History

The palace was erected on the basis of a design produced by the architect Karol Gotfryd Geissler, approved in 1799 by the owner of the Milicz manor, count Joachim Karol von Maltzan. The palace was subsequently extended in 1910. From 1950 onwards, it has served as a school of forestry.

Description

A Classicist palace with pseudo-Classicist annexes. It is a two-storey brick building, its walls covered with plaster. The main body of the palace was designed on an elongated rectangular floor plan and follows a two-bay layout, with a narrower hallway located on the northern side. The palace features a semi-oval avant-corps in the middle of the southern façade as well as two rectangular avant-corps projecting from the northern façade, flanking the colonnaded portico of the main entrance. The three-sided avant-corps positioned at the edges of the structure were added in 1910. A grand hall designed on an oval plan is located on the axis of the palace, conspicuous from the outside due to the presence of a cupola set atop a tall tholobate. The interior of the hall is adorned with Ionic engaged columns supporting the entablature and the flattened, false cupola ceiling above.

An annex from 1910 adjoins the palace to the west; originally conceived as a tavern, it was subsequently converted to serve as a dormitory. The annex is a two-storey building with an inner courtyard. The grand northern courtyard is flanked by outbuildings dating back to ca. 1750, redesigned ca. 1800 as well as in the 20th century; a wall with a gate, erected ca. 1910, lies north of the palace, with the gate pillars being adorned with the sculptures of the mythical Leda and numerous nymphs. At the end of the driveway lies an oval ornamental lawn with an Art Nouveau fountain and an ensemble of bronze statues depicting two prancing horses (ca. 1920) as well as a pugilist (a 1920s copy of a Hellenistic sculpture).

The palace is surrounded by an expansive park designed in a Romanticised, sentimentalist style with a few Classicist features, created in 1800 on the basis of the design produced by Leonhard Schätzel, a building inspector. A channel flowing towards the Barycz river, running in parallel to the palace itself, forms the main compositional axis of the entire park. Notable architectural features of the park include the preserved original entrance gate facing the city beyond, remnants of a triumphal arch built to commemorate the victory over Napoleonic armies as well as the so-called Black Gate.

The historic monument can be visited by prior arrangement with the school administration.

compiled by Grzegorz Grajewski, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Wrocław, 21-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Brzezicki S., Nielsen Ch., Grajewski G., Popp D. (ed.), Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, Wrocław 2006, p. 568.
• Eysymontt K., Nowa rezydencja i ogród w Miliczu, „Roczniki Sztuki Śląskiej”, vol. XV (1991), pp. 93-101.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce. Seria Nowa, vol. 4: Województwo wrocławskie, issue 3: Milicz, Żmigród, Twardogóra i okolice, Warszaw 1997, pp. 53-57.
• Pilch J., Leksykon zabytków architektury Dolnego Śląska, Warsaw 2005, pp. 231-232.