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The Royal Castle is built on a hill near the Vistula River. The site has a long history and has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Today, the Royal Castle is one of Poland’s most important museums, with diverse and significant collections.
The Dutch and Flemish paintings in the collection include works by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Ambrosius Benson, Jan Sanders van Hemessen, Bartholomeus Spranger, Frans Francken II, Govert Flinck, Jan Lievens, Michiel van Musscher, Jan van Kessel, Jan Verkolje, and Nicolaes Berchem.
Equally important is the extensive collection of tapestries commissioned by King Zygmunt August (1520-1572) in Brussels and created in the period 1550-1560, 136 pieces of which have survived. Several tapestries were added to the collection in the twentieth century. These include a scene with the Death of Decius Mus after a design by Peter Paul Rubens, and two tapestries from a series depicting the Trojan War, created around 1660 in the Brussels workshop of Erasmus and Frans de Pannemaker.