Guhlau Castle

Guhlau Castle
	; Guhlau Castle 2008
Data
place	Gola Dzierżoniowska
Construction year	1580
Coordinates	50 ° 44 '11.4 " N , 16 ° 47' 25" E Coordinates: 50 ° 44 '11.4 " N , 16 ° 47' 25" E

The Guhlau Castle (Polish: Zamek w Goli Dzierżoniowskiej ) is located 45 km south of Wroclaw in the village of Gola Dzierżoniowska (German: Guhlau ) in the municipality of Niemcza (German: Nimptsch ), Powiat Dzierżoniowski (Reichenbach / Eulengebirge district) in the Polish Voivodeship of Lower Silesia .

history

When it was founded, the medieval castle had a typical architectural style in the form of a square with an inner courtyard, which served as a defensive system due to the steep west side, the moat in the east and its double stone walls. It was destroyed by the Hussites. The Renaissance castle was built on a rocky hill in 1580 by Leonard von Rohnau. This is confirmed by an inscription above the main entrance: “W imię Boga Amen. 29 lutego 1580 roku Leonard von Rohnau rozpoczął budowę i dzięki Bogu przykrył ją dachem ”. (In God's name, Amen, Leonard von Rohnau began to build the building on February 29, 1580 , and with God's help he covered his roof).

The original Renaissance-style building was expanded between 1600 and 1610. The facades were decorated with sgraffito. At the beginning of the 17th century a tower was added in the eastern part. The shape of the building has not been changed since then. In the middle of the courtyard is a 300 year old linden tree. The castle has a magnificent facade and wall surfaces decorated with sgraffito. Further renovations took place in the early 18th century. Since 1821 Guhlau Prittwitzsch was family property. These owners carried out further restorations on the castle in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

At the end of the Second World War , the castle was largely destroyed. Its last owners, the von Prittwitz and Gaffron families , were forced to hand over their property to the Polish authorities.

Reconstruction and future use

In 2000, extensive construction work began to restore the building to its original value. This work was supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2007–2008 (“Cultural Heritage” program level 1). In 2013 the castle was opened as a hotel with a spa and restaurant (“Uroczysko 7 Stawów”, “To the seven ponds”).

park

The castle park is at the foot of the castle. On an area of 13 hectares, it contains more than 1600 trees (36 species from all over the world). The park is equipped with a complex water system. According to the original plan, the river sequentially irrigated seven ponds in the park. Over the years most of the ponds have become muddy and overgrown. Old beech avenues lead through the castle park to the sanctuary of the seven ponds. The last inventory of the park was carried out in the spring of 2001 and resulted in a list of 1619 trees in 36 different species. The list is available in Polish and Latin.