Park in Pokój

The park in Pokój, a village in Namysłów County in the Opole region, is all that remains of one of the most remarkable residences of eighteenth-century Silesia. The town was founded in 1769–1773 at the initiative of Duke Carl Christian Erdmann von Württemberg, who named it Carlsruhe — Charles's Peace — and modelled it on Karlsruhe in Baden: eight avenues radiated from the palace in a star, lined with identical little houses.

The palace that is gone

The palace itself did not survive the Second World War and the post-war decades: devastated, it was eventually dismantled, leaving a distinctive trace — a roundabout into which eight streets converge today. The residence had a theatre, and gondolas were rowed on the park ponds. The family story did not end with the war: as late as the 1990s Duke Ferdinand, the last of the Silesian line of Württembergs, who had lived in the palace before the war, still visited the village; he stayed with the nuns and helped the local community.

Two gardens

The duke loved hunting, so beside the formal French garden he laid out a freer English park with a vineyard, a complex of ponds and a game preserve. Today the ensemble lies within the Stobrawa Landscape Park: the French part retains its geometric layout, while the English part invites wilder walks among old trees and by the water. A Lutheran church stands nearby, and walking and cycling routes cross the village; the drive from Opole takes about half an hour.