Siedlęcin Tower is the 14th century tower castle, situated in a village of Siedlęcin

Siedlecin

Siedlęcin is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Jeżów Sudecki, within Jelenia Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland...

 in the administrative district of Gmina Jeżów Sudecki

Gmina Jezów Sudecki

Gmina Jeżów Sudecki is a rural gmina in Jelenia Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Jeżów Sudecki, which lies approximately north of Jelenia Góra and west of the regional capital Wrocław.The gmina covers an area of , and as of 2006 its...

, within Jelenia Góra County

Jelenia Góra County

Jelenia Góra County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998....

, Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province , is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is currently divided. It lies in southwestern Poland...

, in south-western Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

.

The keep

Keep

A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...

 in Siedlęcin is one of the best-preserved examples of such buildings in Central Europe; its construction was probably started in 1313 or 1314 by Henry I of Jawor

Henry I of Jawor

Henry I of Jawor , was a Duke of Jawor-Lwówek-Świdnica-Ziębice during 1301-1312 , sole Duke of Jawor-Lwówek since 1312 and Duke of Głogów since 1337 until his death....

. He and his wife Agnes of Bohemia

Agnes of Bohemia (1305–1337)

Agnes of Bohemia was the only child of King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia by his second wife, Elisabeth Richeza of Poland. She was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty.- Family :...

 also commissioned the medieval mural

Mural

A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...

 paintings in the great hall of the keep.

The Siedlęcin tower, surrounded by a moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

, is a keep of a relatively modest sort, which combines the functions of housing, ceremony, and defence in a vertical disposition analogous to those found in other castles in Europe: the lower storeys were designed for defence and for trade and business; the upper floors consisted of living quarters, and fulfilled the ceremonial functions of the dukes; the topmost floor also served defensive purposes.