Poland · 13th century
Lipowiec Castle is a ruin of the Kraków Bishops castle in the Polish Jura, near Babice village in Chrzanów County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland.
The castle was first mentioned in the 13th century when it was bought by Kraków bishop Prandota. In 1295 the castle belonged to bishop Jan Muskata. In his times the original foundation was significantly developed. The first stone structures were built.
The castle's present shape was developed in the 15th century by Wojciech Jastrzębiec (1412-1423) and Zbigniew Oleśnicki (1423-1451). Since the late 15th century the castle was used as a prison for ecclesiastical offenders.
The decline of the castle dates to a fire in 1629, and Swedish deluge when it was burned again in 1655/1657.
In 1789 after the death of Kraków Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk and after the partition of Poland the castle belonged to Emperor Joseph II. In 1800 fire destroyed most of the buildings. Since then the castle stayed inhabited. During the January Uprising 1863 the troops of general Marian Langiewicz sheltered in the castle.
Text adapted from “Lipowiec Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lipowiec Castle ranks #3,018 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #109 of the 398 mapped in Poland. Founded c. 1250, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,867 times in the last 60 days, more than 67% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Kraków, 35 km away. See how Poland compares in the castle statistics.
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