Niemodlin Gate in Lipno

In the forest near Niemodlin two brick piers with arched openings stand on their own, as if someone forgot the rest of the building. This is the Niemodlin Gate, also called the Black Gate – one of five gates of the former deer park of the Praschma counts in Lipno. In the late 19th century it was opened on summer Sundays and holidays, when the park was made available to people from the surrounding area.

A deer park that lasted three centuries

The deer park in Lipno existed at least from the mid-17th century – probably founded by Siegfried Erdmann von Zierotin, then owner of the Niemodlin estate. It was used mainly for breeding fallow and red deer, as well as pheasants, and for hunting. Already in the 18th century an English-style landscape park was laid out inside it, with canals, islands, gondola rides and pavilions with names such as the Chinese Pavilion and the Temple of the Serpent. The deer park was closed in 1910, and the former park is now protected as the Lipno nature and landscape complex, covering about 190 ha.

The gate and its setting

The Niemodlin Gate led into the deer park from the Niemodlin side. It was built of red brick in the Gothic Revival style; what survives are two slender piers with arched openings. It stands between the edge of the forest and the fence of the old swimming pool, to the right of the park house. Of the other gates, remains of the Jaczowice Gate with its keeper's lodge survive on the Jaczowice side.

What else the Lipno park holds

• The arboretum of 1783, founded by Jan Nepomuk Praschma – the oldest surviving arboretum in Poland (about 4.2 ha). Highlights include a tulip tree almost 200 years old, 418 cm in girth and 30 m tall, and a western red cedar probably planted in 1782.
• The swimming pool, built in 1935 before the Berlin Olympics, with a main basin of Olympic dimensions.
• The Hermit's Chapel – according to legend built by French émigrés who found refuge on the Praschma estate after the Revolution of 1789.
• Zofia pond (13 ha) and Hubertus pond (3 ha), a glacial erratic 851 cm in circumference, and Frederick's Spring.

Tripto tip

The gate is easiest to find by walking from the park buildings and the pool towards the forest – the gate itself takes a quarter of an hour, but with the arboretum and ponds plan 2–3 hours. The ground is forest track and muddy after rain, so wear decent shoes. The gate is in poor condition: look closely, but don't climb the piers. Entry rules for the arboretum may differ from the rest of the park, so check before you go.