The Rożnów Castle is a complex of defensive objects, consisting of a medieval “upper castle” and Renaissance fortifications (“lower castle”). Its history dates back to the 13th century, when the Gryfita family built here a watchtower. The castle itself was probably built in 1350–1370 by Piotr Rozen. It is in the shape of a rectangle, 44 meters by 20 meters. In 1426, the castle was purchased by one of the most famous Polish knights, Zawisza Czarny, and after his death, it remained in the hands of Zawisza’s sons. In the late 15th century, Rożnów belonged to the Wydźga family, and later, to the Tarnowski family.
In the first half of the 16th century, during the Polish Golden Age, Hetman Jan Tarnowski began the construction of a fortress at Rożnów. It was planned to become one of the strongest and most modern fortresses in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, guarding southern border of the nation against the Ottoman Empire, which, after the Battle of Mohacs emerged as the dominant state in Southeastern Europe. Tarnowski’s death in 1561 put an end to these plans, and the construction was never completed.
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).