Every child knows that it is necessary to value and protect the history of our country. Without history we don't exist as Poles. The question is how we should look after it. We should remember the past and teach our children not to forget who they are. Therefore, I'm sad when elements of our history are neglected.

I think everybody has visited the ruins at Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska. Part of them are protected and treated with respect. Huge, proud castles like the monastery Jasna Góra or castle Pieskowa Skała are open for sightseers and show what they have of value, i.e. history. Other places, like castle Ogrodzieniec or Siewierz, are still alive despite being ruins. There are feasts, people visit the castles, and they can imagine that life went on there.

There are a lot of places however which have threatening signs about danger and entering at your own risk. Often you can't see them behind bushes. Nature and vandals have slowly acquired them. Seeking castle Ostrężnik we made a  long trek in a beautiful beechen forest. Standing on a stack of stones we realised that it was part of a stone wall on the top of a rocky hill. Smoleń castle was difficult to find among the dense forest, and its "danger" sign didn't encourage us to go in.

I know that the upkeep of this huge place is connected with costs, which this poor area can't afford. But then again ruins are often the only tourist attractions which attract visitors and money. In a few more years these poor places will be consumed by nature or appropriated by robbers, and the stones will be used as building materials.

Unless ... And here we can entertain a controversial solution which is the last resort for our crumbling heritage: private capital. Castle Bobolice is an example of a building which once again is on the crest of wave. Its proud walls are like they were in the XIV century and we owe this to two brothers, Dariusz i Jarosław Lasecki. Plans of the reconstruction of this place were prepared by a group of exceptional scientists, inter alia, professors Janusz Bogdanowski and Leszek Kajzer.

A couple of years ago on the hill there were two wa castle walls and sections of bailey. Without the Lasecki brothers we would have picturesque stones instead of a castle. At the beginning an unspectacular fence appeared around the ruins, then stone by stone a castle gate was built. In the course of time the castle regained its original form. Now there is no need to wonder what the castle looked like and how people lived in it. You can go in, view the building and listen to the guide. You can discover which parts of the castle are original and which have been rebuilt with precision and attention to detail. You can also hear legends connected with this place.

You could argue that such extensive reconstruction obscures history. Maybe protected ruins are the best witness of the past and better teach history. I leave these speculations to the visitors. I think that for our children, who don't know knightly life and for whom a castle means Hogwarts, places like this enable them to imagine the past, and the legends give them an incentive to learn about our country.