ap opposite the cathedral rise the walls of the former 14th century ducal castle and the later Benedictine abbey. The castle walls include two towers with Gothic rodovod: The Noble Tower, a former prison for the nobility, and the Clock Tower, covered by a Baroque helmet with fragments of the Romanesque palace of Władysław Herman and Bolesław Krzywousty at its base. Until the end of the 1990s, it housed the Mazovian Museum, with a magnificent collection of Art Nouveau. Its history dates back to the 11th century. Here Boleslaw the Wrymouth was born and later knighted, here the mother of Emperor Frederick III was born. The castle was frequented by kings Casimir the Great and Ladislaus Jagiello. Castle of the Mazovian Princes in Plock ? Gothic building erected by Casimir the Great, the seat of the Mazovian princes until the end of the 15th century. Archaeological research on the Tumskie Hill in Plock confirms the presence of a settlement from the 10th century. The location of the castle in this place was supported by its convenient location at the intersection of trade routes, also by the shape and significant uplift of the Vistula escarpment (more than 40 meters above the water level). Initially, the castle had wooden and earth fortifications, and a small prince's "castle" inside. The greatest development of the castle took place during the reign of Wladyslaw Herman. At that time, his brother, King Boleslaw the Bold, appointed a bishop in Plock (in 1075), who, together with his court composed mainly of Benedictines, occupied the old palace for his residence, and the prince (later king) moved to a new representative building erected by Cologne masons, probably on the model of the imperial residence in Goslar of his father-in-law Henry III. On the site of this medieval palatium, three hundred years later, Casimir the Great erected a Gothic castle. Its more important part ? representative ? was called castrum. The whole was surrounded by a characteristic double line of defensive walls. The outer one, which was a reinforcement of the curtain, was adapted in shape to the irregular hill; the inner one, topped with blanks, a few meters higher, connected the two towers (Noble and Clock), which have survived to this day. The ruler's dwelling house was adjacent to the wall. The castle could be accessed through two gates: the first, southwestern (by the Vistula escarpment), adjacent to the small gate building, leading to the wooden bridge that connected the castle to the perimeter of the city walls, or the second, northwestern, facing the city's Grodzka gate. The Noble Tower, erected around 1353 (originally called the High Tower), was lowered in 1796, the Clock Tower, which had served as a cathedral bell tower since the end of the 15th century, was rebuilt in the mid-16th century, and received a Baroque cupola in 1723-1735. The castle was the residence of the Mazovian princes until the end of the 15th century. In 1532, as a result of a landslide of the Vistula escarpment, it was partially destroyed, after rebuilding the residence of the rulers was moved to the southern edge of the establishment, and the abandoned part was given to the Benedictine abbey in 1538 (by the grant of Sigismund the Old. The resulting Baroque complex of buildings completely changed the appearance of the castle. The unearthed relics of the former residence of Wladyslaw Herman and his descendants, as well as the two surviving towers of the Gothic castle of Casimir the Great, are listed in the register of monuments along with the buildings of the former Benedictine abbey.
04.07.2013
