Description of the attraction
There is an interesting house called the Lion's Castle on Dluga Street at number 35. It was built in 1569 in the Renaissance style on the site of an older Gothic building. According to some researchers, an old mansion belonging to a wealthy nobleman Bartholomew Gross was subject to demolition. He died at the hands of the Teutonic knights, and his house gradually fell into disrepair. Finally, the site with the old house was bought out and the site was cleared for a more suitable structure.
According to another version, on the site of the Lion's Castle there was a public building - a mint, erected by the Teutonic knights. When they were expelled from Gdansk, all their property was subject to destruction. As we know, even the local castle was damaged.
Be that as it may, but the architect Hans Kramer in the middle of the 16th century built a multi-storey building, which he decorated with two sculptures of lions. According to the urban legend, they were removed from the previous building, therefore they are more ancient than the Lion Castle itself. Lions used to decorate the approaches to the porch, which was removed in the 19th century. The house is decorated with columns with different orders: Tuscan, Ionic and Corinthian. Almost under the roof you can see two sculptures depicting gargoyles.
For some time, the building belonged to the Cirenberg family - a fairly wealthy Polish family who owned several residential buildings.
In the 17th century, the Lion Castle passed into the possession of the nobles of the Black Forest, who led a social life and organized chic balls and receptions here. It was on a visit to these gentlemen that the Polish king Vladislav IV, who visited Gdansk in 1636, stayed.
In 1984, several premises of the Lion Castle were occupied by the Russian Center for Science and Culture.
