It is one of the most valuable and best preserved residential complexes in Poland. The castle played an extraordinary role in the history of the Upper Silesia through its association with important Silesian magnates. It also emerged on the European historical arena. 

The monument is an immensely valuable example of an impressive aristocratic residence, shaped within hundreds of years as a result of several phases of development, departing from the medieval defensive complex from the 15th century. At the same time, it is one of the few residences of magnates that has survived the horrors of war, with authentic interior decor and nearly complete fixtures and fittings from the second half of the 19th century and early 20^th century.

Outstanding artistic values of the complex comprise, among others, top-class architectural design of the palace, being the result of the last major redevelopment, carried out in the years 1870-1876, of the initial Gothic castle, followed by an early modern palace of the entre cour et jardin type, in forms inspired by early modern French art from the 17th and 18th century. The redevelopment of the residence was carried out to the design of a valued French architect, Hippolyte Alexandre Destailleur. The architectural design, neostyle character of interiors, as well as valuable fixtures and fittings including furniture, ceramics, bronze objects and knick-knacks brought from France in the 19th century, plus early modern works of art from the Hochberg family collection, are an original testimony of taste and representational manorial life, characteristic for the European aristocracy of the second half of the 19^th century.

What is particularly important, is the composition consisting in coupling a residence with the surroundings, i.e. a medieval urban layout of Pszczyna adjacent to it and an impressive castle park located in the north, which is a crucial element of a vast landscape and garden complex shaped in the years 1765-1880, covering the areas situated within the confines of the town and the neighbouring settlements, belonging to the largest and most valuable landscape compositions of that type in Poland. The castle park, incorporated into the Pszczynka river bed, is characterised by a diverse arrangement of canals, ponds with artificial islands, and alleys. Its current composition corresponds to the arrangement shaped in the second half of the 19^th century. The park includes numerous specimens of old trees and exotic trees and shrubs as well as examples of garden architecture, hydrotechnical buildings from the first half and third quarter of the 19th century, plus sepulchral places commemorating members of the Anhalt and Hochberg families.

High scientific value of the castle in Pszczyna is reflected in a perfect state of preservation of the architecture and fixtures and fittings, resulting from the uninterrupted occupancy of the feature until 1945 and rapid transformation into a museum afterwards. Around 80% of authentic elements of décor and fixtures and fittings have survived to our times, which enables us to recognise the palace as a unique document of residential architecture and art of the 19th century. 

The monument is also characterised by significant historical values, among others, as a notable example of a residence of magnates established on the basis of gradually extended and transformed defensive castle from the 15th century, passed from duchess of Racibórz and Pszczyna, Helena Korybutówna, having family relations to king Władysław II Jagiełło, and dukes of Cieszyn from the Piast dynasty, to the great families of Promnitz, Anhalt-Köthen-Pless and von Hochberg of Książ, as a result of a change in the national affiliation of the Duchy of Pszczyna, which turned into a Free State of Pszczyna in 1517. The palace in Pszczyna is also a place of important historical events related to the political, social and cultural activity of the abovementioned families that played a vital part on the local and European scale. The residence frequently hosted, among others, Prussian kings, German emperors, and royal guests from the entire Europe, as well as artists such as a famous composer from the Baroque era, Georg Philipp Telemann. Owners of Pszczyna also maintained close ties with the royal court in Warsaw and with the Polish aristocracy within the Russian and Austrian Partition in the 19th century. 

The palace in Pszczyna also went down in the history of World War I and Silesian Uprisings that took place shortly afterwards, related to striving to incorporate Upper Silesia into the reborn Republic of Poland. In the years 1914-1917 the palace served as a seat of the imperial headquarters and staff of the German army, where emperor Wilhelm II, chief of staff, marshal Paul von Hindenburg, and chief of eastern staff, general Erich von Ludendorff, made military decisions changing the course of the war. On the other hand, in 1919, in the Three Oaks Park belonging to the residence (although located outside the area of the monument of history), the First Silesian Uprising began, initiated by taking a solemn oath by the insurgents.

History 

The construction of the castle in Pszczyna was preceded by the erection of a ducal hillfort, most likely in the 12th century, located among swamps and flood plains of the Pszczynka river, in the area of the existing castle park. In the 2nd quarter of the 15th century, when Pszczyna land was a domain of Helena Korybutówna, daughter of Dymitr - brother of king Władysław II Jagiełło, a Gothic defensive castle replaced the hillfort. The castle consisted of a quadrilateral defensive complex surrounded by additional fortifications in the form of a rampart and a moat on the side of the town. 

