Fotos

The beginnings of this castle's history reach the year 1346... or 1347. The oldest building in Olsztyn, it was built by the Teutonic Order as the protection against Old Prussians.
The castle belonged to the chapter of the Warmia diocese, which along with the bishop of Warmia was subjected to the military protection of the Order of Teutonic Knights until 1454.

One of its resident was astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1516-21). When Olsztyn was besieged by the Teutonic Knights(*) during the Polish-Teutonic War (1519–1521), Copernicus was in charge of the defenses of Olsztyn and Warmia at the head of Royal Polish forces.
(*)I find it funny that Teutonic Order was in this position, because they'd built this castle, after all ;-) They could check if the task was finished properly ;-)
Anyway, on the wall of the castle you can see unique astronomy drawings aparrently made by Copernicus himself.
In the 18th century Olsztyn castle began to lose stature as the seat of the chapter administration had been moved to Frombork.
In 1945 the castle became the seat of the Masurian Museum, later renamed into the Museum of Warmia and Mazury.

At the foot of the castle in the former moat there's a stage - many cultural events take place in this historical scenery.

You can see the castle from the opposite side on my other picture: http://pl.trekearth.com/gallery/photo761932.htm

More interesting facts in English here: http://www.szlak.zamkigotyckie.org.pl/olsztyn-ang.htm

============
Zamek Kapituły Warmińskiej w Olsztynie. Solidna, gotycka konstrukcja (budowę rozpoczęto w 1347 ... albo 1346 roku), której solidność zadziwiła samych budowniczych - Krzyżaków, którym przyszło ją zdobywać w 1521 roku.
Najbardziej znanym lokatorem zamku był Mikołaj Kopernik, a turyści mogą zobaczyć wykonaną przez niego na ścianie zamku tablicę astronomiczną (a również 'wychodek Kopernika' ;-))

Dziś - siedziba Muzeum Warmii i Mazur. U podnóża zamku (którego nie widać, bo właśnie tam skończył mi się kadr) jest amfiteatr. W tej oto uroczej scenerii odbywa się wiele imprez kulturalnych.
Zamek z drugiej strony możecie zobaczyć na moim innym zdjęciu: http://pl.trekearth.com/gallery/photo761932.htm