Turn off 3DUpdate2025-06-17
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  Dodatki
 lfway between Olsztyn near Częstochowa and Bobolice there is a rocky hill with the remains of a large stronghold. The location between these two Eagles' Nests encourages to connect Ostrężnik with the defense system built in the times of Casimir the Great. However, this is not certain, because there is no mention of the fortress in historical sources. Bohdan Guerquin tried to explain this situation. He put forward a hypothesis that the construction was not completed before the death of Casimir the Great, later this castle was not considered important enough and the completion of the construction was abandoned. This hypothesis is generally accepted as correct.
Another hypothesis assumes that Ostrężnik is identified with an auxiliary watchtower, such as Mirów, Przewodziszowice or Suliszowice,
While the castle certainly did not fulfill the role assumed by Casimir the Great, perhaps its walls were used by Mikołaj Siestrzeńc in the first half of the fifteenth century. However, it would not have been a glorious role - Nicholas was involved in robbery in the immediate vicinity, and he could treat the walls of the unfinished castle as a starting point.
The Ostrężniki castle consisted of two parts. On the highest part of the rocky hill there was a proper - upper castle adapted to the shape of the rocks. It was surrounded by a 150-meter-long wall covering an area of about 1500 square meters. There was only one building inside - at the northern wall of the wall. This building was 30 meters long and 10 meters wide - this is not small and may prove against the hypothesis that the castle was erected by Wojtek and Marcin from Potok of the Śreniawa coat of arms, which was not a very wealthy family. A square tower was added to the southern part of the walls of the castle proper, from which the entrance to the underground led.
To the south of the upper castle there was a spacious outer bailey. According to Bohdan Guerquin occupied an area of 2500 square meters, according to Waldemar Błaszczyk, who carried out field measurements here - 7000. The outer bailey had an irregular layout with rounded corners, it was surrounded by earth ramparts, partially preserved to this day. They were separated from the upper castle by a deep dry moat.
Only fragments of the ground floor walls have survived from
The lack of mention of the castle in the sources is tried to explain by legends. According to one of them, there was a prison here, where kings kept their political opponents without trial. It is here that we should look for the skeletons of magnates disappeared in mysterious circumstances, as well as people of inferior status. |
