Castle in Barwałd Górny

n the elongated Żar Hill there are the remains of a castle erected by the Dukes of Oświęcim around the mid-fourteenth century. It was founded on a plan adapted to the shape of the terrain, the promontory of the hill, an oval of 20 x 50 meters, was surrounded by a dry moat, the material of which was used for the outer rampart. From the north, from the side of the entrance, an additional second ditch was dug.

The first mention of it comes from 1440, when the Dukes of Oświęcim handed it over to King Władysław of Varna in exchange for Zator.

Then it passed as a pledge through the hands of Mikołaj Serafin and the Skrzyński family. In 1465, the castle returned to royal hands, and two years later it was handed over to Piotr Komorowski. In 1471, Peter supported the Polish expedition against Matthias Corvinus. After the failure of the Polish 

photo by ZeroJeden, IV 2011

expedition, the Hungarian king took away the Liptov and Orava estates from the Komorowskis, and then concluded an agreement with Mikołaj Komorowski, under which in exchange for the return of these lands he was to receive from him the Żywiec region with the castle on the Żar Mountain.

Kazimierz Jagiellończyk threatened by such a neighborhood demolished the castle in 1477. In 1564, the castle is mentioned in documents, but it is probably about the ruins of the stronghold.

From the castle, faint remains of foundations and ground floor walls and traces of ramparts have survived to this day. The remains can be reached by the blue trail, which leads from the monastery in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska along the ridge of the mountain.