Wleń (Lenno) Castle was built on the Zamkowa Góra (Castle Hill) rising above the town of Wleń located in the Bóbr Valley . Some of the castle buildings were erected on visible Cambrian pillow lava in the subsummit part of the hill.
Around 1160, Duke Bolesław the Tall began the construction of the first stone castle building, which is referred to as the “Romanesque house.” This object is now considered the oldest secular building in Silesia and at the same time one of the oldest castle complexes in Poland (brick castles in Legnica and Wrocław were built later).
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Wleń Castle was expanded by Henry the Bearded. A small chapel was built directly next to the “Romanesque house,” which had a private character and served the castle’s residents. Probably at the same time, the defensive circuit was closed from the south by building a hexagonal defensive tower (known as the bergfried). No later than the beginning of the 14th century, a quadrangular residential tower was built in the northeastern corner of the castle, which additionally protected the entrance area to the upper castle. By the end of the 14th century, a mighty three-story medieval castle house was built, which rose along the eastern section of the upper castle’s perimeter wall.
In the 15th century, Wleń Castle acquired its late medieval form. At that time, the hexagonal defensive tower was dismantled and replaced by a new cylindrical bergfried tower (largely preserved to this day). Today, it offers beautiful views of the Kaczawskie Mountains and Foothills, Jizera Mountains and Foothills and the Karkonosze Mountains.
The castle was destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War in 1646 and has remained in ruins since then. It is owned by the Wleń Commune, and since 2018, after several years of securing work, it has been open for daily visits through the “Warownia” Consortium.
