Krzyżtopór is a castle, or more strictly speaking a palce, located in the village of Ujazd in southern Poland. It was built by a Polish nobleman, Krzysztof Ossoliński and completed in 1644. The tragedy is that Krzysztof Ossoliński died one year after it was completed and within eleven years the castle was destroyed and since then has been the ruin that we can see today although as its structure is relatively well-preserved, its size is still impressive and it does not take much to imagine what its splendor would have been.

Construction of the castle may have started around 1627 (or before) and was built in three stages. It was built in a fortified palace style that one can see in Italy. Construction cost 30 million złoty which was then an astronomical sum. It was destroyed during the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655. Further damage was done during warfare in 1770.

Krzysztof Ossoliński believed in magic and symbolism, there are 365 windows, 52 rooms and 12 what we would today call suites.

The total size of the complex is 1.3 hectares; the length of perimeter walls is 700 meters; the total area of all interior rooms is around 70 000 square meters.

Krzyżtopór was furnished with amenities that were rarely seen in the 17th century, such as ventilation, heating and plumbing that provided all the rooms with fresh water. There was also a system of lifts for carrying food from the kitchens upstairs. It is said that there was an aquarium in the ceiling of one of the ballroons.

I was fortunate enough to stay the night there, parked in the car park. As an overnight stay, it was very quiet!

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