We use cookies on this website to monitor statistics, control quality and functionality, and carry out marketing activities.
By disabling cookies you limit or exclude key website features such as video playback, form submission or the interactive mock-up.
You can change your browser cookie settings at any time.
Zazamcze, Wieś Rytro
The castle in Rytro survives as the ruin of a medieval stronghold on a steep hill above the Poprad valley, once a trade route running south. The complex was probably founded around the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries and its founder remains unknown. The oldest masonry part is a cylindrical sandstone tower about 9.5 metres in diameter.
In the 16th century the castle was managed by Piotr Kmita, one of the wealthiest magnates in Poland at the time; around the middle of that century the stronghold burned down in unexplained circumstances. What was left of the fortifications was destroyed in 1657 by the Transylvanian troops of György II Rákóczi, an ally of the Swedes. The site has been a permanent ruin ever since.
After conservation work the walls were opened to visitors, and stairs inside the tower lead to a platform overlooking the Poprad valley, the Beskid Sądecki and the Radziejowa range. A steep path climbs the hill from Rytro; the walk takes about half an hour and calls for sturdy shoes. The site is open ground with no shelter, so bad weather takes the point out of the trip.
