Szydłowiec

State of preservation:		The castle has preserved as the whole
Admission:		The entrance to the castle is paid since it houses a museum
Parking:		There is a free parking lot by the castle
Searching difficulty:		The building is hidden in the interior of the place so you need to search it for a moment
Access difficulty:		The access to the castle does not require any effort
Subjective rating:		A nice castle

Driving directions:

Driving down the road no 7 from Kielce to Radom, 25 km before the second town, Szydłowiec lies. Being on the beltway of the town you have to turn left to Szydłowiec, into the road no 727. Then you need to follow the road no 727, which will turn right into the Zamkowa St. at a certain moment. At the end of the Zamkowa St. there is a traffic circle. There the road no 727 diverges to the right, whereas as to reach the castle you have to turn left. The castle is visible already earlier, on the left side of the road.


Historical outline:

Szydłowiec was in the Middle Ages one of the most important properties of the Odrowąż family, who in the XVth cent. changed their surname to the Szydłowiecki. The first information on a defensive structure come from 1427 when at the place of a castle was still standing Jakub’s and Sławek’s manor – probably the ancestors of the Szydłowiecki family. The manor was converted into the castle in the years of 1515-1526 by Mikołaj Szydłowiecki. Next the castle started changing its hands very often. In 1550 a half of the town and the castle belonged to Mikołaj Myszkowski who sold the castle to Mikołaj Radziwiłło at once. That family was the owner of the building till 1821 when the castle was sold to Anna Sapieżyńska, who then sold it to the authority of the Polish Kingdom. As it usually tends to be with the state property, in the XIXth cent. the castle fell into ruin. Only in the years of 1951-52 the building was partially renovated, and currently it houses a museum.


Pictures:




Nearest castles:

Chlewiska