Jelenia Góra Town Trail · the long route · Sobieszów

Sobieszów Palace and the National Park centre

Chojnik burned down in 1675 and never returned to its role as the family seat. The Schaffgotsches then did the simplest possible thing: they came down from the hill and built a new house at its foot. That is how the palace in Sobieszów came about – and with it the library which, two centuries and four moves later, became the Natural History Museum in Cieplice.

A castle on the hill, a palace below

Chojnik Castle was the family seat for centuries, but the fire of 1675 ended its career as a home. Instead of rebuilding a stronghold on a steep hill, the Schaffgotsches put up a residence in the valley.

The building was commissioned by Johann Anton von Schaffgotsch (1675–1742) in 1705 and directed by the master builder Elias Scholze of Bolesławiec. The work finished in 1712. The new palace took over as the family's main seat – of the castle there remained a view from the window.

Why the castle was not rebuilt

On 31 August 1675 lightning set Chojnik alight and the castle burned. It was never rebuilt – and not for lack of money, as the family was among the wealthiest in Silesia.

The reason is simpler: a stronghold on a granite crag had stopped being of use to anyone. Defence had lost its point, and living on a summit to which everything has to be carried uphill was in the seventeenth century a nuisance, not prestige. Prestige moved to a residence in the valley – with a garden, a carriage drawing up at the door and room for a library.

So Chojnik became a ruin with a view, and the Schaffgotsches settled four hundred metres lower. From the palace windows you can see the hill where their previous seat stood – it would be hard to find a clearer picture of a change of era.

The library that started here

This is the most interesting thread of the place, and it cannot be seen from outside. Johann Anton placed the family library in the new palace, and beside it a cabinet of curiosities – a collection of odd things meant to astonish guests.

In the 1820s the library and the collections were carried to Cieplice. There it moved from building to building, after the war it was reduced, and what remained of the natural history part stands today in the former Cistercian monastery as the Natural History Museum. Sobieszów is therefore the address where that whole journey began.

Summer residence, court, school

Towards the end of the eighteenth century the family moved to Cieplice and the palace dropped to the role of a summer residence. Then it fell further down the hierarchy: it was given over to the estate steward and the land court.

The longest post-war chapter is the school. Until 2012 it housed the Agricultural and Agritourism School Complex, so several generations of Jelenia Góra residents know this building not as a palace but as the place where they went to lessons.

2013–2023: ten years to come back

On 14 August 2013 the building was handed over to the Karkonosze National Park. Almost ten years passed from the decision to the opening, and the renovation in figures looks like this: 51,500 roof tiles, nearly 6 tonnes of sandstone for floors and stairs, almost 600 tonnes of rubble carted out of the cellars. The work on the palace and the neighbouring gardener's house cost over 17.5 million złoty.

On 28 April 2023 the Nature and Education Centre opened to visitors.

The park's offices moved into the palace as well. Its directorate had previously worked at Chałubińskiego 23, in the former Villa Elisabeth – an early twentieth-century building that was the address of the Karkonosze National Park for years. Today the park's address is Cieplicka 196, this palace. The villa at Chałubińskiego 23 is no longer the seat of the Karkonosze National Park.

What is inside

There are two permanent exhibitions, and each tells a different story.

“The Climatic Karkonosze” is the natural history part – about what the mountains you can see from the windows are, and what is happening to them.

“Sobieszów Palace” takes up about 550 square metres in eight thematic rooms and tells the history and genealogy of the Schaffgotsch family. It is a rare situation: a building that was their home now tells their story – in the place where the family library began.

This is not the palace alone

Looking at the grounds, it is worth knowing that what the park took over is a group of buildings, not a single edifice. Along with the palace, the gardener's house was renovated – and its cost is counted together with the palace in the sum of over 17.5 million złoty. The granary went in for renovation separately, and the park announced a further stage: converting the former boarding house into accommodation.

Such a layout – a residence plus farm and service buildings – is typical of Silesian estates and usually breaks up after the war into separate ownerships. Here it survived whole, because for decades one institution held it together: a school. It is a rare case in which post-war nationalisation saved the spatial layout instead of fragmenting it.

Four addresses of one family within a walk

Walking the trail, you pass successive chapters of the same story.

Chojnik – the seat until the fire of 1675. The palace in Sobieszów – the house built right after it and the place where the library was created. The palace in Cieplice – where the family moved at the end of the eighteenth century. The former Cistercian complex in Cieplice – where the collections stand today.

What you can see

The centre is a working institution of the Karkonosze National Park with ticketed exhibitions – current visiting information is best checked before you come. The building and its surroundings can be seen from outside at any time, and while you are there you will also see the gardener's house and the other buildings of the former estate, which the park renovated together with the palace.

It is also a natural place for a break: you are halfway through the Sobieszów part of the trail, between two churches, and the climb to Chojnik starts here.