Lubliniec Castle

Lubliniec Castle stands at Grunwaldzka 40, in the middle of a park. The former ducal and family seat is now a hotel with a restaurant and a boutique spa, so you visit it as a guest rather than as a museum. The building is entered in the heritage register.

From ducal stronghold to Classicist palace

The first written mention of the castle in Lubliniec dates from the late 14th century and links it with Duke Władysław of Opole. The hotel's website gives the year 1379, other sources 1397, and tradition links the founding of the town with the year 1270 or 1272. The castle belonged to the dukes of Opole and Racibórz, and was later leased out by the Bohemian Habsburgs.

In 1587 it was bought by Jan Kochcicki, who rebuilt it as a family seat. After the fire of the town in 1650 the castle was rebuilt as a Baroque residence. In 1655, fearing Swedish requisition, the Jasna Góra icon, taken out of Częstochowa, briefly found refuge here. The last rebuilding, in the 18th century, gave the façade its present Classicist look. The heritage register describes the building as a brick castle with a Baroque dating to the 17th century.

Court, county office and hospital

In the 19th century the castle served the authorities: in 1848-1892 it housed the royal district court, and in 1854-1874 the office of the Lubliniec county. In 1893 it was adapted as a psychiatric hospital. The institution operated within the castle walls until the second half of the 20th century, and in the following years the building fell into ruin. In 1960 it was entered in the heritage register.

The reconstruction was preceded by the founding of a foundation, and in 2002 the castle was taken over by the town. When work began in 2005, all that remained of the building were the walls, the historic vaults on the ground floor and a dozen or so steps of the former staircase. Five years later, in 2010, a hotel was opened in it, and two years after that a boutique spa was set up in the former castle cellars.

Around the castle

The castle lies in Lubliniec, so a visit is easy to combine with a walk around the town. Half a kilometre away stands the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and 300 metres from the castle the Church of St Stanislaus Kostka.

About half a kilometre from the castle is the Edith Stein Museum in Lubliniec, and a little further, about 700 metres away, Lubisfera, an amusement and sports park.

Practical information

• Address: Grunwaldzka 40, Lubliniec.
• The castle is a working hotel, so access to the interiors depends on the rules of the establishment. The hotel's website has a separate tab on the castle's history, but does not give fixed visiting hours for outside visitors.
• Before your visit, check on zameklubliniec.pl or by phone whether you can enter the restaurant or the castle grounds.