History

From its beginning, Lewin Brzeski was part of the Duchy of Opole, and from 1329 - the Duchy of Brzeg and Legnica. From the 13th century, it was owned by the Pogorzelski family. In the years 1509-1796, the village was owned by a comital family of von Beess. In 1722, Otton Leopold von Beess initiated the construction of a new palace in the place of the former one, which was burned down in 1666. Then, in 1796, the palace went into the hands of count Hans Gottlieb von Stosch who in 1842 resold the estate to the von Eckardstein family. In 1860, when Lewin belonged to count Wilhelm Bernhard Julius von Eckardstein, the utility buildings were created, and the palace was thoroughly renovated. In 1886, the estate was purchased by the Scholz brothers. Its last pre-war owner (from 1918) was Friedrich Bilzer. At the final stage of World War II, a military hospital was arranged in the residence. After 1945, the palace was nationalised an a school was organised in it. After fires (1952 and 1955), the shell of the building was renovated and used thereafter as a storehouse. Only in the years 2000-2002 was the entire palace renovated by the commune of Lewin Brzeski. The residence was earmarked for a lower secondary school.

Description

The palace complex is located in the southern part of the town. It is adjoined (from the south) by a small landscape park. To the north from the residence, near an Evangelical church, there are surviving utility buildings - relics of a grange.

The three-wing building is made of brick. It is plastered and built on a horseshoe floor plan. The two-storey wings are covered with hip roofs, which replaced the original mansard ones. In the thirteen-axial front (northern) façade, with a false avant-corps in the centre, there is main entrance decorated with a balcony portal. In the top section of the central bay, there is a chamfered gable with two window openings with semi-circular arches. Other window openings are framed in surrounds, and on the ground floor level - in surrounds with a keystone. The headwalls of the wings are decorated with rustication in the corners.

They are partitioned with panels and, on the first storey level, with window openings with semi-circular arches. The garden façade also has thirteen axes. Its central part is three-axial and its outermost bays standing proud ahead of the wall face. Window openings of the southern façade feature segmental arches on the ground floor level, and on the first floor level - windows with semi-circular arches. In the central part, they are equipped with neo-Gothic balustrades. The interior layout is comprised of two bays. In some rooms, barrel vaults with lunettes have been preserved. In the basements, there are surviving barrel and double barrel vaults.

In front of the main façade, there is a courtyard circumscribed with side wings of the palace and a wall with semi-circular arcades. In the wall, there are decorative gates flanked with pilasters (one in each side of the courtyard), topped with panoplies on a chamfered gable. Up front, on the axis of the palace, on the opposite side of the street, there is a complex of palace outbuildings. They are single-storey, brick, plastered, and were used for residential and utility purposes. They were built on the floor plan shaped as an “L” letter and covered with gable roofs. Despite a significant re-designing of the façades and the interior, the partially preserved architectural detail indicates their Classicist provenance.

The site is accessible to visitors.

compiled by Aleksandra Ziółkowska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 10-12-2015.

Bibliography

• Gaworski M., Opolskie zamki i pałace, Strzelce Opolskie 2011, s. 87.
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, t. 7: Województwo opolskie, z. 1: Powiat brzeski, oprac. T. Chrzanowski, M. Kornecki, M. Zlat, Warszawa 1960, s. 51-52.
• Thullie C., Zabytki architektoniczne województw katowickiego i opolskiego. Przewodnik, Katowice 1969, s. 221.
• Zabytki Sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, red. zbiorowa, Warszawa 2006, s. 500.