Hundreds of residences in very different condition

Lower Silesia has one of the largest concentrations of palaces and manor houses in Poland. The portal's own database alone describes nearly three hundred such buildings, from monumental residences to small manor houses tucked away in villages. Their condition today varies enormously. Restored buildings open to visitors stand alongside buildings converted into schools, colleges and conference centres, and ruins that have waited decades for renovation, or may never get one at all. This range is well illustrated by the Kamieniec Ząbkowicki Palace, the neo-Gothic residence of Marianne of Orange, which, after years of destruction and partial reconstruction, was recognised together with its surrounding park as a historic monument in 2024.

Why so many fell into decline after 1945

The post-war fate of Lower Silesian residences varied, but in many cases a specific cause of decline can be identified, confirmed in the descriptions of individual buildings. In Kamieniec Ząbkowicki the palace burned down in February 1946, set on fire by Soviet soldiers who had earlier used it as a transit warehouse for artworks brought from Silesia. Much the same happened in Głębowice: towards the end of the war Soviet soldiers ransacked the interiors, destroying porcelain and defacing sculptures, and the Głębowice Palace eventually fell into ruin after a renovation begun in the 1990s was left unfinished.

A different mechanism of destruction was the post-war takeover by State Agricultural Farms (PGR). The Dalków Palace had been decaying for decades for exactly this reason: after the war it was occupied by a PGR, which led to the building's devastation, and it is now being gradually restored by a private owner. The same scenario applied to the Borek Strzeliński Palace of 1840, where, after the PGR was dissolved in the 1990s, the building passed through the State Agricultural Property Agency before ending up in private hands in 2011, and to the Czarne Manor House in Jelenia Góra, where a PGR operating from 1948 contributed to the destruction of the Renaissance building. A third cause was direct front-line destruction: the Jakubów Palace burned down in February 1945 as the front passed through and was never rebuilt, and the Radwanice municipality confirms that a similar fate, destruction in the war's final months followed by abandonment, befell many Lower Silesian residences.

Ruins that remained ruins

Some palaces have not had any renovation to date and still stand as ruins, at best accessible only from the outside. The Bożków Palace, rebuilt in the 19th century after a fire in the neo-Renaissance style, now has devastated interiors after years of use by various institutions, though its outer form and the surrounding park with an artificial ruin can still be seen from outside. The Chwalimierz Palace near Środa Śląska survived in reasonable condition as late as the early 1960s, but the main building was later demolished, and all that remains of the whole complex is a set of ruins in the park: a tower bearing the coat of arms of the Kramst family, a terrace and a gloriette. The Głębowice Palace, despite its status as one of the more important works of classicism in Lower Silesia, can today be viewed only from outside, following devastation at the end of the war and a renovation left unfinished in the 1990s, with its park and the remains of the neo-Gothic mausoleum chapel of the Pourtalès family preserved.

Rebuilt and still being rebuilt

At the opposite end stand residences that have undergone full reconstruction or are in the process of it. The Kamieniec Ząbkowicki Palace was taken over by the municipality in 2012, which has carried out systematic renovation ever since: in the following years the ballroom vaults were reconstructed, the viewing terrace was renovated, and the restored Hohenzollern mausoleum was opened. The Łomnica Palace had been decaying since the late 1970s until, in 1992, a Polish-German company bought it and began renovation; today it houses a period-interior museum, a hotel and a restaurant, and the buildings of the former farmstead serve retail and catering functions. A similar path, though at an earlier stage, is being followed by the Dalków Palace, where the private owner has already restored the park and is planning to replace the roof with the help of a grant from the Ministry of Culture, and by the Palace in Bełcz Wielki, bought in 2023 by private investors, following a roof fire in 2016, who are now carrying out clean-up and conservation work.

Several other buildings have already had their renovation completed and now operate commercially. The Sędzisław Manor House, the former Schloss Ruhbank at the foot of Mount Krąglak, operates as a hotel with a banqueting hall after thorough restoration. The Warmątowice Sienkiewiczowskie Palace, rebuilt from a border fortress of the Duchy of Legnica, now welcomes hotel guests and wedding couples. The Krotoszyce Palace, built by the von Thielau family in the 17th century and renovated as recently as 1964, now functions as a conference hotel set in a six-hectare park.

Palaces in the hands of institutions

A sizeable group of residences survived because, after the war, they were taken over by institutions that maintain the buildings to this day. The Schaffgotsch Palace in Cieplice, a monumental baroque-classicist residence from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, came under university management after a renovation carried out at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s. Since 1975 it has housed a branch teaching centre of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, and its historic ballroom now serves as a lecture hall. Similarly, the Korn Palace in Pawłowice, in Wrocław's Pawłowice district, built in 1895 for the Korn family in the northern Renaissance style, now belongs to the University of Environmental and Life Sciences, which runs a training centre, a conference centre, a hotel and a restaurant there. The Czarne Manor House in Jelenia Góra, a Renaissance residence with a moat and a tower dating from 1559, after years as a PGR seat and renovation in the 1980s, now serves as the headquarters of the Foundation for Ecological Culture, accessible by prior arrangement with the administrator. The Borek Strzeliński Palace, before passing into private hands, was for several decades the seat of the local PGR, and after its dissolution passed successively through state agricultural agencies.

How to view these residences today

This variety of fates translates directly into what you can expect from a visit. Period-interior museums, such as those in Kamieniec Ząbkowicki and Łomnica, offer full guided tours. Buildings occupied by universities and foundations, such as Cieplice, Pawłowice or the Czarne Manor House, show their interiors only at open events or after prior contact with the administrator. Hotel palaces, such as Sędzisław, Warmątowice or Krotoszyce, are accessible mainly to guests. Ruins, such as Bożków, Jakubów or Chwalimierz, can only be viewed from the outside, and at privately owned buildings under renovation, such as Dalków or Bełcz Wielki, access can be limited to the park around the building. It is worth checking this directly with the administrator or the local municipality before any visit.