Ogrodzieniec Castle

[1] It is situated on the top of 515.5-metre-high Castle Mountain (Polish: Góra Zamkowa), the highest hill of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland.

The history of fortifications on the top of Ogrodzieniec Castle Mountain goes back to the early 12th century and the reign of Boleslaus III Wrymouth.

This first keep, made largely of earth and wooden ramparts, was razed to the ground in 1241 during the Mongol Invasion of Europe.

Around 1488, the castle was owned by Jan and subsequently Andrzej Rzeszowski and, later, the Pilecki and Chełmiński families.

[3][4] In 1562, the castle became the property of the Great Marshal of the Crown Jan Firlej, as a result of his marriage to Zofia, the daughter of Seweryn Boner.

In 1587, the castle was captured by the Austrian archduke Maximilian III, the rejected candidate to the Polish-Lithuanian throne.

Seven years later, in 1702, over half of the castle burned in a fire set by troops of Charles XII of Sweden.

[16] In 2018, the ruins of the castle were used during filming of The Witcher – Netflix's 2019 series, starring Henry Cavill.