Gniew Castle

Gniew Castle stands at ul. Zamkowa 3 on a hill above the Wierzyca river valley near the Vistula in the Pomeranian region of Poland. The Teutonic Order built the brick Gothic fortress in about 1290 to 1310 as a commandery, a convent house for knights with a central courtyard and four wings around it. In 1466 the castle passed to the Kingdom of Poland under the Second Peace of Toruń and became the seat of a royal starost. In 1464 to 1466, during the Thirteen Years' War, it had been besieged. In the 17th century it was the residence of the Polish king Jan III Sobieski, who held it as a royal estate from 1677 and had a Baroque palace wing built, designed by Tylman van Gameren. The castle was damaged in later wars and in 1772 passed to Prussia, which used it as barracks and warehouses. A fire in 1921 and the fighting of 1945 caused further damage. Reconstruction began in the 1960s and the site is now a museum and cultural centre. Visitors can see the Gothic chapter hall, the cellars, the Baroque Sobieski rooms with period furniture and a collection of arms. The castle also houses exhibitions on its history, an arms and armour display and a hotel. It hosts the Gniew Knights' Tournaments, a regular summer reenactment of medieval jousting, and the ensemble is among the best-preserved Teutonic fortresses in northern Poland. The old town of Gniew, with its market square, lies below the castle.