History

The precise date of the construction of the castle has not been determined. The source literature mentioned two hypothetical dates. According to the first hypothesis, the castle was erected between 1355 and 1357 during the reign of Casimir the Great. According to the second hypothesis, supported by most contemporary historians, the castle was founded by members of the Piast dynasty who lived in Mazovia in the second half of the 14th century. The construction was supposedly started by Siemowit the Third and completed by his son, Siemowit the Fourth.

The last private owner of the stronghold was Prince Vladislaus of Mazovia. After his death (1462), King Casimir Jagiellon incorporated the Land of Rawa into the Crown. In 1507, the castle was damaged by a fire that had swept through the town. It was soon restored and reinforced with anti-artillery fortifications. In the 16th century, the underground part of the castle was used as a treasury (money for payments for the army was kept there). It also served as a prison for people of higher classes. Among the prisoners held in the castle were the son of the Swedish king Charles IX and Jacob de la Gardie, reformer of the Swedish army. As a result, during the Swedish Deluge, the invading army burnt Rawa down and destroyed the castle. Despite the attempts made in 1776 by F. Lanckoroński - starosta (community elder) of Rawa Mazowiecka, the building was never fully reconstructed. Following the partitions of Poland, Rawa found itself under Prussian rule. In 1794, the authorities decided to demolish the castle to obtain building material for erecting new buildings. Only the octagonal tower was left then. In 1859, the tower was damaged by a lightning strike.

The ruins of the castle were not looked after properly until after the Second World War. Between 1954 and 1958, archaeological research and conservation works were carried out, during which the tower and some walls were partly reconstructed. Archaeological research was also undertaken in the 1970s. The stone foundations of the walls were reconstructed then.

After the completion of those works, the building was placed under the management of the Museum of the Rawa Region. The Museum organized a permanent exhibition about the history of the stronghold. The exhibits include some of the artifacts found during archaeological excavations.

There is a legend connected with the history of the castle, which was first mentioned by the chronicler Janko from Czarnków. According to the chronicler’s story, Prince Siemowit the Third accused his pregnant wife, Ludmila, of having been unfaithful to him. Siemowit had her imprisoned in the tower of the Rawa castle and murdered after she gave birth. The newborn son was placed in the care of a peasant woman. When Henryk grew older, his half-sister, Princess Margaret, found him and brought him to the castle. Siemowit had to admit that the child resembled him closely and that Ludmila could not have committed what he had accused her of. According to legends, the ghost of Ludmiła wanders in the ruins of the castle to this day, appearing as a sobbing White Lady. The Legend of Rawa made an impression on a sixteenth-century English writer, who used it as a plot for his novel. The novel in turn inspired William Shakespeare, who wrote a play entitled The Winter’s Tale.

Description

The castle is situated approximately 200 metres to the north of the historical centre of the town of Rawa Mazowiecka. It stands on an artificial elevation surrounded by the river Rawka and the river Rylka.

Gothic defensive structure. The building was erected on a quadrilateral plan (66 x 64 m) with curtain walls and an octagonal tower (raised in the 16th century) standing at its south-west corner, reinforced by buttresses. The second tower, which contained the gate, stood in the southern part of the castle. There was a drawbridge leading to the castle (through a moat surrounding the embankment). On the walls, there were roofed porches, which served as shooting platforms. They were probably about 10 m high. In the northern part of the courtyard, leaning against the curtain wall, there was a two-storey house of the princes, the so-called Great House. It had 5 rooms on the ground floor. In the south-east corner, there was another, smaller brick building.

The foundations are made from rough stones, and so are the plinths of the walls. The brick walls and the tower are representative of the Gothic style.

The tower, which has survived to this day, is set on a round stone plinth. The massive brick part of the tower has an octagonal shape. The original, Gothic part is about 4 metres high, above which there is a part added in the 16th-century. The older part lacks any window openings. The more recent part has window openings in every elevation on the top storey. In addition, it has single, irregularly positioned openings in the lower storeys. Entrance opening.

The tower is open to the public in the summer / June – September / on Saturdays and Sundays: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.; on other days of the week, it can be toured by organized groups upon prior arrangement with the staff of the museum. The area of the castle is open to the public all year round.

Compiled by Anna Michalska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź. 30 January 2020

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