The castle in Koło is now largely in ruins, but it was once one of the most important royal strongholds in Greater Poland. The castle was built on the initiative of Casimir the Great in the 14th century, only to be abandoned several centuries later and fall into a state of severe disrepair. Architect Michał Szymankiewicz has reconstructed the castle’s probable appearance during its heyday by producing a series of digital visualisations.
The royal fortress on the Warta
The castle was built after 1365 in Gozdów, near Koło. Its purpose was to protect the crossings over the Warta and the route leading from Greater Poland towards Łęczyca. Historians agree that construction began during the reign of Casimir the Great, whilst the work was completed after the monarch’s death. Archaeological research indicates that a freestanding defensive tower, surrounded by wooden and earthen fortifications, previously stood on this site; this was later incorporated into the new complex.
The castle in Koło visited by kings
The castle’s heyday came in the 15th century. Władysław Jagiełło and Kazimierz Jagiellończyk were regular guests within the stronghold’s walls, and Koło became a venue for gatherings of the Greater Poland nobility. In 1506, the starost Jarosław Sokołowski carried out a costly renovation; however, by the second half of the 16th century, officials had left the castle and moved to nearby Kościelec. From that point on, the building began to fall into rapid disrepair. By the 17th century, it was already described as ruined, and in the following centuries, parts of its walls were dismantled, with the bricks used to build other structures in the area. The flooding of the Warta River did not help either, causing further damage to the structure.
A Gothic fortress with a mighty keep
The castle was built on a regular, rectangular plan measuring approximately 30 × 50 metres and was surrounded by high brick walls and a water-filled moat. Two towers dominated the complex. In the southern corner stood a defensive bergfried over 16 metres high, whilst the main residence was the massive keep. The stately residential tower featured chambers heated by stoves and lit by large windows. Thanks to its location amidst the floodplains of the Warta, the stronghold was exceptionally difficult to capture.
Archaeologists uncover secrets
The picturesque ruins on the bend of the Warta River have long attracted the attention of researchers. The first survey of the remains of the Kola stronghold was carried out in the mid-19th century, whilst more extensive conservation work only began after the site was entered in the register of monuments, that is, after 1953. In recent years, archaeologists have also been investigating the castle ruins. In the course of their work, they uncovered the foundations of the keep and the remains of the cellars, and discovered medieval pottery, metal objects and a gold ring dating from the second half of the 14th century. These discoveries have provided new insights into the layout of the stronghold and the successive stages of its expansion.
Kole Castle in visualisations
Based on the results of the research, historical sources and surviving iconography, Michał Szymankiewicz has produced his own reconstruction of the castle from the period of its heyday. The model was created using SketchUp, Photoshop and artificial intelligence-based tools. The author emphasises that the visualisations are an interpretation based on the available materials, and therefore does not rule out inaccuracies. However, the result allows us to view the ruins from a completely different perspective and to imagine the royal residence, which for centuries was one of the most important strongholds of medieval Greater Poland.
Source:zabytek.pl
Visualisations: architect Michał Szymankiewicz
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