Poland
Imperial Castle in Wrocław ranks #8,176 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #337 of the 397 mapped in Poland. 9 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Świdnica, 49 km away. It is one of the 80 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Lower Silesia. See how Poland compares in the castle statistics.
The Left-Bank Castle, also the Castle of the Silesian Dukes, later the Imperial Castle in Wrocław − a no longer extant castle in Wrocław, situated on the site of the present main building of the University of Wrocław.
The first buildings on the site of the later castle arose in the time of Henry I the Bearded, who erected a court, probably of wood. After the death of Henry II the Pious this court was used by Duchess Anna until her death. By that time a cylindrical brick tower had arisen within the court. In time the court was transformed into a castle consisting of a palace, a utility wing and the said tower, which formed a triangular courtyard, and the whole complex adjoined the Oder. In later years it was the left-bank castle that was the seat of the dukes of Wrocław.
After the extinction of the Wrocław Piasts the extension of the castle was continued in 1346-1378 by Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg, who visited the city many times. During his reign another tower was erected, among other things, and the complex was shaped into a five-winged form with three irregularly shaped courtyards. Further rebuildings took place in 1469, 1554, 1563, 1572-1575 and 1611, but their most important result was the construction of Renaissance cloisters surrounding two courtyards.
From the middle of the 16th century the importance of Wrocław declined, and in 1659 Emperor Leopold I handed the castle grounds over to the Jesuits, who began the demolition and set about erecting in its place buildings for the needs of their college. The southern wing was demolished first, where the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus was built, and the western wing and the stables were pulled down in 1728-1731 for the construction of the main academy building.
Machine-translated from “Zamek cesarski we Wrocławiu” on the Polish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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