Pieskowa Skała Castle

About this place

Pieskowa Skała, «Little Dog's Rock», is a limestone cliff in the Prądnik valley within Ojców National Park, southern Poland, near the village of Sułoszowa, about 23 km northwest of Kraków in a straight line, best known for its Renaissance castle. The castle is first mentioned in Latin documents before 1315 and was built by King Casimir the Great in the first half of the 14th century; it is one of the best-known examples of defensive Polish Renaissance architecture. It stands on the Trail of the Eagles' Nests, a chain of fortified castles on the Polish Jura upland between Kraków and Częstochowa. The white castle with its towers and red roofs stands on the edge of a limestone cliff above the green valley, ringed by woods that turn red and gold in autumn. Inside are an arcaded courtyard, massive stone walls and gates, and nearby in the valley stands an oddly shaped lone limestone rock. Visitors explore the castle courtyard and the museum in its rooms, stroll the gardens and the valley around it, and walk the Ojców National Park trails among limestone rocks and caves. It makes a day trip from Kraków, and autumn is one of the loveliest times.