Palaces

Pakoszów Palace in Piechowice

By the Kamienna river, in the Pakoszow district of Piechowice, stands a Baroque palace built in 1725 as the residence of Johann Martin Gottfried, mayor of Jelenia Gora. In its heyday it twice hosted King Frederick the Great of Prussia, and after a thorough renovation the building is once again open to visitors.

From Gottfried to the Hess family

The founder's widow remarried in 1741, and the estate passed to Georg Friedrich Smith. In 1771 the property went through marriage to the Hess family, which held it until 1945 — in that time minor repairs were carried out and the furnishings were supplemented.

The interiors

The palace is laid out on a rectangle with side risalits and covered with a mansard roof; the structure, built of stone and brick, has an eleven-axis facade, and the ground floor is covered with barrel vaults with modest stucco decoration. The ballroom covers more than 100 square metres; until the 1960s it was adorned by a ceiling painting with allegories by J. F. Hoffman, now reconstructed, and the walls are covered with portraits of mayors and patricians of Jelenia Gora. The most precious room is the small salon with a fireplace lined with 18th-century Delft faience tiles.

In practice

The palace was entered in the monument register on 1 September 1959. After the war it served various institutions, in 2004 it became the property of descendants of the former owners, and the ceremonial opening after renovation took place on 1 April 2012. Today a hotel operates here, and part of the interiors — including the ballroom and the salon with Delft tiles — is open to visitors; the palace lies right by the road from Jelenia Gora to Szklarska Poreba.