Niepołomice Castle

Niepołomice, Poland, Poland

---

Niepołomice Castle is a Gothic-Renaissance royal residence in Niepołomice, southern Poland's Lesser Poland Voivodeship, built in the mid-14th century by King Casimir the Great as a hunting lodge near the vast Niepołomice Forest on a quadrilateral plan with defensive towers, curtain walls, and brick buildings around a courtyard.

Reconstructed under Sigismund I the Old and extensively from 1551-1568 by Sigismund II Augustus with Polish architect Tomasz Grzymała and Italian Santi Gucci, it became a four-winged palace featuring arcaded cloisters, corner stair towers, residential north wing, and representative south wing, complemented by Queen Bona's Italian gardens.

Used by Jagiellonian kings until Stefan Batory's death in 1586, it later passed to noble families like Lubomirski, suffered Swedish Deluge damage, and now serves as a museum with preserved interiors and panoramic views.