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Grodno Castle - the castle located in Black Mountains (Hello Wałbrzych Mountains) at the top of the mountain Choin (450 m above sea level) rising above the left bank Bystrzyca.
If you want to visit the castle from the 13th century, you have to climb the forest track to the Castle Hill. The persistent ones will be rewarded with a gatehouse with a magnificent facade decorated with the sgraffito technique. The castle is surrounded by a wall with a Renaissance Silesian attic and two semicircular towers present in many places.
The history of the castle perhaps begins at the end of the 12th century thanks to prince Bolesław the High, and perhaps in the 13th century thanks to the prince of Świdnica Bolek I Raw, who was to build the lower castle, and in the first half of the 14th century the last prince of Świdnica, Bolko II Mały, enlarged the castle by top. In the 15th century, it became the seat of robber knights and was called the murderers' inn. In 1545, it was bought and rebuilt into a Renaissance residence by Maciej of Łagów (Matthias von Logau). Then he had many owners.
Inside, there are mainly architectural details that are worth seeing.
We enter the castle through a building with a Renaissance portal with the coat of arms of the family von Zedlitz und Neukirch (the last owners of the castle) and the Latin sentence "Fortiter et Fideliter" (boldly or bravely and faithfully). Also colorful figural decorations from 1903–1904 with lions guarding the entrance to the castle. Inside, the gatehouse is decorated with sgraffito decorations from the 16th century. In the courtyard of the lower castle, there is a "court" lime tree (a natural monument 16 meters high, and estimated to be 500 years old; it was a place of trials, hence the name) and a cannon from 1870 with a monogram Napoleon, the portal in the foregate at the lower castle from around 1570, made of yellow and red sandstone, with the personifications of the knightly virtues: Loyalty, Justice, Moderation, Mercy, Strength, Patience, Wisdom and Hope, above the horizontal frieze with coats of arms Eight former owners of the castle, and above it, a double-headed eagle with a miter between two griffins. In the hall of the upper castle, two penitential crosses with an interesting information board.
Then we visit the castle apartments that make up the museum. In 1947, the castle was handed over to the Polish Tatra Society, and then to the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK). In 1965, the Regional Museum of PTTK was established under the care of the PTTK Branch in Wałbrzych. There are exhibits found at the castle after World War II (there was also a museum before the war), and also borrowed from the District Museum in Wałbrzych. Since January 1, 2009, the castle and the museum have been under the care of the Walim Commune Office.
We visit, among others a torture chamber with fancy exhibits, such as a Madej bed or an inquisitorial chair. Further on, there is a former armory, a hunting hall and two representative prince's halls.
There is also a wet room that functions as a weather forecast. Its walls become damp when a storm hits.
We reach the top of the castle tower when we climb about 100 steep steps (the tower is 34 m high), but we can enjoy the wonderful panorama of the Wałbrzych Mountains and, on the other side, the Owl Mountains.
Anyone who wants to, can stay overnight in the castle. The castle, like every self-respecting castle, has its own legend and its spirit, so you need to be on your guard, because after dark, the ghost of Princess Margaret is wandering around the castle chambers after dark. As the legend goes, this unfortunate woman was starved in the castle dungeon by her father, because she did not accept the candidate for a husband chosen by him, considered by her to be an old man (he was probably 30-40 years old).
In the castle there is an online casino, probably the only one in the country in a castle, in a beautiful setting.
It starts with the Grodno Castle The Piast Castles Trail in Lower Silesia - a green hiking trail. It runs through 15 castles of Piast origin (hence its name) - from Grodno Castle to Grodziec Castle through the Wałbrzyskie Mountains, Bolkowsko-Wałbrzyskie Foothills, Kaczawskie Mountains, Rudawy Janowickie, Jelenia Góra Valley and Kaczawskie Foothills. The total length of the trail is 146 km.
The castle is open daily from 9 am to 6 pm (Saturday, Sunday and holidays until 7 pm). Tickets: PLN 20 normal and PLN 16 reduced. The guided tours last one hour and start at equal hours (from 10.00). There is the Knight's Inn and accommodation (double room 200 PLN). Tel. 74 845-33-20.
After visiting the castle, we start the journey along the green trail (which also allows you to come to the castle from Zagórze Śląskie) along a comfortable forest road through the "Góra Choina" landscape reserve with nice specimens of oaks, limes and beeches, on the left we pass an abandoned palace complex from the second half In the nineteenth century (a neglected park with a nice oak avenue, a closed palace building, interesting ruins of a former coach house standing among the greenery) we reach the central square of Zagórze Śląskie.
This section is very well marked.