Bodzentyn

State of preservation:		Only ruins remained of the castle
Admission:		The entrance to the ruins is free
Parking:		There is no parking lot nearby the castle, what is more, there is a problem with parking the car
Searching difficulty:		Even though the castle is visible from the main road, finding its access takes a while
Access difficulty:		After arriving correspondingly close, the access to the ruins is not tiresome
Subjective rating:		Beautiful ruins

Driving directions:

Bodzentyn is situated 25km on the north-east off Kielce. As to reach there you should drive down the road no 74 from Kielce towards Opatów and after 13km, in the place Górno-Skorzyce you turn left to road no 752 towards Bodzentyn. In the town you should drive straight through the crossroads with road no 751 and still following the road no 752 you must make for Starachowice. After covering around 200m you ought to turn left to the rocky road leading up the hill (there is a barely visible signpost to the castle). Although the road looks very unfriendly, even a car with a low suspension is able to climb up the road uphill, where the ruins of the castle are.


Historical outline:

The castle in Bodzentyn had its beginnings in the second half of the XIVth cent. on cracovian bishop Florian’s initiative from Mokrsko. Chronicles of Jan Długosz as well as the document from 1420, mentioning the carpenter, who was rebuilding the tower of the castle, confirm it. During the following centuries the castle was being rebuilt repeatedly and served as the Cracovian bishops’ residence till the second half of the XVIIIth cent. After taking over the building in 1797 by Austrian authorities, the castle was turned into the granary and the military hospital. Abandoned in 1815 began to fall into ruin, which remains up to this day.


Pictures:




Nearest castles: