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The relics of the Ossoliński castle

In the place of the relics of a late-renaissance residence, which are currently quite flimsy, there already was a brick-made, gothic castle, probably back in the 14th century. It was constructed by a representant of the knightly Toporczyk family, whose name remains unknown. The founder of the stronghold might have been Jan Topór „Owca” – the castellan of Wiślica, who, according to tradition, was the progenitor of the great Ossoliński family, murdered during the neighbor fights for the borders of his property. It was possible to find information about the existence of the castle, or more enigmatically – about the fortified knightly headquarters – in the book about the wealth of the archbishopric of Kraków, written by Jan Długosz. The original stronghold might have been humble, but over the following two centuries it was definitely expanded and modernized, although the scale and range of these transformations remain unknown.

An important caesura in the history of Ossolin happened, when Jerzy Ossoliński from the Topór family took control of the wealth, after inheriting it from his father, Zbigniew. At that time, he decided to build a headquarters for his family. To do so, he hired renowned architects in the beginning of the third decade of the 17th century, one of whom was probably Wawrzyniec Senes, who might have created the design of the Krzyżtopór castle. Wawrzyniec constructed a small, yet gorgeous late-renaissance residence, which became famous in the entire kingdom shortly afterwards, thanks to its impressive decorations.

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