Sandomierz Royal Castle

The Royal Castle standing on the Vistula escarpment is considered one of the most important monuments of Sandomierz. The stronghold built by king Casimir the Great and later rebuilt into a Renaissance residence is today the seat of the District Museum. The castle courtyard is a perfect vantage point for the Vistula River and the Old Town.

The Royal Castle stands on the site of the twelfth century borough of Henryk Sandomierski. It was built on the order of king Casimir the Great and connected with the city fortifications. Both the founder, king Władysław Jagiełło and his son king Kazimierz Jagiellończyk spent a lot of time in its walls. The initial defensive functions the castle lost after the reconstruction, which in the sixteenth century was made on the order of king Sigismund the Old. The castle became a Renaissance residence, from which only the west wing survived to our times. The rest of the castle was blown up by the Swedes when they withdrew from Sandomierz in 1656.

The building falling into ruin was converted in the 19th century into a prison, which existed until 1959. It was given a classicizing look. Since 1986, the District Museum has been located within the castle walls and tourists can visit it. It has interesting collections about the history of Sandomierz and the culture of the Sandomierz rural area. There are also exhibitions devoted to striped flint and its use, the artistic craftsmanship and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz and his connections with Sandomierz.