History

• 1720 - construction of the Baroque palace
• 1870 - alteration works

Description

The palace was built in 1720 or thereabouts for the von Hochberg family, its design believed to have been the work of F. A. Hammerschmied. It is suspected that the palace may have been erected on the site of an earlier manor house. It was subsequently redesigned by the architect O. Pavelt.

The palace is surrounded by a moat spanned by three-span bridges to the east and the west. The palace itself consists of four wings surrounding a rectangular inner courtyard; it is a three-storey structure with a piano nobile, its roofs being of the mansard type. The southern wing features a tower designed on a rectangular floor plan and topped with a balustrade above which rises the final, octagonal storey with an eight-slope roof topped with a spire. The façades, with their Baroque Revival detailing, feature a rusticated ground floor section, with the upper storeys partitioned with Corinthian giant-order pilasters. Each of the façades features a volute-shaped gable on the middle axis. Both the eastern and the western façade features a portal surmounted by a balcony, each positioned on the axis of the adjoining bridge. Each portal is framed with a rusticated surround and engaged columns, with heraldic cartouches flanked by figures of knights acting as supporters positioned above each entrance. The southern façade, overlooking the park, features a central tower preceded by a false portico with two pairs of columns supporting a balcony above, with the ground-floor section beneath the colonnade serving as a terrace. The wings of the palace follow a two-bay layout with a hallway running alongside the courtyard; the ground floor rooms feature barrel vaults with lunettes as well as groin vaults, with the vaulted ceiling in the vestibule running across the entire width of the southern wing being supported by pillars. The main staircase is located in the south-eastern corner, with two additional staircases in the western wing. One of these staircases is 19th-century structure made of cast iron. A two-storey ballroom is located on the second storey of the northern wing, featuring a trough vault, decorative plafonds, plasterwork decorations and a pair of fireplace surrounds dating back to the 1720s. The smaller rooms feature a Historicist decor dating back to the 1870s and 1880s.

East of the palace lie the remains of formal gardens: the parterre garden and the summer garden (early 18th century and early 20th century), separated by a wall with gate. A Baroque pavilion is positioned on the axis of the complex. The screen-wall between the gardens incorporates a late 16th-century portal relocated to Roztoka from a tenement house in Legnica (original address: Rynek 1) in 1902 or thereabouts. South of the palace lies a landscape park and botanical garden with a regular pool positioned in front of the façade of the palace, dating back to ca. 1870. Surviving manor farm buildings can be seen to the north and the west of the palace. Most of the complex is surrounded by a stone wall.

The German Emperor Wilhelm II Hohenzollern and Emperor of Austria and Hungary Franz Joseph I are known to have met at the Roztoka palace in 1890.

Private property. The palace is uninhabited; however, it is secured against unauthorized access and inaccessible to visitors. The building can only be viewed from the outside. The ruined remnants of the gardens are accessible, although their layout is difficult to decipher during the summer months due to the presence of lush vegetation.

compiled by Krzysztof Czartoryski, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Wrocław, 11-06-2015.

Bibliography

• Zabytki Sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, Warsaw 2006