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Kliczków Castle () is a late medieval castle in Kliczków in
Kliczków was founded as a border fortress at the river Kwisa by Duke Bolko I of
Kliczków Castle
Material about Kliczków Castle in the collection of Duncker Central and Regional Library Berlin
(PDF, 220 kB)
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
.
History
Kliczków was founded as a border fortress at the river Kwisa by Duke Bolko I of Jawor
Jawor () is a town in south-western Poland with 22,890 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the seat of Jawor County, and lies approximately west of the regional capital Wrocław.
One of the oldest towns ...
in 1297. In 1391, it fell into the hands of the Rechenberg family from Saxony, who held it for almost 300 years.
The main building was built in 1585 in the Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
style. In 1611, King Matthias Matthias is a name derived from the Greek Ματθαίος, in origin similar to Matthew.
Notable people
Notable people named Matthias include the following:
Religion
* Saint Matthias, chosen as an apostle in Acts 1:21–26 to replace Judas Isca ...
of Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
visited the castle.
After several more changes of ownership, it came to John Christian, Count of Solms-Baruth in 1767. In 1810, the grand ballroom in Empire style was created. In 1881, the architects Heinrich Joseph Kayser and Karl von Großheim from Berlin began an expansion of the castle. They mixed styles: English Gothic architecture with Italian Renaissance and French mannerism. An 80-acre English country garden was designed at the same time by Eduard Petzold. In 1906, Emperor Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...
stayed at the castle while he was hunting in the area.
In 1920, it was inherited by Frederick of Solms-Baruth. The castle was owned by the Solms-Baruth dynasty until 1942. In Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, he was engaged in resistance against National Socialism in the Kreisau Circle. He was arrested after the failed attempt on Hitler's life and his property was confiscated.
The castle survived the Second World War virtually unscathed, but the interior was looted by Soviet troops. In 1949, a fire destroyed the depot and the servants' quarters. In the 1950s, the castle was in the care of the local forest authority, which neglected the interior and ruined the stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
and the stoves. The former owner's horse cemetery was retained.
In 1971, the Wrocław University of Technology acquired the castle and tried in vain to save it. After the fall of Communism, a commercial company from Wrocław
Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
purchased the castle and developed it into a luxurious conference and recreation center that was opened in 1999.
See also
* Castles in PolandExternal links
Kliczków Castle
Material about Kliczków Castle in the collection of Duncker Central and Regional Library Berlin
(PDF, 220 kB)
Footnotes