Pakoszów Palace in Piechowice

This Baroque palace on the Kamienna river was both a residence and a linen bleachery: on the ground floor, cloth belonging to Jelenia Góra merchants was soaked in vats, then spread on the meadows to dry. According to the owners, King Frederick II stayed here, and in the Hess era so did the poet Klopstock and John Quincy Adams, later President of the United States. Since 2012 Pakoszów has been a five-star hotel, but the interiors can be seen on a guided tour.

History: the palace of the veil merchants

From the late Middle Ages, the Jelenia Góra Valley lived off linen, especially a fine cloth called veil. Wealthy merchants, the so-called "veil lords", formed an aristocracy almost equal to the landed nobility. Johann Martin Gottfried (1685–1737), later mayor of Jelenia Góra and brother-in-law of the town's richest merchant Christian Mentzel, belonged to this circle. In 1725 he turned a former Schaffgotsch property into a Baroque palace.

Gottfried's widow remarried in 1741, and the estate passed to Georg Friedrich Smith. From 1771 it belonged to Heinrich Hess (1745–1802), a merchant and director of the Jelenia Góra sugar factory, and the name "Hess Bleachery" stuck. Water for bleaching came from the Kamienna, and Frederick II confirmed the water rights by certificate in 1777. The bleachery was converted in 1856, and the Hess family held Pakoszów until 1945.

From children's home to hotel

After the war the building served various institutions, including a children's home. In 2004 it passed to descendants of the former owners – the hotel says the palace has been in one family for 13 generations. After restoration it was formally opened on 1 April 2012. The palace had been entered in the heritage register as early as 1 September 1959.

What to see

• Baroque Hall on the first floor, about 100 m² – illusionistic and allegorical paintings. Johann Franz Hoffmann's original did not survive; it was recreated by the Dresden artist Christoph Wetzel, known for his work on the dome of the Frauenkirche in Dresden.
• Tile Room in the Blue Tower – walls lined with hand-painted 18th-century Delft tiles; marks in the corners show who painted each tile.
• The building itself – a rectangular main block with side projections, a mansard roof and an eleven-bay façade, with barrel vaults and modest stucco on the ground floor.
• The Merchant's House, the garden and the modern hotel wing, all part of the tour.

Curious facts

The hotel says Frederick II visited in 1759, 1777 and 1785, while some studies mention two royal visits. In the time of Heinrich and Erdmuthe Hess, the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, the Karkonosze painter Sebastian Carl Christoph Reinhardt and John Quincy Adams were guests here. The last family member to live here was Margarethe Drewes, née Hess, with her husband, a pastor, and their seven children.

Tripto tips

The tour takes about 40 minutes and must be booked in advance at reception; it runs in Polish, English or German. It includes a film, the Baroque Hall, the Merchant's House, the Blue Tower, some guest rooms (if free) and the garden. It costs PLN 25, or PLN 65 with coffee and cake in the palace restaurant; hotel guests take part free of charge (as of October 2026). The palace is at ul. Zamkowa 3 in Piechowice, between Jelenia Góra and Szklarska Poręba, and belongs to the Valley of Palaces and Gardens, so it is easy to combine with other residences in the area.