Witaszyce Palace and the Museum of the Napoleonic Wars

Turn off the S11 expressway at Witaszyce, a few kilometres from Jarocin in southern Greater Poland, and you find an unexpected combination: a Neo-Baroque palace of 1899 that now houses a hotel, and in the park next to it Poland's only Museum of the Napoleonic Wars, with more than 10,000 toy soldiers and an exhibition devoted to Star Wars. It makes a good stop on the Poznań–Katowice road, especially with children or a military history fan.

History of the estate

In the 14th century Witaszyce belonged to the bishops of Poznań, later to Greater Poland magnates, and in the 19th century it passed into German hands. The palace was built in 1899 for Willy Dülong, from a Franco-German family, to designs by the architect Ludwik Otte of Gross Lichterfelde near Berlin. The last pre-war owners were the von Ohnesorge family and, by marriage, Count Konrad Bniński.

After the war, from the 1960s, the palace housed a branch of the Poznań Institute of Natural Fibres, and from the 1970s a branch of the Jarocin public library. Today it is privately owned: there is a hotel and restaurant, and the former ballrooms serve as conference rooms.

What to look for

• The façade of the three-storey palace on a rectangular plan under a hipped roof, with a portico of four Doric columns carrying a balcony with a balustrade.
• The pediment of the central projection above the balcony, bearing the coat of arms of Jan von Ohnesorge.
• The manor house in the park, east of the palace – an older, late Baroque building put up by Franciszek Gorzeński. According to tradition, the Jarosławiec Convention was ratified here.

The Museum of the Napoleonic Wars

The museum in the manor house grew out of the current owner's passion and shows the Polish contribution to the fight for independence under Napoleon's banners. Its rooms hold more than 10,000 figures of soldiers from all sides of those wars, and large dioramas recreate the battles of Raszyn (about 2,000 figures) and Waterloo (about 4,000). There are also weapons, uniforms, coins, books and documents of the period, and the biggest curiosity of all – Napoleon's death mask and a lock of his hair.

Since 2007 there has also been a permanent Star Wars exhibition: costumes, vehicles, posters, books and other memorabilia. Some exhibits have found a second life as props at themed summer camps for children held at the palace.

Curiosity

Witaszyce was once considered the most industrialised village in Poland: it had a sugar factory, a refinery, the Lenwit flax works and a brickworks with its own clay pit and narrow-gauge railway.

Tripto tip

Address: al. Wolności 35, 63-230 Witaszyce, tel. +48 62 740 14 67. We could not confirm current museum opening hours or ticket prices from an official source (the palace website blocked automated requests), so call ahead to arrange your visit. Allow about 1–1.5 hours for the museum. The park surrounds the palace but belongs to the hotel – behave as a guest would.