Milicz Castle

The ruins of Milicz Castle stand by the Barycz River, in a 50-hectare park next to the classicist palace of the Maltzan family. The brick walls of this former seat of the bishops of Wrocław, built at the end of the 13th century, cannot be entered today, but from the park you can still sense the building's scale. When it was built, it was the third-largest residence in Silesia.

History: bishops, dukes and bottles of wine

Milicz was the seat of a castellany as early as the 12th century, and the bishop's stronghold ("Miliche castello") is mentioned in a bull of Pope Innocent II from 1136. The brick castle was built at the end of the 13th century as a symbol of the Bishop of Wrocław's standing. It was here, on 8 May 1282, that the Treaty of Milicz was concluded: the papal legate Philip of Fermo heard the dispute between the Teutonic Order and Duke Mestwin II of Pomerania in the bishop's palace, and Mestwin had to cede the Gniew land and several villages in the Vistula delta to the Order.

In the 14th century King John of Luxembourg of Bohemia laid claim to the castle. According to the sources, the castellan Henry of Wierzbno handed the fortress over to him in exchange for two bottles of French wine, for which Bishop Nanker excommunicated the king in 1340. In 1358 the bishop and chapter sold the castle, the town and 26 villages to Duke Konrad I of Oleśnica for 1,500 marks, and he expanded the fortress. In 1432 it was destroyed by the Hussites; from 1494 it belonged to Sigismund Kurzbach, who began rebuilding it in 1508 under master builder Leonhart Gogel. In 1590 the castle passed to the Maltzan family, who owned Milicz until 1945.

Decline

In 1616 lightning struck the tower, which burned and collapsed, killing five people. At the end of the 17th century the outer defensive wall was taken down, and at the end of the 18th century a cotton mill was installed in the castle, which burned down in 1797. Attempts to restore it in Neo-Gothic style were abandoned, and by the mid-19th century the building had been deserted.

What to see

• The walls of the former castle house from around 1300 – a three-storey building measuring about 14.5 × 26 m, with a stone ground floor whose walls are 3.5 m thick. Each floor had a latrine, which counted as a luxury at the time.
• The English-style park, covering 50 ha, the first of its kind in Silesia, with around 80 species of trees and shrubs, including oaks up to 7 m in girth and bald cypresses.
• The Maltzan Palace, now home to a forestry school, and the lion sculpture from the former Peace Gate, commemorating the visit of Tsar Alexander I in 1813.

Tripto tips

• The ruin is fenced off and cannot be entered – you view it from the park paths. Allow about an hour for the castle and a walk in the park.
• Milicz is a good base for the Milicz Ponds in the Barycz Valley, and in town it is worth also visiting the early-18th-century Church of Grace and the Christmas Bauble Museum.