Poland · 16th century
Oleśnica Castle (Polish: Zamek oleśnicki) is a castle in Oleśnica, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, southwestern Poland.
It was erected in 1542–1561, replacing a Gothic fortress from the thirteenth century. It was the seat of the Dukes of Oleśnica until the nineteenth century, became the property of the crown prince of Prussia, and was restored in the 1890s. A fortified settlement was mentioned before the year 1238, and the first record of the castle dates from 1292. After World War II, the surviving buildings held Hungarian and Italian prisoners of war. Later, there was the Soviet branch office of the International Committee of the Red Cross. In the 1970s, the castle underwent another renovation and it became a branch of the Archaeological Museum in Wroclaw, until abandoned in 1993. It has since been reoccupied by the Voluntary Labour Corps.
Text adapted from “Oleśnica Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Oleśnica Castle ranks #2,701 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #94 of the 397 mapped in Poland. Founded 1542, it is older than 39% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 886 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,499 times in the last 60 days, more than 74% of the atlas. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Opole, 71 km away. See how Poland compares in the castle statistics.
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