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Golub-Dobrzyñ Castle was built by Teutonic Knights at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, later rebuilt and extended in the 15th century. Between 1616 and 1623 it was a residence of Anna of Finland; during this period a Renaissance attic was added. The castle was destroyed during the The Deluge. In the 19th century, it was neglected and a gale caused the collapse of its attic. After 1945 the castle was rebuilt and renovated.
The chapel is the only room in the castle with original medieval interior decoration not changed during the Renaissance reconstruction. Therefore there is still typical monumental Gothic architecture like high ogival window with traceries and rising up at the height of the second floor three-bay starlike vault. Walls of the chapel were beautifully decorated with polichromies, however, for our times there are only fragments of 16th-century paintings on the front wall.
Just next to the chapel there is a smaller room used as the Teutonic infirmary, or hospital room. Later princess Anna Vasa practiced phytotherapy here. The refectory is located on the first floor of the east wing, where the Teutonic knights once ate meals and were doing banquets. Entering this room unusual for a Gothic-style windows and ceiling entablature can be noticed. The shape of the window has changed when in the 17th century castle has been rebuilt in accordance with the spirit of the new era - the Renaissance. However Gothic cross vaults hadn"t been reconstructed then and had retained its original shape until 1842, when - because of the hurricane - the eastern attica collapsed destroying the ceilings from the top as down as to the basements. Currently in the refectory one can see an exhibition of replicas of old weapons and artillery, as well as the specimens of medieval weapons.
In the days of the Teutonic knights the meeting and deliberations took place in the chapter room. As the remnants of the medieval equipment of the room there are openings in the floor, which then formed part of the heating system bringing the hot air. Later on the room was converted into Renaissance style in which it has remained until today.
In one of the rooms on the ground floor one can see the iron hooks on the ceiling. According to oral transmission they are the dismal testimony to the former premises of the room, which, if necessary, served as torture chambers.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).