Attractions and Places To See around Parchowo - Top 20

In 1836 it was expanded with a tower by the carpenters Voss and Golmer. In the years 1910–11 it was restored and expanded with a sacristy.

Lake Jeleń (Kaszb. Jezoro Jeléń or Gëlink) is a lobelia lake located in the northern urban area of Bytów and is primarily used for recreation and tourism. It is a very clean lake. This is evidenced by the numerous lobelia and quillwort, as well as waterweed and hornwort, and fish such as pike, eel, perch and roach. The lake covers an area of 88.9 ha. It is the largest and deepest reservoir in the Bytów commune. Lake Jeleń is a municipal swimming area, which is why it is often visited not only by Bytów residents, but also by tourists vacationing in the Bytów region. Lake Jeleń is a place for active and safe recreation with a functional and permanent playground, a place for a bonfire, a promenade, a green gym and sanitary facilities adapted for the disabled. There is a year-round hotel with a restaurant on the premises of the resort. https://www.bytow.com.pl/Jezioro-Jelen-,154,349

After the end of the war, from March to May 1945, the castle was a transit camp, a torture chamber for Poles established by the Russian NKVD, many citizens of the Bytów region lost their health and lives here.

Next to the ruins there are information boards and a visualization of the history of this building over many centuries.

Currently, the Bytów castle houses the Western Kashubian Museum, the "W zamek" hotel, the "W zamek" restaurant, and the "Nisza" billiard club. In the museum, you can see a permanent exhibition on the material culture of the Bytów Kashubians, a hunting exhibition, and there is also an archaeological and crafts section. In the historical section, you can visit, among other things, the refectory, the prosecutor's chamber, the chapel, and the dormitory.

The Gothic Teutonic Castle in Bytów is the most important attraction in the city. It was built in the early 15th century. The Teutonic Knights did not live there for long, as the castle was captured by the troops of Władysław Jagiełło in 1410. It was then given to new owners thanks to the First Peace of Toruń. During these turbulent times, the castle often changed owners, so its history is extremely interesting and it is definitely worth visiting it with a guide.

Relics of the former St. Catherine's Church in Bytów The church was destroyed in the last phase of World War II, probably by Soviet troops stationed in the city. It was a single-nave building with a wooden ceiling. From the last church, only the church tower survived, to which the probable Gothic form of the roof was restored. In 2001, in connection with the intention to develop the area of "Plac Garncarski" and the area of the former St. Catherine's Church, archaeological and architectural research began. The field research has been largely completed, but there is no final report containing the research results yet. The research results to date allow us to distinguish 4 main periods in the history of the church, differing primarily in the architectural form of the building. The most interesting, and at the same time the most important form, was from the first half of the 14th century - field research provided a lot of information. It was a two-nave building (with a northern nave), and the southern nave was added only later. The first building was without a tower, with a polygonal apse closing the presbytery. Wooden ceiling, inter-nave wall: four octagonal brick pillars with arcades. Two burial crypts were discovered: a crypt with stone walls, covered with a brick vault, in the central place of the presbytery. a crypt with brick walls, located on the northern side. After modernization, it was used for the reburial of remains discovered during archaeological research.

Gothic tower of the church of St. Catherine from the first half of the 14th century. Originally, the church had two naves (the main nave and the northern nave), and only later was the southern nave added. The first building was without a tower. Over the centuries, it was destroyed and rebuilt many times. After the destruction of the Great Northern War, it was rebuilt and consecrated in 1716 as a single-nave church with a tower. It had baroque furnishings. Of its former furnishings, only a money box from 1723 has survived (currently in the collections of the Western Kashubian Museum). In March 1945, the church was completely destroyed. In 1964, the tower was reconstructed, and the walls of the church nave were demolished. Currently, the tower is called: Gothic Tower of St. Catherine and is a branch of the Western Kashubian Museum.