Radziwiłł Hunting Lodge in Antonin

In the autumn of 1829 the young Fryderyk Chopin spent more than a week in Antonin, playing music with the cello-playing prince, giving lessons to his daughter and writing his Polonaise in C major, Op. 3 for cello and piano. Prince Antoni Radziwiłł's hunting lodge, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, looks like a giant wooden lantern on a cross-shaped plan — and it still echoes with Chopin's music today.

History: a hunting lodge for a musical prince

Prince Antoni Radziwiłł, a composer and cellist, commissioned the hunting residence from Prussia's most famous architect. It was built in the 1820s — sources give 1822–1824, while the Fryderyk Chopin Institute gives 1821–1826. The village of Szperek was renamed Antonin in the prince's honour. The building is laid out as a Greek cross: an octagonal central block with four lower wings. Although it is usually described as wooden, it actually has a timber frame with brick infill, clad on the outside with boards and painted in so-called "imperial yellow".

The Radziwiłł family owned Antonin until the end of the Second World War. In 1939 Prince Michał Radziwiłł gave the palace to Adolf Hitler, who remained its formal owner until 1944. After the war the building stood empty until 1974. It was restored in 1975–1978 thanks to the efforts of the music critic Jerzy Waldorff, and in 1994 the restoration won a Europa Nostra award.

Chopin in Antonin

Some sources say Chopin visited Antonin twice, but the best-documented stay lasted from 30 or 31 October to 7 November 1829. The prince showed him the score of his opera "Faust", and their music-making together produced the Polonaise in C major, Op. 3. Chopin taught piano to 17-year-old Princess Wanda, and her sister Eliza drew his portrait twice in her album. He left only because he had to get back to Warsaw to finish his F minor Concerto — in a letter to a friend he called Antonin a paradise.

What to see

• the great hall, filling the whole octagonal core and rising three storeys, with a decorative ceiling resting on a single pillar that carries the chimney flues,
• the interior balconies leading to the rooms in the wings,
• a small music salon with period instruments and a cast of Chopin's hand,
• the Chopin monument by Marian Owczarski in front of the palace and the plaque on the façade,
• the English-style park with a pond, where a marble tomb of Antoni Radziwiłł's daughters stands on an island.

Tripto tip

The palace belongs to the Centre for Culture and Arts in Kalisz and operates as a creative retreat with a hotel, restaurant and café, so the easiest way to see the interior is over a meal or at a concert. The best time to visit is September, when the international "Chopin in Autumn Colours" festival has been held every year since 1984. Allow 1–1.5 hours for the palace, the interior and a walk in the park.

The palace is at ul. Pałacowa 1 in the municipality of Przygodzice, in Greater Poland. If you are following in Chopin's footsteps, Strzyżew, just under 13 km away, is another manor on the Chopin map — the composer came to Antonin from there.