Ruins Of Krupe Castle
Castles, palaces and Manor Houses
The small village of Krupe, located near the road from Rejowiec to Krasnystaw, was made famous by the ruins of the Renaissance castle of the Orzechowski family, built at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Paweł Orzechowski, who was an avid Arian, intellectualist and a friend of the Hetman and Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, had a great fortune, with dozens of villages and several towns, including Rejowiec. Nearing death, he ordered construction of the Italian-style stronghold in the nearby Krupe, with a regular palace on a rectangular plane, fortified with bulwarks, and surrounded by water – river, ponds and a moat. Sadly, the fortress built of local limestone did not withstand the Cossack invasion in 1648 nor the Swedish attack in 1655. From that point in time, it remains a picturesque ruin, surrounded by ponds.
Every year in the summer it serves as a venue for open-air events, the Solstice day and the Jarmark Podzamcze (“Podzamcze Fair”) in the summer. Near the villages of Krupe and Krynica there is a hill covered by a forest, known as Arianka. A stone pyramid, over 20 metres tall, can be found on the top. It is said to contain the grave of Paweł Orzechowski, who died in 1612.
