1. Kraków. Wawel Royal Castle2. Kraków. The Royal Archcathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Wenceslaus3. Kraków. Complex of Renaissance mansions in Kanonicza street4. Kraków. Complex of Renaissance mansions in the historical city centre5. Kraków. Villa Decius6. Zielonki. Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary7. Giebultów. Church of St Giles8. Modlnica. Church of St Adalbert and Our Lady of Sorrows9. Suloszowa. Pieskowa Skala Castle10. Ksiaz Wielki. Mirow Castle in Ksiaz Wielki11. Miechów. Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre12. Bodzentyn. Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr1314. Kraków - Mogila. Sanctuary of The Holy Cross of The Cistercian Abbey15. Kraków - Branice. Branicki Villa - Lamus16. Niepolomice. Royal Castle in Niepolomice17. Niepolomice. Church of Ten Thousand Martyrs - Memorial Chapel of Branicki Family18. Tarnów. The Town Hall19. Tarnów. Complex of Renaissance townhouses in the Old Town20. Tarnów. Cathedral Basilica of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary21. Wilczyska. Jezów Manor House22. Szymbark. Castellum: Renaissance fortified manor house in Szymbark
Sucha Beskidzka. Castle in Sucha Beskidzka
The first owner of the castle in Sucha Beskidzka was Gaspar Castiglione, who assumed the name of Kasper Suski in Poland. He was a goldsmith from Florence who purchased the village of Sucha from Stanisław Słupski, and embarked on the construction of a defensive manor house of wood and stone (1554-1580), which became the core of today's structure. The manor was subsequently taken over by Piotr Komorowski who extended it into an impressive magnate residence in the Renaissance style (1608-1614), modelled on Wawel Royal Castle.
The three-wing structure with four corner towers and an irregular rectangular courtyard is accessed from the east. The structure was built from broken local stone. Its southern and western wings are decorated from the side of the courtyard with a two-storey-high gallery, with arcades on the ground floor supported on pillars, and those of the first-floor by Tuscan columns. Komorowski installed a chapel in the clock tower, and had it devoted to his patron, St Peter the Apostle. The stonework of the chapel is probably the work of a Flemish master, Paweł Baudarth, as suggested by the framing of windows characteristic of the artist.
Today, the castle is home to a range of institutions including the Municipal Museum of Sucha Beskidzka, Zamek / Castle Municipal Culture Centre, and the Higher School of Tourism and Ecology in Sucha Beskidzka.
The church and monastery belong to the complex, founded by Piotr Komorowski, the owner of the Castle in Sucha, who built the first church here (1613-1614), the monastery (1624), and the complex of seven chapels (1630) in gratitude for the miraculous healing of his sight. He subsequently invited the Canons Regular of Lateran from the Corpus Christi Church in Kazimierz (today, a district of Kraków).
The body of the church and the Renaissance section of the building of the former monastery, which today operates as the vicarage, have been preserved. The two historic buildings are connected by an arcade, with a passage from the monastery to the musical choir inside the church. Its external wall is decorated with two Renaissance majolica tiles. One presents the Crucifixion of Christ, and the other - the founder's Korczak coat of arms with initials P K H L I O (Piotr Komorowski, hrabia liptowski i orawski / Piotr Komorowski, the Count of Liptów and Orawa). The tiles are most probably a product of one of the workshops in Kazimierz. The single-nave church is entered through the ancient southern door, and the upper section of the external wall of the chancel is decorated with a Renaissance frieze.
Originally, the church complex was surrounded with seven chapels, of which only three have been preserved. The largest houses the burial crypts of the later owners of Sucha.
The architectural investments of the Polish monarchs, aristocracy, and clergy of Renaissance times introduced new formal elements into the built landscape of Poland, and transformed it with time. Each of them also altered the landscape of the area where it was located. The silhouettes of the buildings became hallmarks and strong accents in the natural environment, which was linked with the humanist ideals on whose power they were built. This was the case in the case of the royal castles in Kraków (Wawel) and Niepołomice, and Villa Decius in Wola Justowska, and the castles and fortified strongholds of nobility and magnates in Szymbark and Sucha, in the last of these, the founder, Piotr Komorowski, also erected the monastery of Canons Regular.