From 1480 the Pszczyna land fell under the reign of a duke of Cieszyn, Casimir II, who in 1517 sold it to a Hungarian magnate Thurzó Elek, which ended the reign of the dukes from the Piast dynasty in this area. Pszczyna became a capital of the Free State of Pszczyna established at that time. In 1548 Thurzó Elek sold the Pszczyna estate to a bishop of Breslau, Balthazar Promnitz, who handed it over to his heirs, who in turn remained there until 1765.

At the initiative of Balthazar Promnitz, in the 1560s, the castle was subject to remodelling in the Renaissance spirit. At that time, among others, the eastern wing and the screen-type northern wing were built. Three-storey, vaulted cloisters were added to the northern wing from the side of the internal courtyard. Simultaneously, the first garden in the Renaissance style was established at the castle. 

In the 17th century the castle complex was destroyed twice: during the Thirty Years’ War and as a result of the great fire of Pszczyna in 1679. During the works on the reconstruction of the residence, carried out in the years 1680-1689 by Consilius Milius, a new, screen-type northern wing, a southern wing with arcaded galleries on the side of the courtyard, and the so-called Gateway of the Chosen Ones were erected.

The redevelopment of the castle in the Baroque spirit began in 1734. In place of the northern gallery a wing with a clock tower was erected along the axis, thus creating the palace complex of the entre cour et jardin type. As a result of the castle fire in 1737, the northern and western wings were destroyed. Reconstruction of the castle in the years 1738-1768 was supervised by the ducal architect Christian Jähne from Żary, who after 1749 simultaneously supervised the reconstruction of the town after another great fire. 

After the acquisition of the Pszczyna estate in 1765 by count Friedrich Erdmann Anhalt-Köthen, the residence continued to be extended. At that time, the palace was extended upwards by one storey, enclosed corridors replaced the arcaded galleries on the side of the courtyard, the entrance porch was connected with the second storey by means of new double stairs and an orangery was established in the northern wing, on the south side thereof. The façades gained a planar, vertical architectural décor distinctive for the Silesian Baroque, while the entire three-wing residence was covered with mansard roofs with dormers. The Baroque remodelling of the castle was accompanied by changes in the surroundings, i.e. the reshaping of the park area. The new garden combined Baroque elements with Sentimentalism and Neoclassicism, thus forming a compositional whole, subordinate to the dominating feature - the castle. During the reign of the Anhalt dukes, the castle experienced its glory days. 

After the acquisition of Pszczyna in 1847 by the counts von Hochberg of Książ near Wałbrzych (from 1850 the estate belonged to von Pless counts), terraces were established in the north, west and east, and a representational porte-cochère was created in the courtyard. In the years 1870-1876, at the initiative of duke Hans Heinrich XI, the last major redevelopment of the palace was carried out, this time in the Baroque Revival style, by design of Hippolyte Alexandre Destailleur. At that time, the northern wing was extended by a southern bay hosting a representational, three-flight staircase and an impressive dining room (the mirror hall), plus the enfilade of apartments with the so-called Grand Hall and a library was reshaped in the northern wing. The façades gained a Baroque Revival architectural décor, accentuated by two-colour brick facing of the wall. The remodelling covered the park as well, where through damming up of the Pszczynka river and watercourses flowing from the Wild Promenade and the Old Village, the complex gained additional scenic values.

During World War I, in the years 1914-1917, the main headquarters of the German Army was located in the palace. Emperor Wilhelm II moved in to the imperial apartment. In 1916 the Act of 5 November was drawn up here, while in the early 1917 a decision on beginning the underwater war in the Atlantic Ocean was made, as a consequence of which the United States declared war against Germany. 

The palace remained in the hands of the Hochberg family until the end of World War II. Fortunately, it remained untouched by the warfare of 1945. In 1946, at the efforts of the local community, a museum was opened in the palace. 

Description 

The castle and park complex in question is situated in the immediate vicinity of the historical old town of Pszczyna. The complex comprises a Guardhouse (the so-called Gateway of the Chosen Ones) in the north-western frontage of the market square, the palace referred to as the castle, a castle back building, stables, a carriage house, and a historic landscape park with elements of park furniture. 

The palace is a three-wing feature, erected on a horseshoe floor plan, following the principles of the entre cour et jardin style. It has three storeys and is covered with a mansard roof with dormers. It features a representational central wing facing the north, towards the park, as well as side wings facing the south, towards the market square. 

