Years 1945 – Now

After World War II

The Polish civil administration appeared in the city already in April 1945, and the last organized departure of the Germans took place in 1957. The end of the 1940s was a period in which the remains of buildings in the Old Town were systematically demolished.

For the first five post-war years, the ruined stronghold remained in the hands of the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. It was planned to open a branch of the capital’s facility there. For this purpose, the first security and cleaning works were started, the castle area was cleared of mines and the gates were repaired. A very important undertaking at that time was the repair of a large part of the damaged roofs, which protected the monument against harmful weather conditions until the planned reconstruction. For the next ten years, the castle was looked after by the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society. The constant increase in tourist traffic resulted in further cleaning and renovation works. However, they were of an ad hoc nature and were performed without detailed documentation. At the end of the 1950s, the initiative to protect and tidy up the monument was initiated by the Social Committee for the Reconstruction of the Castle, formed by local cultural activists. The work was clearly invigorated, and the Committee also made efforts to organize a museum in the castle.