The Old Castle in Żywiec, made of stone and roughast, dates back to the mid-14th century. On the north-eastern side it is adjoinet by a quadrilateral tower topped with pseudo Gothic crenelles. But it is not only the age of the castle that makes it deserve its place in the world cultural heritage. It is also its most interesting history, closely linked with the history of Europe. The founders of the castle are not not known, and the first documented owners of the town and the castle were the Komorowskis of the "Korczak" crest, who, through their foregin contacts and travels, made the castle fit in with the European Renaissance art trends. They initiated the transformation of the Gothic structure into a Renaissance one and their work was the beautiful arcaded courtyard, with we can still admire today in its original lay-out. The interiors, once sumptuous, have not kept their original decorations, and only a few of the second-floor chambers still display their polichromies from the beginning of the 18th century and remains of Renaissance paintings. The least Changed is the courtyard surrounded on the four sides by three-storeyed arcaded galleries. The arcades have columns of Tuscan order on the ground floor and Ionic ones on the first floor, and 19th-century cast-iron posts on the second floor. The castle also boasts several portals in various styles, from the Gothic to the Baroque; one of them bears the date 1571 and a Latin inscription.

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