The English-style landscape park surrounding the palace, with its breathtaking view of the Śnieżka river and the main summits of the Karkonosze mountains beyond, had a profound influence on the Silesian garden and park design throughout the 19th century.

History

The palace was erected in the late 18th century as the summer residence for the minister for the Silesian province, count Karl Georg con Hoym. During the early 19th century, a landscape park was designed around the palace, its area encompassing, among others, a hill known as Ministerberg (Radziwiłłówka), where an observation tower was erected back in 1790. The palace was later acquired by duke Antoni Radziwiłł, with extension works commencing shortly thereafter. During the 1820s, Wilhelm, the duke of Prussia - who would later become the Emperor Wilhelm (William) I - was a frequent visitor to the palace due to his relationship with Antoni’s daughter, Elisabeth. After 1834, a two-storey outbuilding was added to the north-western corner of the palace. In 1927, baron von Stein-Aecker purchased the palace from the Czartoryski family and commenced the process of its restoration. Yet a mere few years later, in 1936, the palace was abandoned and was slowly falling into ruin. After 1945, the palace served as a holiday resort. During the renovation works which took place in the second half of the 20th century, the interiors have been substantially modified, leading to the destruction of the remains of the original décor; in addition, the appearance of the façade was also altered, with the colonnaded portico surmounted by a terrace being torn down. Today, the building is a private property.

Description

The palace is situated at the outskirts of the town of Kowary (in the north-western section thereof), some distance away from the town proper, about 420 metres from the south-eastern slope of the Radziwiłłówka Hill. The building is surrounded by various utility buildings and a park. The building was designed in the Classicist style; made predominantly of brick with some stone elements, it is a two-storey structure built on a rectangular floor plan. Its cuboid body is covered with a hip roof with two slopes on each of its sides, featuring a number of dormers and eyebrow windows. The walls are covered with plaster; originally, the ground floor section was accentuated by rustication; today, however, all these subtle design flourishes have vanished beneath a thick coating of modern plaster. The front and rear façades follow a seven-axial layout, with the side façades featuring a five-axial design. A portico with slender, concrete pillars supporting a terrace adjoins the southern façade; this structure is a later addition which has superseded the original wooden terrace supported by two pairs of Doric columns. The individual storeys are separated by a broad cornice. The windows, adorned with decorative surrounds, are rectangular in shape, with the exception of the three middle windows in the garden façade, which are topped with semicircular arches and accentuated by plasterwork festoon decoration. The main entrance on the northern side of the palace is topped with a semi-circular arch and adorned with a profiled surround. Inside, the palace features a spacious vestibule with a wooden staircase as well as ceilings decorated with crown mouldings and ceiling roses. Remnants of the original wooden door and window joinery can still be seen in some places. Some of the ground floor windows have been bricked up.

A spacious residential and utility outbuilding designed on a rectangular floor plan adjoins the north-western corner of the palace, its style reminiscent of that of a house from the Alpine Tyrol region.

A landscape park with a total surface area of approximately 4 hectares lies in the immediate vicinity of the palace, divided into a number of distinct areas and culminating with a hill located in the northern part of the complex. In the southern part of the park there is a pair of ponds taking their water from the nearby stream, marking the compositional axis of the entire design. The slopes of the hill are covered by a network of paths as well as a number of recreational and observation decks, with an artificial grotto in the north-eastern slope forming an additional attraction. At the top of the hill there is an observation tower in the form of an artificial ruin.

The building may only be viewed from the outside (private property). The northern part of the park (including the Radziwiłłówka Hill) is open to the public.

compiled by Piotr Roczek, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Wrocław, 27-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, Warsaw 2006, p. 440.
• Kapałczyński W., Napierała P., Zamki, pałace i dwory Kotliny Jeleniogórskiej, Jelenia Góra-Wrocław 2005, pp. 81-83,
• Łuczyński R., Zamki, dwory i pałace w Sudetach, Legnica 2008, pp. 71-77,