothic-Renaissance castle ground. In 1581, Danków passed into the ownership of the Warszycki family. In 1632, Stanisław Warszycki is said to have completed the construction of the castle’s early modern fortifications. He built a bastion fortress based on principles associated with the Old Dutch and French schools of military architecture. The fortifications are regarded as a rare example in Poland of the application of ideas formulated by the French military engineer Jean Errard de Bar-le-Duc. On the eastern side, the castle was protected by a large artificial lake. The most prominent building within the complex was the masonry Saint Stanislaus church, while the rest of the buildings have not yet been identified. During the Swedish Deluge in 1655, the castle was probably not attacked by the Swedes and was one of the few places in Poland that remained unconquered. This may have resulted either from negotiations with the occupiers or from the fact that the fortress was exceptionally modern, heavily fortified, and well supplied. In 1657, Danków hosted King John II Casimir Vasa, Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga, Stefan Czarniecki, and senators returning to the country. For several months, the castle served as a political and administrative centre of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.