Drogosze Palace

365 windows for the days of the year, 52 rooms for the weeks, 12 chimneys for the months, 7 balconies for the days of the week and 4 portico columns for the seasons — this is how tradition explains the architecture of Drogosze Palace, and historians note that it is mostly right. The Baroque residence of the von Dönhoff family, built in 1710–1714, is about 95 m long and was known as the "Versailles of East Prussia". Today it is a private, fenced-off and decaying building that still impresses from the approach avenue.

History: from the Wolffersdorffs to the Dönhoffs

The settlement of Groß Wolfsdorf was founded in 1361 by Konrad von Wolffersdorff, and from 1477 the estate belonged to the von Rautter family. Ludwig von Rautter built the first residence in 1596–1606, with a park stocked with fallow deer — a gift from the Polish king John Casimir. In 1690 the palace burned down after a lightning strike, and the estate passed by marriage to the Dönhoffs. The new palace was modelled on the family's main seat at Friedrichstein near Königsberg; its construction is attributed to the architect Johann von Collas, and the design of Friedrichstein to Jean de Bodt.

The residence also served as one of the so-called royal palaces, where travelling monarchs could stay. Side wings were added in 1766, and in 1785 a grand carriage drive with fountains and sculptures. The left wing housed a chapel (1725) and an orangery, the right wing guest apartments and a theatre. In 1816 the last male heir of this line, 20-year-old Stanislaus Otto von Dönhoff, was killed in a duel; for half a century the estate was run by his sister Angelika zu Dohna, a friend of King Frederick William IV of Prussia, who visited Drogosze. From then until 1945 the palace belonged to the Stolberg-Wernigerode family.

Interesting facts

• The guest book, with entries by Napoleon and Emperor Wilhelm II, went to the university in Toruń after the war, together with what remained of the library.
• The chapel organ, built in Königsberg and installed in 1730, was taken to Lübeck in 1933; it is still played today in St Mary's Church there.
• The portrait of Frederick William IV by Wilhelm Wach hung in the entrance hall until 1945; pierced by a bayonet, it lay rolled up for years in the museum in Kętrzyn, where it was identified during conservation. It is on display there again today.
• Stanislaus and Angelika have marble cenotaphs in the chapel by the Berlin sculptor Eduard Lürssen.

What to see from outside

A cobbled avenue more than 100 m long leads to the palace, ending in an oval forecourt with the remains of fountains and planters decorated with white rams' heads. Above the entrance with its Ionic portico is the Stolberg coat of arms dated 1902. Behind the palace spreads an overgrown landscape park that once reached the Guber river, with ponds — the largest covered more than 47 ha and had two artificial islands. To the east stand Gothic Revival farm buildings: a granary, stables and a covered riding hall.

Tripto tip

After the war the building housed NKVD offices, and from 1954 to 1991 an agricultural training centre; since 1993 the palace has been privately owned and remains closed and fenced. You will therefore see it from the avenue and over the fence — allow 20–30 minutes and do not enter the grounds without the owner's permission. Drogosze lies on regional road 590, about 8 km west of Barciany and 25 km from Kętrzyn, so it combines easily with the Teutonic Knights' castle in Barciany and the museum in Kętrzyn, where the king's portrait hangs.