Location: Peskowa Skala, Gmina Suloszowa
The castle was first mentioned as Peskenstein in a
document issued in 1315 by Władysław Łokietek. In the first half of
the fourteenth century, Casimir III the Great built a castle here,
an element of the defensive chain of the Eagles' Nests, consisting
of two parts: upper and lower. The upper one, not preserved, was
erected on an inaccessible rock called "Dorotka".
In the years 1377–1608 the castle was the seat of the Szafraniec
family, whose known representative was the Kraków voivode Piotr
Szafraniec. Some later members of the family dealt with ruffianism
and used the castle as a starting point for attacks on merchants
passing through the road running through the Prądnik Valley
connecting Kraków with Silesia. In 1484, Krzysztof Szafraniec,
great-grandson of the first owner, was beheaded in Wawel.
In the years 1542–1580 the Gothic castle was transformed into a
Renaissance residence. In the 17th century, during the time of
Michał Zebrzydowski, a bastion fortification system was added.
During the Swedish invasion (1655) the castle was destroyed, and in
1718 it was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt as the seat of the
Wielopolski family in 1768. In 1787 it hosted King Stanisław August
Poniatowski. As a result of another fire (1850), the oldest part was
destroyed - the high castle.
There was the municipality of Pieskowa Skała in the Kingdom of
Poland.
In 1842, Count Jan Mieroszewski bought Pieskowa Skała from the
Wielopolski family.
During the January Uprising on March 4 and 5, 1863, two battles of
insurgents under the command of Marian Langiewicz with Russian
troops took place in Pieskowa Skała and nearby Skała. During these
fights, the Ukrainian revolutionary, Russian army colonel Andriy
Potebnia, died fighting on the side of the Poles. Aleksander
Zdanowicz commanded the defense of the castle itself. After the
insurgents retreated, the Russians took over the castle.
In the 1880s, another of the Mieroszewskis - Sobiesław, carried out
renovation works in the castle, enriching him with neo-Gothic
elements. Count Krzysztof Mieroszewski, known for his thriving
lifestyle - son of Sobiesław squandered his family estate, selling,
among others, the castle. Soon a new owner, Michał Wilczyński, sold
the castle to dr. Serafin Chmurski, who built villas at his feet,
trying to give Pieskowa Skała a summer character. In 1902, due to
the debt of the property of Serafin Chmurski, the last private owner
of Pieskowa Skała, the castle was auctioned.
Adolf Dygasiński appealed in "Kurier Warszawski" to save the castle,
the pearl of the Polish Renaissance, the only one on the trail of
the Eagles' Nests that survived in good condition. Thanks to this
initiative, the "Akcja Pieskowa Skała" Association was founded,
which bought the castle for 60,000 rubles.
After World War II, the castle in Pieskowa Skała was taken over by
the State Treasury, after a general renovation in the years
1950–1963, it became a branch of the Wawel State Art Collections.
Currently, it houses a permanent exhibition "Style changes in
European art from the Middle Ages to the mid-nineteenth century."
The castle appears in movies, including in the series Janosik and
Stawka larger than life.
The crypts of the castle contain four mannerist sarcophagi of the
Sieniawski family from the 17th century with figures of the deceased
for centuries that have no equivalent in Polish art, the work of the
Wrocław sculptor Jan Pfister. Originally they were in one of the
greatest Polish mausoleums in the castle chapel in Brzeżany in
Podolia. After 1945, the church and chapel in the Brzeg castle were
completely devastated. These sarcophagi were successfully
transported to Krakow during the Polish-Russian war of 1920.
A landscape park adjoins the castle. Nearby is a limestone rock
called the Hercules Mace, Devil's Rock or Sokolica.
At the foot of the hill on which the castle rises, there is a
complex of five flow ponds founded in the 16th century. Carp, pike
and crucian carp were bred there, followed by rainbow trout. In
1993, breeding ceased. Currently, they are a refuge of amphibians in
the Ojców National Park (common newt, great crested newt, common
toad, green toad, grass frog, tree frog, toad). Amphibians mate in
them, migrating from wintering grounds sometimes distant up to 3 km.
During these migrations, the amphibian migration route is protected
by volunteers and park employees who carry animals through the road
next to them.