Historicising, multi-axial façades of the palace, arranged in the French Baroque Revival style, are characterised by clear, symmetrical partitions into a rusticated plinth part and upper parts diversified by two-colour facing and articulated by double pilasters. Axes of the east, north and west façades are accentuated by three-axial avant-corps, crowned with elevated tented roofs. The northern avant-corps, on the side of the park, features the main portal accentuated with a balustrade with cartouches presenting coats of arms of the Hochberg family, while the portal in the western avant-corps is framed with statues of halberdiers. From the north and west, the palace is surrounded by terraces, passing into a monumental entrance along the axis of the north façade and accentuated by two cast iron lions. 

The interior layout of the palace usually consists of a single suite of rooms of the enfilade type. The main entrance to the palace is located in the northern wing, featuring a pass-through porch on the north-south axis, clad with oak paving and joined with a vestibule and a representative, three-storey staircase covered with a mirror vault, with three-flight stairs leading to the mirror gallery on the first floor. The ground floor interiors are covered with cross and barrel vaults with lunettes, while the first floor rooms are topped with ceilings with crown moulding. Five Gothic Revival rooms on the ground floor of the western wing host recreated imperial apartments. In the northern wing, on the side of the courtyard, close to the piano nobile, there is an impressive, two-storey mirror hall (initially a dining room). The western wing of the first floor is occupied by private apartments of the host and the hostess. The apartment of duchess Daisy von Pless consists of a drawing room, a bedroom, a boudoir, and a bathroom, while the duke’s apartment comprises a bathroom, an office, a hunting anteroom, and a drawing room formerly functioning as a billiards room. The northern wing hosts a library and a Grand Hall linked to it. Other rooms are occupied by a representational guest apartment. Other rooms of the first floor formerly hosted a coffee kitchen, two rooms with silverware and a lamp storage. The second floor featured a gallery with a collection of paintings, graphics and sculptures with animal and hunting themes, as well as of weapons and animal trophies. A door to former guest rooms, currently hosting permanent exhibitions, leads from the gallery. The rooms of the third floor were formerly used as a storage of items necessary for the functioning of the ducal manor house, plus rooms occupied by servants and guests. Basements from the 15th century constitute the oldest part of the castle. There, the rooms of the western wing host a permanent exhibition titled “Armoury.” 

The castle park in the style of an English landscape park, stretches across the area of 48 ha, along the Pszczynka river. The complex is characterised by numerous scenic clearings intersected by water reservoirs and terminating in park buildings or trees, picturesque stands of old trees and shrubs, numerous flood areas and ponds with islets and small arched bridges, open meadows and solitary trees, as well as picturesque alleys. Two most important alleys, running radially from the northern porte-cochère towards the north-east and north-west, open towards a graveyard of St Jadwiga and toward the Wild Promenade. Significant accentuations include park furniture: a Chinese gate, a gardener’s house, small chapels, a teahouse on an islet, and a viewing tower with an ice cellar. The northern part of the park features a graveyard of the Anhalt dukes, while the western part includes gravestones of the Hochberg family. The castle park is an element of a broad landscape complex, additionally comprising, among others, a park at the railway station, A Three Oaks Park (“Wild Promenade”) and Ludwikówka manor house and park complex in Pszczyna, former Kępa and Siedlec granges, a non-existent Luisenhof manor house complex with a stud farm, former gardens, the so-called pheasantries (among others, the Bażantarnia palace and park complex in Poręba), or Promnice hunting palace (in Kobiór), plus ducal forests and ponds. 

The entrance to the castle area from the town leads through the Guardhouse (the so-called Gate of the Chosen Ones) from 1687. This building was erected on rectangular floor plan, has a single storey, is covered with a hip roof, and features a turret from the south-east. The gatehouse is framed at the front with a rusticated portal and accentuated with a volute-shaped gable with cartouches presenting coats of arms of Balthasar von Promnitz and Emilia Agnes von Sachsen. The eastern courtyard located behind the gatehouse is terminated in the east with a two-storey palace outbuilding, covered with a mansard roof, erected at the turn of the 18th century and extended in the second half of the 19^th century. East of palace, there are utility buildings, i.e. Romanesque Revival stables and a carriage house from the second half of the 19th century, plus a former riding hall, thoroughly redeveloped in the years 1970-1971 to host a sports hall.

Prepared by the National Institute of Cultural Heritage