Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Castles, towns and palaces on youtube - Polish Kingdom and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth


Salve,
los caballeros or knights and alike naturally had to live in castles, palaces, manors, and towns. Due to the wars, partitions and Communists regimes in all our lands most of these places do not exists in their glory being ruins or most often they have disappeared under the dust of times. But thanks to hobbysts, historians and archaeologists and businessmen some have been restored, either as real functioning museums and/or places of business or as virtual presentations. The most famous are the Teutonic Castles, most taken by the Polish Kingdom by 1466 - in this video presentation.

Zamek (castle) Bobolice , one of the Eagle Nests (video)of Jura(Upland) Krakowsko-Czestochowska, has been brought to life, after more than 3 centuries of ruin -  see this video. For our Polish readers this is an interview with the owner and spiritus movens of the rebuilding by the Lasecki family.
Another example of a stronghold  being rebuilt in this area is the zamek Korzkiew - their website.
In present day Lithuania the government finally rebuilt the famous castle of Troki/Trakai - nice photos here - but the reconstruction was originally started in 1929 and almost completed by the Polish Republic in 1939.
Belorussian government finalized the  rebuilding of the famous Mir castle - Мірскі замак - where in 1812 Duchy of Warsaw uhlan regiments  fought a defensive action against the Russian Imperial cavalry and the owner, one of the richest men of the world, 8th Uhlan Regiment commander prince Dominik Hieronim Radziwill lost the castle because he had decided to become a Polish soldier, he later died  of the injuries in 1813-  nice video here.

There are many multimedia projects in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lands that strive to recreate the appearance of these historic sites in animated renderings and videos.
some examples (links to videos are in [..] ):
Żółkiew/Zhovkva - established by the Crown grand hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski in Ukraine - [1 ]
Lębork - Pomerania - a medieval town [2]
Zamek Krzyżtopór - magnate residence [ 3]
Zamek Rabsztyn - [4]
Nieswież/Nesvizh, Radziwill residence in Belarus, [5]
Dobczyce - medieval town and castle [6]
Nieszawa - medieval town [7]
Royal City of Krakow & Wawel Castle-  a thousand years ago - [8a] [8b]
Ostróg/Ostroh - [9]
Biecz - XVI century appearance [10] [11] [13]
Tustan, castle in Ukraine built by Kazimierz Wielki [13]
Wieliczka , famous salt mines and their castle - [14]
 Kamieniec - castle [15]

and many others eg Kamieniec Podolski.

During the XIX century Polish patriot (veteran of the November Uprising  where he received Virtuti Miltiari cross for his bravery) artist Napoleon Orda drew, then engraved his drawings of former Polish-Lithuanian and Polish Kingdom castles and towns, and had these engravings published in a mutlivolume publication titled ''Album Widoków Historycznych Polski...'' - example here
enjoy
ps
all images are in Public Domain

4 comments:

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tykocin_Castle

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  2. Hi dear Dariusz, I am really happy that the first picture you showed there is the castle from my town;-)) Even more- I haven't seen that picture before, it is probably from the beginning of XIX century. The castle was renovated in a very good way in the middle of XX.
    Well, if you need more about Będzin, I can look for information.

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  3. you are very right :) dear Morgo - many thanks
    the Bedzin castle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C4%99dzin_Castle
    gallery - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Castle_in_B%C4%99dzin

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  4. Maybe you can find interest in this information:
    http://www.zameksielecki.pl/dzial-regionalny/historia-zamku

    Both castles are in distance c.a. 4km. I will try to find something interesting for you in my own materials;-)

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