History

The earliest mention of Witków dates back to 1305. In 1346 it was mentioned as a property of the von Neckarn (Nechern) family and it was probably members of that family who erected their fortified seat in the second half of the 14th century. The knights tower is surrounded by a stone wall, earthen rampart and moat and was erected on an artificial island heaped among the wetlands. In the 15th century the property found itself in the hands of the von Warendorft (Warnsdorf) family. At that time, an arrangement of windows was modified and a wide arcade leading to the bay window on the first floor was added. During another redevelopment conducted for Fabian von Schoenaich, owner of the estate from 1550, the height of the floors was modified, stone surrounds made by Fritz Bahr from Chojnów and dated 1557 were added to window openings and the façades were covered with sgraffito decoration. In the 18th century vaults were installed over the ground floor. In the 19th century employees of the manor farm resided in the tower. After World War II some rooms were adapted to serve as warehouses of the State Agricultural Holding. In the late 1970s the building underwent renovation. Currently, it is a private property.

Description

The tower is located in the central part of the village, on the south-east side of the Bobrzany-Siecieborzyce road. It is situated on a small, artificial elevation of the terrain with a diameter of around 20m, enclosed with a waterlogged area overgrown with rushes. An earthen rampart measuring approx. 1.5 m in height has survived on the outside of the wetland strip. The main access to the island runs on top of a levee formed on the south side. The tower was built of erratic rocks supplemented by bricks. It was designed on a rectangular floor plan with the sides measuring 10.75 x 11.1 m. It has a basement and three storeys and is covered with a hip roof clad in wood shingles. The entrance to the ground floor is located in the south-west wall. Access to upper storeys is possible through a masonry porch on the south-east side of the first floor, preceded by external, roofed stairs. There are preserved fragments of the sgraffito rustication from the 16th century on the south-east façade. The basement is covered with barrel vaults from the 14th-15th century, while the ground floor with double barrel vaults and barrel vaults with lunettes from the 16th century. The upper floors feature beamed ceilings. Gothic polychromes have survived in a room on the first floor: Crucifixion, Fight of St George, St Christopher, Peter and Paul. Next to the tower, on the east side of the entrance, a fragment of the stone defensive wall has survived, together with an outbuilding from the 15th century on the west, modernised after 1550. It is a single-storey building with a basement, covered with a tall hip roof.

Limited access to the historic building. Private property – the building can only be viewed from the outside.

Author of the note Anna Jackiewicz, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Zielona Góra. 30-11-2017

Bibliography

• Bielinis-Kopeć B. (ed.), Zamki, dwory i pałace województwa lubuskiego, Zielona Góra 2008, pp. 432-434.
• Garbacz K., Przewodnik po zabytkach województwa lubuskiego, vol. 2, Zielona Góra 2012, p. 150.
• Kowalski S., Zabytki architektury województwa lubuskiego, Zielona Góra 2010, p. 405.
• Nowakowski D., Siedziby książęce i rycerskie księstwa głogowskiego w średniowieczu, Wrocław 2008, pp. 555-565.
• Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, Warsaw 2006, p. 936.