Krzyżowice Palace

The palace in Krzyżowice, Krzyżowice, Poland, is a well‑preserved noble estate whose origins reach back to the medieval period and whose fabric reflects Baroque and 19th‑century historicist rebuilding carried out by regional aristocratic families. The place first appears in records in 1307 under the name “Slanza,” and a residential tower from that early phase was probably erected then; later owners developed the site as a manorial centre that served successive generations of local nobility. Over centuries the complex functioned as a landed estate and family seat, adapting its buildings and grounds to changing tastes and needs while remaining a focal point of local landed society.

In the later 16th century the property was enlarged into a manor under the Freiherren Saurma, with work dated to 1574 that created a seat with a tower and a surrounding trench acting as a moat; masonry from that phase survives within the compound. After about 1550 the estate passed to the Barons von Reichell. Under their ownership, in 1713 a Baroque manor house was constructed alongside a side wing and a servants’ house placed to the south of the earlier knight’s seat, establishing the principal residential layout that shaped later alterations.

Family alliances shaped twentieth‑century ownership. In December 1796 Charlotte von Reichell married Karl von Tschirschky, and members of the joint family later received permission from Prussian authorities in May 1838 to use a fused family name for inheritance. From 1854 the heir Benno von Tschirschky‑Reichell linked the servants’ wing to the main buildings, producing a three‑wing plan. Following a damaging fire the main wing was rebuilt in a mixture of neo‑Baroque and neo‑Renaissance styles; two new staircases, a projecting bay and a prominent main portal date to this mid‑19th‑century campaign. Mortimer von Tschirschky, his son, assembled a substantial genealogical collection associated with the family.

Through marriage the property later came into the hands of the Counts of Eulenburg when Euphemie von Tschirschky‑Reichell wed Richard, Count zu Eulenburg‑Prassen. In May 1945 the heiress Marie‑Antoinette zu Eulenburg fled the estate, later returning to resume its operation. After World War II, when Schlanz and much of Silesia were incorporated into Poland, the estate was transferred to the University of Wrocław and repurposed as an agricultural teaching and experimental farm. Since 1989 the palace complex has been used as a school centre with a boarding house, continuing its long history of adaptation to new institutional roles.