Chojnik Castle

Jelenia Góra, Poland, Poland

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Chojnik Castle, perched atop a 627-meter peak in the Karkonosze National Park near Jelenia Góra, Poland, originated in the mid-14th century when Duke Bolko II the Small of Świdnica-Jawor ordered its construction around 1353-1364 to defend his duchy’s borders against Bohemian threats, succeeding an earlier hunting lodge. From 1381, it belonged to knight Gotsche Schoff II, whose descendants expanded it in the late 15th century with a triangular lower castle, foregate, chapel to Saints Catherine and George, and Renaissance features like bastions and utility buildings by the Schaffgotsch family in the 16th century. Never breached despite Hussite and Hungarian assaults, the Gothic stronghold with its cylindrical keep, palas residence, and rock-hewn cisterns endured intact until a 1675 storm prompted abandonment; today, the remarkably preserved ruins offer hiking trails and panoramic valley views.