page_title: Royal Castle, Warsaw
section_title: Vasa period and the Deluge
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Castle, Warsaw / History / Vasa period and the Deluge
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie, Polska.Español: Palacio Real de Varsovia, Polonia.English: Royal Palace of Warsaw, Poland. This is a photo of an object of cultural heritage inscribed in the registry (Warsaw registry) of the Masovian Voivodeship with number 620/1. This is a photo of a monument in Poland identified by the ID 624928
context_page_description: The Royal Castle in Warsaw is a royal residence that formerly served throughout the centuries as the official home of Polish monarchs. It is situated in Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. The personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the royal court were located in the Castle from the 16th century until the final partition of Poland in 1795.
  Initially, the fortified complex served as the residence of the Masovian dukes. In the early 1600s, it was designated to replace Wawel Castle in Kraków as the seat of the King, Parliament, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The medieval Gothic structure was remodelled into Italian mannerism by architects Matteo Castelli and Giovanni Battista Trevano. The Baroque easternmost wing was designed by Gaetano Chiaveri and completed in 1747.
  The Royal Castle witnessed many notable events in Poland's history; the Constitution of 3 May 1791, first of its type in Europe and the world's second-oldest codified national constitution, was drafted here by the Four-Year Parliament.
context_section_description: The next alterations to the Castle were made in the reign of Sigismund III, who transferred the royal residence from Cracow to Warsaw. In 1598–1619 the Castle was enlarged. Giovanni Trevano was in charge of the reconstruction. His plans were probably amended by the Venetian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi.
  Between 1601–1603 Giacomo Rodondo finished the new northern wing. From 1602 Paolo del Corte was doing stonework. Later after 1614, when Matteo Castelli took the lead, the western wing was built (from today's Plac Zamkowy side) as chancelleries and a marshals office. The southern wing was built at the end. In that way five-wings in a mannerist-early baroque style were built. In 1619 the New Royal Tower (Latin: Nova Turris Regia) also called Sigismund's Tower was finished. It was 60 meters high and was placed in the middle of a newly built west castle 90 meters in length. At the top of the tower, a clock with gilded hands and copper face was placed. The new tower's spire was 13 meters high and had glided knobs and a copper flag at the top.
  On 29 October 1611 in the Senator's Chamber, Tsar Vasili IV of Russia, who had been captured by the hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, paid homage to the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa.
  The Polish king Sigismund III and his successors of the Vasa dynasty — Władysław IV Vasa and John II Casimir Vasa — collected many rich works of art in the castle, such as oriental fabrics, tapestries, and numerous paintings by such famous artists as Titian, Veronese, Jacopo, Leandro Bassano, Tintoretto, Palma il Giovane, Antonio Vassilacchi, Tommaso Dolabella, Guercino, Guido Reni, Joseph Heintz, Bartholomeus Spranger, Roelant Savery, Rembrandt, Pieter Soutman, Peter Danckerts de Rij, Peter Paul Rubens, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Daniel Seghers, Georg Daniel Schultz and sculptures by Giambologna, Giovanni Francesco Susini and Adriaen de Vries. These splendid works of art were either destroyed or plundered during the invasions of Poland by Sweden and Germans of Brandenburg during (The Deluge, in 1655–1657). The Swedes and Germans took all the priceless pictures, furniture, tapestries, the royal library, the crown archive, numerous sculptures, whole floors and royal flags. In the castle they had a military Lazareth field hospital, which additionally contributed to the devastation of the buildings. A few months later armies destroyed the rest, plundering most of the copper elements and tearing up the rest of castle's floor.
  The majority of the preserved castle furnishings from the Vasa period found its place in the collection of the Visitationist Monastery in Warsaw as donations from the last Vasa, John II Casimir and his wife Marie Louise Gonzaga.
  In 1628 the first Polish opera – Galatea, was staged at the Castle. The great opera hall (double-storied, over 50m long), which existed at the Royal Castle, was demolished by Swedes and Germans and rebuilt in the 1660s by King John II Casimir.
caption: Władysław's Tower.
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