n the promontory of the high-rising Vistula escarpment in the early Middle Ages, probably from the beginning of the 11th century, there was a stronghold surrounded by wooden and earth fortifications, within which there were brick buildings. At the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, when it was already one of the main seats of Polish rulers, and from 1194 - Mazovia, there was a chapel and a brick residential building within the hillfort.
At the end of the thirteenth century, the construction of the castle began, which took on the final brick form during the times of Casimir the Great. On the site of the former stronghold, a proper brick castle with two towers was built. In the south-west corner there was a Noble Tower, square at the bottom, octagonal above. In the northern corner, in the place of the Romanesque princely building, the Clock Tower was located.
photo by ZeroJeden, VI 2003
Between them was a broken north-west wing, and the other two wings closed the courtyard from the east and south. The entire area of the former outer bailey, together with the main castle, was surrounded by a double ring of perimeter walls, creating a bailey closely related to the castle.
The castle was the seat of the Dukes of Mazovia until the end of the fifteenth century. As a result of a landslide of a part of the escarpment in 1532, the castle was damaged, it was rebuilt, in 1538 the princes already lived in a new palace erected in the southern corner of the outer bailey, and the castle buildings were handed over to the Benedictines. During the wars with the Swedes, the castle was significantly damaged, first in 1657, and then in 1705. After the renovation, a Baroque Benedictine abbey was built here, which existed until 1781. After Płock entered the borders of Prussia, the authorities dismantled some of the walls. From 1865, it still housed a seminary.
After World War II, the castle was renovated and in 1973 a museum was placed there.
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the promontory of the high-rising Vistula escarpment in the early Middle Ages, probably from the beginning of the 11th century, there was a stronghold surrounded by wooden and earth fortifications, within which there were brick buildings. At the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, when it was already one of the main seats of Polish rulers, and from 1194 - Mazovia, there was a chapel and a brick residential building within the hillfort.
