Castles. A kid who liked history.

I love history

It was my favourite subject in high school. I quickly realise that mediaeval period is my favourite. My mum buoght me periodical history magazine on which I saw pictures of a templars fortresses in present Syria – Krak des Chevaliers. This blew my mind, it looked inpenetrable, massive and majestic. The fortress was captured from the inside due to treason rather than weakness of the defences. As a kid I loved things like that, it roused my imagination.

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One more drone view of crusaders’ Krak des Chevaliers castle in Syria near Homs. It was their biggest stronghold in the Holy Land. Read more about its history in one of my previous posts👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 Picture by @ic0nem 👍🙏🏻😍 . Еще один вид с дрона на замок Крак де Шевалье в Сирии недалеко от города Хомс. Во времена Крестовых походов он был самой большой базой крестоносцев в Святой Земле. Об истории замка читайте в одном из моих предыдущих постов👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻. . #krakdeschevaliers #кракдешевалье #instacastles #moyenage #medievaltimes #medievalcastle #medievaleurope #ближнийвосток #medievalarchitecture #medievalfortress #middleages #замкимира #castlesofeurope #средниевека #средневековье #средневековыйзамок #castlesofinstagram #средневековаякрепость #средневековаяархитектура #castlearchitecture #castleonthehill #castellomedievale #instacastle #syriancastles #сирия #middleeasttravel #knightshospitaller #госпитальеры #dronepictures #aerialview

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Nidzica castle

On one of my childhood trips I went to Niedzica. In my opinion one of the most beautiful and interesting castles from mediaeval period in Poland. The castle is located on the South of Poland, close to Tatra Mountains, right on the Lake Czorsztyńskie. I remember that my imagination was working at the highest level. I was imagining Kings, Queens and Knights walking around me. And then, on the other side of the Lake I could see another castle, this one belong to the famous Polish Knight, Zawisza Czarny. I immediately fell in love with this place and wanted to see more places like that.

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What do Incas and a Polish castle have in common? Stay with me! Meet Niedzica or Dunajec castle. It is located in the south of Poland on a hill overlooking Lake Czorsztyn. It was constructed in the 14th century on the site of an ancient stronghold. Originally built as a gloomy Dracula-style Gothic castle it was rebuilt several times throughout its history. There’s something unusual about the castle and its residents. According to a legend, it served as a shelter for Incas, who lived in and around it in late 18th century. They were believed to be descendants of the last Inca king and Inca aristocracy who fled Spanish persecution. The fugitives allegedly hid there part of the treasury that was used to finance the uprising against Spain. After WWII an Inca kipu – a 3D form of writing in a knot script used by pre-Columbian Indians – was found in the castle. It had information about a hidden treasure. Photo by @s7aw3k😍👍🙏🏻 . Что общего у инков и польского замка? Сейчас узнаете. Вот Замок Неджица или Дунаец на юге Польши, возвышающийся над гладью Чорштынского озера – искусственного водохранилища, созданного в 1995 году. Он был построен в 14м веке на месте древней крепости. Изначально готический этот замок в стиле графа Дракулы перестраивался много раз за свою историю и переходил от одного благородного семейства к другому. По легенде, в конце 18го века в замке и по соседству с ним жили потомки последнего правителя инков и инкской знати, скрывавшиеся от преследования испанцев. Они якобы спрятали часть казны, из которой давали деньги на анти-испанскую деятельность. После Второй мировой войны в замке был найден фрагмент кипу – это особая система узелковой письменности, которой пользовались индейцы в доколумбовой америке – и в этом фрагменте речь шла как раз о сокровищах. . #niedzicazamek #niedzicacastle #zamekdunajec #zamekniedzica #instacastle #polishcastle #europeancastles #castlesofeurope #castlesoftheworld #gothiccastle #medievalworld #medievalcastle #middleages #medievalfortress #medievaleurope #medievaltimes #castlesofinstagram #замкимира #замкиевропы #zamkipolskie #zamek #średniowiecze #castellomedievale #средневековыйзамок #instacastles

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King’s Castle – Wawel

Another castle that I have to mention, the castle that I saw multiple times during my youth, is the famous king’s castle in Kraków, Wawel. This castle is huge and it has tombs of Polish kings and important people from the 14th century onwards. Wawel’s tower has famous Signuntus Bell (pol. Dzwon Zygmunta). According to the legend, every young male, touch the heart of the bell will be strong and courageous. The castle is also a place where lots of national artefacts are kept.

This includes a sword Szczerbiec. Many believe that this sword belong to first Polish King Bolesław Chrobry, and was used in coronations of Polish kings. It has been found that this sword is much younger but it’s a nice story to tell the children. Stories like that help to give hope to Polish people during difficult times such as Zabory (18th and 19th century) when Poland disappeared from maps for over 120 years. Another famous artefact which amazed me there was banner of Teutonic order captured during famous midival battle – Tannenberg (pol. Grunwald). As a child I was reading about those historical facts and then suddenly I could see all these artifacts on the front of me.

RPG games for young geeks

Another important part of my love for castles are role playing games. In my teenage years my friend asked me once if I want to play Warhammer. I didn’t really know what it was but I thought I will give it a go. After all trying new things makes life more interesting. I got killed in my first mission and I didn’t played for long but I fall in love in role playing games. We were simply group of geeks, sat around the table with a fake characters, and whole game happened in our heads. The imagination was a key. I have learned that teamwork matters, and I learned how to corperate with others rather than being a lonely hero. Our games took place in medieval-like world. After those games I could visit some historical sites with castles or just ruins and use my imagination to make the trips truly enchanted.

Books for older geeks

The last things that made me love castles and history are obviously books and comic books. Some books where proper historical books or albums with lots of photographs. Some books where more fictional however with plenty of castle’s descriptions. The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, or my absolute favourite from my youth times The Witcher saga. Story of Witcher blew my mind, I was loving, I was getting sad and I could not stop reading. There are many other stories that I can’t simply mention so I just picked those two most important once.

YouTube channels for adult geeks

These days I mainly watch a YouTube channels. One of my favourites is a series by Surge Polonia channel where the care taker from Castle Chojnik, Jędrek talks about history and reenactment, and help to understand more about castles, why they look like that, why they stand where they are. Jędrek helped me to realise that every single component build in the castle had its own purpose. I guess, I sold my love to history to my wife and now we both selling it to our kids. Learning about the history is a life long trip. It can be life changing. My friend once said: “Nation that doesn’t know and understand own history is simply lost”. I can see that point.

/Mr Sting/

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