Ruins of Kessel's Castle

The Ruins of Kessel's Castle are artificially built-up ruins on a hill in Bukowiec Landscape Park, in the Rudawy Janowickie mountains, built from the outset as an ornamental folly, not as a defensive structure.

Where the structure came from

The ruins were created around 1800 as an element of a romantic landscape park founded by Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden. The designer was Friedrich Rabe. The name was given after Major Kessel, a friend of the count. The structure was erected on a hill at an altitude of about 480 m above sea level, inspired by the architecture of a Roman amphitheatre, hence the characteristic semicircular wall.

Ruins that were ruins from the start

Unlike real castles, this structure was never a whole, inhabited building - it was built from the outset as an artificial ruin, a fashionable feature of landscape parks at the time. Today, more than two hundred years on, it is therefore literally a ruin of a ruin.

Observation tower

An observation tower stands at the top of the site, open all year round and free of charge. From the top there is a view over the Karkonosze (Giant Mountains) and the Rudawy Janowickie mountains. The windows in the ruin walls were designed to act as viewing frames for the surrounding landscape.

Practical information

• Location: Bukowiec Landscape Park, Rudawy Janowickie, on a hill about 480 m above sea level
• Getting there: on foot, most conveniently from the former tea house by the park's farm buildings
• Entry to the grounds and access to the observation tower are free, all year round
• Worth combining a visit with the nearby Karpniki Castle and Łomnica Palace