A Renaissance castle from the 16th century in Płakowice near Lwówek Śląski, today home to a Christian centre and still under renovation.
Płakowice Castle is a historic complex in Płakowice, part of Lwówek Śląski, regarded as one of the largest Renaissance defensive buildings in Silesia. It was built in the 16th century on the site of an earlier manor and was rebuilt several times.
A first manor already existed on this site in 1480. A larger castle began to be built in 1550 by Ramphold Talkenberg of Podskale, who commissioned the design from the Italian architect Franciszek Parr. Construction of the main building continued until 1558, and finishing work until 1563.
After 1605 the estate passed into the hands of the von Schaffgotsch family through the marriage of Magdalena von Talkenberg. In the 18th century the owner was Otto von Hochberg, and it was then that one of the two recorded rebuildings of the castle took place, the other in the 19th century. During the Napoleonic Wars the building was damaged. August Ludwig von Nostitz-Rieneck sold the castle in 1824 to the Legnica district government, which set up a psychiatric hospital in it.
The building consists of three two-storey wings surrounding an inner courtyard with cloisters, whose arcades are supported on Ionic columns. It was built of stone, in the Renaissance style. The castle is entered into the register of immovable heritage monuments, with the first entry dating from 1951 and a further one from 2011.
Since 1992 the building has belonged to the "Elim" Christian Centre of the Baptist Church and is undergoing renovation. Sources do not state whether, and on what terms, the castle can be visited, so it is worth checking this directly with the centre before a visit.
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