The palace in Tworków—or rather, its ruins—is now an attractive and picturesque historic site in the Silesian Voivodeship. The former noble residence, rebuilt and extended many times by successive families, suffered significant damage in a tragic fire almost 100 years ago. The destruction was compounded by the Second World War and the communist era. Architect Michał Szymankiewicz decided to create digital visualisations of the palace to show what this historic site might look like today.
The Palace in Tworków and its origins
The roots of the Tworków residence probably date back to the Middle Ages. At the site of the present palace stood a Gothic stronghold at the time, traces of which have been found, amongst other places, in the cellar walls. The first records of the estate in Tworków, however, date back to 1525. A key figure in the development of this place was Kasper Wiskota von Wodnik, a land judge, who began rebuilding the estate after purchasing it. The year 1567, carved into a stone detail of the tower, is considered the symbolic date of the residence’s construction. In the years that followed, the owners modernised and made Tworków even more magnificent, adding further wings and other elements to the palace.
The Palace in Tworków in the hands of Silesian families
Over the centuries, Tworków passed from hand to hand. Its owners included Johann von Beeß von Cöln und Katowitz, the Charwat family, the Lassots, the Lichnowskis, the Boreccy, the Reiswitz family, the von Trachs and the Eichendorffs. During the Thirty Years’ War, the palace served as military quarters. Towards the end of the 18th century, the Eichendorff family laid out an English-style landscape park around the residence and enlarged the ponds. In the nearby church, one can still see the richly decorated sarcophagi of the von Reiswitz family, including a unique collection of polychrome children’s coffins, considered the largest such collection in Poland.
A brewery famous throughout Silesia
The last residents of the palace were the von Saurma-Jeltsch family, who settled in Tworków in 1841. Between 1872 and 1874, on their initiative, a thorough reconstruction was carried out according to a design by Karl Heidenreich, an architect also associated with the palaces in Kopice and Pławniowice. The residence was then given an elegant, Neo-Renaissance appearance, including a clock tower and arcades in the courtyard. There was also a family-run brewery nearby, established in 1839. It produced beer brewed in the Bavarian style, the first of its kind in Upper Silesia. Following the modernisation of the plant in 1852, production of Pilsner beer also began. The brewery became so popular that, during the season, special trains ran from Racibórz to bring visitors to the palace beer hall and beer garden!
The fire was visible from a distance of 60 km
Everything changed on one tragic night, from 8 to 9 January 1931. A fire broke out at the Tworków Palace, which rapidly engulfed almost the entire roof, including the towers. The fire was so intense that the glow was reportedly visible from as far as 60 kilometres away. From the outset, there were suspicions that the residence had been set alight in order to claim compensation. However, the insurer refused to pay out the full claim, and a long-running legal dispute ended with the owners of Tworków being awarded 100,000 marks instead of the half a million they had demanded. And what of the palace? It was never rebuilt after this tragedy. It was merely secured with a makeshift roof, and its former splendour began to fade away gradually.
The Tworków Palace as a permanent ruin
In March 1945, the palace was looted and set alight again, probably by the Russians. On that occasion, the building burned to the ground. In 1957, permission was even granted for its demolition, as the ruins were deemed unsuitable for reconstruction. Fortunately, this decision was never carried out. For the following decades, the palace stood as a shadow of its former glory, decaying and gradually falling into ruin. In 2003, the ruins were taken over by the municipality of Krzyżanowice, which began conservation work that continues to this day. Thanks to funding from a Polish-Czech renovation project worth €715,000, it has been possible to restore the tower, secure the walls and open the site to visitors. Since mid-2020, visitors have been able to climb the observation tower free of charge, from where they can enjoy a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Although the heyday of Tworków Palace ended nearly 100 years ago, we can imagine its splendour thanks to various initiatives, such as this one by Michał Szymankiewicz. His visualisations are not perfect recreations of the former residence, but they do a good job of capturing its former grandeur and charm.
Source: zabytek.pl
Visualisations: architect Michał Szymankiewicz
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