Sławików Palace

Roofless, with saplings sprouting from its cornices, Sławików Palace still impresses with its scale: three storeys, a facade 19 windows wide, a triangular pediment with reliefs and towers at either end. It is one of three great ruined residences in the northern Racibórz area of Upper Silesia, alongside the ruins of the Eichendorff palace in nearby Łubowice and the palace in Krowiarki. For several decades the estate belonged to the Eichendorff family, who also owned the nearby palace in Łubowice.

History: from Baroque to Classicism to ruin

The palace's date of construction is uncertain. Art historian Henryk Tanerowicz linked its origins with the knight Friedrich von Lautensac and the first half of the 18th century, while German sources suggest that in the 19th century the building was mainly remodelled. From 1795 to 1831 the estate belonged to the Eichendorff family; the single-storey palace of that time is shown in a lithograph published in 1856 in the Berlin journal "Zeitschrift für Bauwesen".

In 1831 the estate was bought by Baron Ernst von Eickstedt from Pomerania. In his time a park orangery was built, and in the 1860s the palace was converted from Baroque to late Neoclassical style, with a columned portico, a pediment with reliefs, acroteria and square towers. Eickstedt's descendants lived here until 1945, when the palace was damaged in fighting between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army for the Łubowice bridgehead.

After the war the estate was taken over by a state farm (PGR), its furnishings were looted, and from the 1960s the roofless building fell into ruin. After a brief period in private hands it passed to the Rudnik municipality, which since 2018 has been protecting it from further decay. The site is looked after by the Gniazdo Foundation. In 2023 the government provided PLN 400,000 for work in the park, the granary roof was being repaired, and a deputy minister of the time announced a long-term revitalisation that would include rebuilding the orangery.

What to see

• The east facade, with a five-bay central projection, a triangular pediment with reliefs and two towers.
• The garden front, repeating the layout of the facade, with cylindrical turrets.
• Surviving vaults in the cellars and ground floor — barrel and groin-barrel vaults — plus remains of column capitals, statue niches and original door frames.
• The ruined orangery, an arcaded gallery, and the tunnel under the terrace leading to the park.
• The 6-hectare park with the ruined Gothic Revival burial chapel of the Eickstedts, and the old granary.

Did you know?

In September 2024, after a weekend of heavy rain, the entire front wall of the orangery collapsed together with part of the cellar. The village itself is first recorded — as Slavicovo, at the consecration of St George's church — in 1223.

Tripto tip

The palace is in Sławików, Rudnik municipality, Racibórz County. The grounds are opened to visitors by the Gniazdo Foundation; after the orangery collapse, visits were suspended until the rubble was cleared, so check the foundation's current information before you travel. Do not enter the ruins on your own, as the walls are unstable. Allow about an hour for the palace and park, and combine your visit with the ruins of the Eichendorff family palace in nearby Łubowice.