Krąg – Podewils Castle, Church and Castle Lake

Krąg can be explored through three specific themes: the architectural history of Podewils Castle, the furnishings of the Church of the Annunciation, and the landscape around Castle Lake. This brings historic architecture together with the park, lake and paths. For planning your trip, this provides a clear focus without reducing the individual places to the same experience.

Podewils Castle and the Park

Podewils Castle was built in the early 15th century by the Podewils family as a former knight’s residence. In 1580, it was demolished down to its foundations and rebuilt in the Renaissance style. The castle took its final form at the end of the 19th century. This sequence distinguishes its early history as a knight’s residence from its Renaissance reconstruction and later design.

The castle is surrounded by a 2.6-hectare historic park. The park extends to the road and the shore of Castle Lake, which lies north of the castle and is almost perfectly circular. Because of its beautiful flower gardens, Podewils Castle was known before the war as the “Flower Castle.” The park also preserves a 16th-century chapel with Baroque furnishings. The castle, park and lake thus represent different aspects of the historic landscape: architectural history, landscaped grounds and the distinctive shape of the body of water.

Church of the Annunciation

The single-nave, brick-built Church of the Annunciation was constructed in 1580 by the owners of the nearby castle in the Baroque-Renaissance style. The older part of the church preserves rich Renaissance furnishings, including an altar, pulpit, baptismal font and patron’s gallery. The church thus offers a distinct perspective on the history of Krąg’s furnishings, separate from the castle’s construction phases.

A burial chapel was added to the east side of the church in 1700. It contains original Baroque sarcophagi of the founders Heinrich von Podewils, who died in 1696, and Adam von Podewils, who died in 1697. Heinrich’s sarcophagus is made of brass; Adam’s is made of marble and decorated with sculptures. The different materials and the two years of death provide a clear link between the sarcophagi and their respective founders, while the chapel’s construction year gives it a distinct date.

Castle Lake and Walking Routes

A noticeable amount of pedestrian activity can be observed around Castle Lake in Krąg. Well-maintained nature trails begin behind the buildings of Podewils Castle Hotel and lead to a second, entirely natural forest lake. This places the almost perfectly circular lake north of the castle alongside the forest lake as two distinct landscape features.

Municipal route information from 2018–2019 lists an approximately 113-kilometre riding trail named after Captain Marek Roszczynialski. It passes through Krąg and connects Biały Bór, Drzewiany, Krąg, Polanów, Staniewice and Jarosławiec. Municipal route information from 2018–2019 also mentions a designated riding trail in the area around Krąg and Komorowo. A designated tourist trail connects Wielin, Buszyno, Krąg and Borkowo in the municipality of Malechowo. This makes it possible to distinguish between a longer route explicitly designated as a riding trail and a tourist trail with a specific sequence of places.

Discover more destinations: Osieki, Dobrzyca, Będzino, Gozd, Stoisław, Smolne, Tymień, Łazy.

For the broader travel overview: Koszalin.