Castle in Sokolniki: A Baroque Moated Palace in Poland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Poland
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
On this page8 sections
History
Castle in Sokolniki is a former moated castle and Baroque palace in Sokolniki, Poland, built between 1695 and 1705 during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Formerly known as Wättrisch, the estate developed under successive noble families and later became part of Poland after the territorial changes that followed the Second World War.
Construction and noble ownership
The von Lüttwitz family had owned the village from 1662. Johann Ernst Freiherr von Pein und Wechmar commissioned the present palace, which carried his coat of arms but remained unfinished. Completion was attributed to Arnold Freiherr von Kichen und Freckleben. The estate subsequently passed through members of the von Senitz and Rudelsdorf families and the von Sandreczky and Sandraschütz families. Karl Abraham Oswald von Czettritz und Neuhaus became its owner in 1798.
The estate in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
Major Friedrich Schröter owned the estate from 1862. During his ownership, a viewing tower was erected nearby in 1869 on Jańska Mountain. It was described as the first Bismarck Tower in Prussia, a commemorative lookout dedicated to Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian statesman and first Chancellor of the German Empire.
Inheritance eventually brought the estate to the von Scheliha family. Ida von Scheliha, née Quoos, owned the 272-hectare estate for many years after marrying Captain Ernst von Scheliha-Starrwitz in 1862. Their younger son Arthur von Scheliha later assumed ownership. A retired cavalry captain, Prussian senior government councillor, and district administrator, he was married to Anna von Boehn. Their children included Ilse, Günther, and Manfred. In 1930, Ilse married Ernst-Carl Freiherr von Gersdorff, a lawyer, notary, and general attorney for the formerly reigning Prussian royal house.
In 1945, as a consequence of the Second World War, Wättrisch and most of Silesia passed to the People’s Republic of Poland. The palace was later used as a workers’ residential facility. The palace, park, and farm complex now have separate historic-monument registrations dating from 1960, 1984, and 1998.
Remains
The surviving complex combines a multi-storey Baroque palace with a park and a farmstead formed through building activity from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The palace’s exterior, interior decoration, associated agricultural buildings, and nearby tower together preserve the physical structure of the former estate.
Palace
The palace is a multi-storey Baroque building with a mansard hipped roof. This roof has four sloping sides, with steeper lower slopes that create additional usable space, and it includes dormer windows. Colossal pilasters, which extend through more than one storey, organize the exterior. On the front, a portico supports a balcony with a stone balustrade, or railing formed from a row of small supporting posts.
The balcony entrance is set within a portal crowned by a curved pediment bearing the coat of arms of Johann von Pein und Wechmar. Two seated angels flank the heraldic decoration. A central portal is surmounted by a window-door incorporating the von Wechmar coat of arms. Stucco decoration survives in the palace chapel and in an upper-storey hall.
Estate buildings and grounds
Farmstead
The palace forms part of an estate complex that includes a park and a farmstead. The agricultural group contains an auxiliary building, coach house, combined agricultural and residential building, cowshed, stable, and other farm buildings.
Viewing tower
A viewing tower dating from 1869 stands nearby on Jańska Mountain. Its commemorative role connected it with the Bismarck Tower tradition of honoring Otto von Bismarck.
