Koppitz Castle

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The ruins of Koppitz Castle 2019

The Koppitz Castle (Polish Pałac w Kopicach , 1936–1945 Schwarzengrund ) is located in the village of Kopice (Dt. Koppitz), which today belongs to the municipality of Grodków / Grottkau in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. It has been in ruins since 1958 due to fire and vandalism. As an aristocratic seat, it goes back to the Middle Ages, it was redesigned in the 19th century in the neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance style (with Tudor elements) and elaborately expanded as a residential palace. It was the family seat of the mining industrialist Hans Ulrich von Schaffgotsch and his wife Johanna von Schaffgotsch .

history

The Schaffgotsch couple
Ruin of the castle chapel

prehistory

From 1360 onwards, Koppitz belonged to the von Borsnitz family, then it was in the hands of the von Beess family (since 1450). In 1534 it became the property of a canon of the cathedral in Breslau, Baltzar von Neckern. This was followed by Hans Heinrich Heymann von Rosenthal, Gottfried von Spaetgen and, from 1751, the noble Silesian family von Sierstorpff. The manor was converted into a residential palace and rebuilt in the classicist style in 1783, the design came from the architect Hans Rudolph from Opole.

Owned by the von Schaffgotsch family

In 1859 it was bought by Hans Ulrich von Schaffgotsch and his wife Johanna Gryzik von Schomberg-Godulla , and in the years up to 1864 the architect Karl Lüdecke from Breslau redesigned and expanded it into their stately home.

After this elaborate redesign in an eclectic style, it had the character of a fairytale castle. It referred to the fate of the landlady, which was also fairytale. It was the story of the “Silesian Cinderella” Johanna Gryzik, who was adopted as a little girl by the childless coal and steel industrialist Karl Godulla and inherited his great fortune in 1848 as a child.

Decay since 1958

Until 1945 Schloss Koppitz was owned by a descendant of the builder Johanna von Schaffgotsch, who died in 1910.

The castle survived the turmoil and fighting of the Second World War without damage. Vacation colonies and events for children were still being organized there in the first half of the 1950s. The palace complex was later looted and in 1958 the palace went up in flames. Since then, the palace building and the park have fallen into an extremely ruinous state due to constant abuse and vandalism.

In 1990 the municipality of Grodkow / Grottkau sold the ruined castle to a Krakow businessman for a small sum of money in the hope of the promised reconstruction; In addition, payment in installments was granted until 2015. The new owner did not keep his renovation promise; the process of devastation only accelerated in the 18 years up to 2008.

Uncertain future

In June 2008, the company bought ZARMEN from Chorzów ( Chorzow ) the ruinous castle with the declared intention to reconstruct it. But renovation work did not begin until autumn 2012.

Planned German-Polish Museum

After countless changes of ownership and attempts to restore the castle, it was taken over by Globucor Luxembourg Polska at the beginning of 2017. This plans to set up a German-Polish museum. The work should take about seven years.

Description of the castle

North side of the castle

The married couple Johanna and Hans Ulrich von Schaffgotsch lived in this castle for half a century and celebrated their golden wedding there in November 1908. The building complex had more than 50 rooms on each floor (including the basement); it housed an excellent collection of sculptures, paintings and hunting trophies, a collection of rare books and armor. The most respected members of the European aristocracy, princes and barons, but also artists and politicians frequented the venue.

The three-storey central part had an accentuated main entrance, which was characterized by a striking risalit with a portico. Two towers with their corner turrets and decorations rose up to the right and left of the main house and the building complex was surrounded on three sides by a pond, so that the castle looked almost like a moated castle. From the northwest side, a stone bridge over the so-called moat reached the castle, which appeared to be in the middle of a pond.

Park

Gate to the park of the castle today
The castle ruins from the garden side

It was surrounded by a very large and spacious park with many sculptures and works of art. This large landscape park in the English style , whose founder and supervisor was the royal garden director Georg Hempel, was also worth seeing. In the vicinity of the castle there were flower and vegetable gardens, an orchard, an orangery, a rosarium and a winter garden. Tropical plants and colorful flower compositions were in front of the palace entrance. In the park there were centenary oaks, artificial ruins of a castle, a so-called mouse tower, the family burial chapel, a temple of Diana, a Chinese pavilion and various arbors. It had original fountains and there were many life-size animal and human figures by Carl Kern in it. They are all gone nowadays.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Koppitz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Gazeta Wyborcza: W pałacu w Kopicach powstanie polsko-niemieckie muzeum? Przekonamy się za 7 lat

Coordinates: 50 ° 38 ′ 45.9 "  N , 17 ° 26 ′ 46.9"  E