The history of fortifications on the top of Ogrodzieniec Castle Mountain goes back to the early 12th century and the reign of
Boleslaus III Wrymouth. It was during his rule when the first stronghold was built on the top of the hill. This first keep, made largely of earth and wooden ramparts, was razed to the ground in 1241 during the
Mongol Invasion of Europe. In the middle of the 14th century a new
gothic castle was built here to accommodate the Włodek Sulima family. Surrounded by three high rocks, the castle was well integrated into the area. The defensive walls were built to close the circuit formed by the rocks, and a narrow opening between two of the rocks served as an entrance. In 1470, the castle and lands were bought by the wealthy
Cracovian townsmen, Ibram and Piotr Salomon. Then, Ogrodzieniec became the property of Jan Feliks Rzeszowski, the rector of
Przemyśl and the canon of
Kraków. Around 1488, the castle was owned by Jan and subsequently Andrzej Rzeszowski and, later, the Pilecki and Chełmiński families. In 1523 the castle was bought by Jan Boner. After his death, the castle passed to his nephew, Seweryn Boner, who replaced the medieval stronghold with a
renaissance castle in 1530–1545. In 1562, the castle became the property of the Great Marshal of the Crown
Jan Firlej, as a result of his marriage to Zofia, the daughter of Seweryn Boner. In 1587, the castle was captured by the Austrian archduke
Maximilian III, the rejected candidate to the
Polish-Lithuanian throne. In 1655, it was partly burnt by the Swedish troops, who – deployed there for almost two years – damaged the buildings considerably. From 1669 on, the castle belonged to
Stanisław Warszycki, the Kraków's
castellan, who managed to partly rebuild the castle after the Swedish devastations. The last tenants left the devastated castle about 1810. The next owner was Ludwik Kozłowski, who used the remains of the castle as a source of building material and sold many items from castle to merchants. The last proprietor of the castle was the neighbouring Wołoczyński and Antosiewicz family. After the
Second World War, the castle was nationalized. The work to preserve the ruins and open them to visitors was started in 1949 and finished in 1973. == Interesting facts ==