Zinar Castle

The castle building was built by the Germans in the early 1940s as the Schloss Wartenberg residence. The castle is located on the plan of an elongated rectangle bent towards the Vistula valley. It is a three-storey building, covered with a gable roof, flanked, with symmetrically placed projections. The monumental character of the building is emphasized by extensive terraces on the south side, exposed towards the Vistula. The elevations are rich in architectural detail, parts of the elevation are covered with sandstone slabs. The door and window frames and the balusters of the upper terrace are also made of the same stone. The building is connected by a passage to the historic Villa "Odyniec" entered in the register of monuments.

Built during World War II, it is one of the few works of Third Reich architecture in Krakow, perhaps the "purest" and best preserved example of Third Reich architecture in Krakow. The initiator of the construction of the building was Baron Otto von Wächter, who during the occupation became the starosta of the Krakow district.

As a starost, he was entitled to a city residence (for which he chose the Palace under the Barans) and a summer residence, for which he chose the Villa "Odyniec". Szyszko-Bohusz, as the owner of the Villa, was offered a lease or exchange for other land. However, he did not agree and on December 19, 1940, he was arrested on a fabricated pretext, and the Villa was confiscated at the same time.

Probably in mid-1941, work began on the design of the current castle, which is dated October 1, 1941. The building was called Schloss Wartenberg (from German Schloss - castle, Wartenberg - watchtower mountain, observatory). The Germans used the material from the demolition of the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Nowy Wiśnicz when building the governor's residences in Przegorzały and Krzeszowice. Everything indicates that Wächter did not intend to be honest even with the Third Reich and furnished his residence with luxury under the pretext of building a sanatorium.

There were even plans to connect the castle with the road about 100 meters below using a cable railway, but these plans were interrupted by the Red Army, on January 18, 1945, Krakow was liberated from German control, and the would-be hotel was transformed into a hospital. In 1952, the entire complex was occupied by the Forest Research Institute, subordinate to the Ministry of Forestry.