A Gothic castle from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries above the Kwisa, rebuilt many times, today operating as a hotel and conference centre.
Kliczków Castle is a medieval stronghold later rebuilt as a residence, standing above the River Kwisa in the village of Kliczków, in the Osiecznica municipality, in Bolesławiec County. The stone Gothic castle is entered on the heritage register, and its history covers nearly seven centuries of successive rebuildings, changes of owner and use, from a border fortress to today's hotel.
The castle was built between 1291 and 1297 as a masonry-and-timber stronghold on the high right bank of the Kwisa, raised as part of the border fortifications of Duke Bolko I the Strict. It was meant to defend against raids from Bohemia. Towards the end of the 14th century it lost its military significance and became a fief of the Bohemian rulers.
In 1579 Emperor Rudolf II handed the castle to the Rechenberg family, who rebuilt it as a residence in Renaissance style and secured town and market rights for Kliczków. In 1611 the stronghold was visited by Emperor Matthias. After the Thirty Years' War the estate belonged in turn to the von Schellendorf family, then to the von Frankenberg family, who founded the adjoining park in 1703, and to the von Promnitz family from 1747, and from 1767 to 1945 to the zu Solms-Baruth family, with a break for the confiscation of the estate during the Second World War.
The castle owes its present, historicist form to a rebuilding carried out between 1879 and 1882 to a design by Karl von Grossheim and Heinrich Kayser. During this period, between 1877 and 1918, Emperor Wilhelm II visited many times. The castle survived the Second World War without major damage, but in 1945 it was thoroughly plundered by the Red Army and looters. It later housed the seat of a forestry district, and between 1953 and 1979 a military unit. Propaganda texts dated to the 1940s have survived on the walls.
Since 2001 a hotel and conference centre has operated in the castle, a spa centre opened in 2007, and in 2012 the "Folwark Książęcy" hotel opened next to the castle. The property holds a Polish Tourist Organisation certificate, and its interiors and courtyard have also been used as a film set for television productions.
A few dozen metres from the castle stands the Palace in Kliczków.
Close by is also the viewing tower with a view over the Kwisa valley.
Horses can be seen at the neighbouring Princely Stables.
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