Zamek Gostyniński

Gostynin, Poland, Poland

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Zamek Gostyniński in Gostynin, central Poland, began as a late 14th-century defensive tower built by Duke Siemowit III of Mazovia, surrounded by wooden fortifications, and was expanded into a Gothic brick castle around 1400 by his son Siemowit IV with a rectangular curtain wall (37x38 meters), a corner tower, a residential "Great House" along the northern wall, an eastern gate with drawbridge, and a southern "Small House" added in 1513 by starosta Krzysztof Szydłowiecki.

Serving as a royal starosta residence after 1462, it hosted King Sigismund Augustus in 1552 before partial abandonment, 17th-century renewal, and eventual ruin from Swedish invasions and fires. In 1824, Tsar Alexander I repurposed the remnants for a neo-Gothic Evangelical church (built 1825-1840 by Hilary Szpilowski), incorporating castle fragments into its walls; today, ongoing private restoration efforts aim to revive it as a historic hotel blending medieval authenticity with modern comforts.