Monday, April 25, 2011

Nostalgic Poles rebuild medieval castles

Fanciful turrets flank the thick fortress walls. A cannon sits in the courtyard. Inside the castle in the eastern Polish town of Tykocin, there are brand-new electric ovens, modern radiators and sleek bathroom fixtures. A handful of Polish developers are completely rebuilding medieval castles to house museums, hotels or conference centers that they hope will recapture the enchantment of a time when Poland was a great European power,before centuries of occupation, warfare and foreign rule.

"Why should the Germans have their castles on the Rhine, the French their castles on the Loire, why should the Czechs have so many castles open to the visitors and why should the Poles have only ruins?" said Dariusz Lasecki, a businessman and one of two brothers rebuilding a medieval castle in Bobolice, a town near Czestochowa.

Click here to read this article from the Washington Examiner