Słobity Palace

About

Słobity Palace (Polish: Pałac w Słobitach; German: Schloss Schlobitten) is a ruined baroque palace in Słobity, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, constructed between 1622 and 1624. It was the seat of the Schlobitten branch of the Dohna family. In 1945, it was looted and plundered by the Red Army, before it was set afire. Since then it has been a ruin. Part of the inventory and collections was saved by prince Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten (1899–1997); he later transferred this to the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg in order to keep it together; it can be now admired as the Dohna-Schlobitten collection in Schloss Doberlug in Doberlug-Kirchhain, Germany. The palace was one of the so-called 'royal palaces' of the former province of East Prussia, which could be used by the king of Prussia while travelling around. It was one of the best examples of Baroque architecture in East Prussia. Today, the palace is in poor condition and deteriorating. Also, the landscape park is totally neglected.

16th century: the Dohna family comes to Schlobitten

The Dohna family originated from Saxony and came to Prussia in the 15th century. In 1525, Albert, Duke of Prussia (1490–1568) rewarded Peter von Dohna (1483–1553) for his services with the estate and village of Schlobitten. Peter's son Aschatius von Dohna (1533–1601) relocated the family seat to Schlobitten and replaced an older manor house with a fortified house surrounded by moats, which he inhabited from 1589 onward.

Achatius' son Abraham (1579–1631) erected the first castle in the early Baroque style following Dutch models between 1622 and 1624, whose three-tiered curved ornamental gables echoed the Dutch baroque. The appearance of the castle is preserved through a drawing by the builder. Investigations by Polish experts indicate that Abraham's construction integrated cellar vaults of the previous building from the 16th century. During the Polish-Swedish War, the castle was ravaged by plunderers and only hastily restored by Abraham.

17th century: the Connection to House of Orange and the Brederode family

After Abraham's death, while his widow inhabited parts of the estate for several years, his nephew and heir Friedrich von Dohna, former governor of the Principality of Orange in the service of the House of Orange, resided at Château de Coppet on Lake Geneva. The connection to the Oranges was through Friedrich's parents, Christoph zu Dohna and Ursula, née countess of Solms-Braunfels ; the latter had two sisters: Amalia of Solms-Braunfels (1602–1675), who was married to the Dutch stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (1584–1647), and Louise Christina, who had married the Dutch army chief Johan Wolfert van Brederode (1599–1655), member of the Van Brederode family. Through this connection, there was also a relationship to Amalia's grandchildren, kings William III of England (1650–1702) and Frederick I of Prussia (1657–1713).

The Brederode family died out with the Johan Wolfert's son, Wolfert van Brederode (1649–1679). The Dohna family inherited the Vianen estate with Batestein Castle. Until 1945, the Dohna princes kept the heirlooms in a separate Brederode room in the palace.

Frederick I, who founded the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, wished for his new kingdom to be adorned with magnificent baroque palaces for reasons of cultural representation. Thus, almost simultaneously, the castles Schlodien (also owned by the Dohna family), Friedrichstein, and Dönhoffstädt (counts Dönhoff), Finckenstein (counts Finck von Finckenstein ), and Capustigall (counts Waldburg) were built in competition with each other – the latter two would later also come into possession of the Dohna family. Of these residences, only Dönhoffstädt remains undestroyed today, and Schlodien has been fully reconstructed.

Frederick's son, count Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten (1661–1728) rebuilt the ruins of Schlobitten castle in the years 1696 to 1723 in the style of the high baroque according to designs by Jean Baptiste Broebes He expanded the manor house with a second gallery, and added two wings at right angles, so that the building enclosed a horseshoe-shaped courtyard. At the same time, his brother Christoph built the nearby castle in Schlodien. The further expansion from 1704 onwards was carried out under the direction of Johann Caspar Hindersin: The outer courtyard of the stable was surrounded by low connecting wings, a third floor and a mansard roof were added to the main building. Hindersin thus created "a highly original ensemble enclosing two square courtyards of great charm." The ballroom with its magnificent stucco was decorated by Joseph Anton Kraus in 1713.

In the 19th century, the palace garden was transformed into a landscape park.

Count Richard of Dohna-Schlobitten (1843–1916) was a Prussian politician and close friend to the German emperor, Wilhelm II (1859–1941), who often came to Schlobitten for hunting parties. In 1900, Count Richard was elevated to a hereditary prince. Prince Richard was part of the so-called Liebenberg Circle, a group of artistically minded aristocrats within the entourage of Wilhelm II, named after Prince Philipp of Eulenburg (1847–1921).

The place was last renovated in 1944 by Prince Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten (1899–1997).

On 19 January 1945, the residents of the castle, along with the staff under the leadership of Prince Alexander, set out westward, totalling 330 people, 140 horses, and 38 wagons. They also took along 31 valuable Trakehner mares from their breeding program. The castle was looted, burned down and devastated upon the invasion by the Red Army.

Schlobitten Palace: 1945 till modern times

When the southern part of East Prussia came under Polish administration after World War II, Schloss Schlobitten and its estate were confiscated. The palace was hit by another fire in 1949. Various ancillary buildings were demolished and from the main buildings only the walls remain. The palace ruins are in poor condition and deteriorating. Also, not much remains anymore of the landscape park.

A group of Polish architecture students has been committed to the rebuilding of the palace, but there are no concrete plans yet.

Dohna-Schlobitten collection after the War

Already in 1944, parts of the valuable art collection, consisting of numerous baroque furniture pieces and paintings, tapestries, and Delft faience, including a tobacco box adorned with diamonds belonging to Frederick the Great, had been evacuated to the west by the last owner, prince Alexander of Dohna, partly by train and partly with a refugee convoy, along with part of the associated stud farm.

The evacuated artworks were housed in various castles of related or friendly families, including Schloss Muskau, but two-thirds of them fell victim to looting at the end of the war. Only the objects relocated to Schloss Laubach in Hesse were recovered by the Dohna family after the war. Parts of the collection seized in the East Germany were able to be returned to the inventory after German reunification.

The wish of Prince Alexander of Dohna to exhibit the rescued art inventory of Schlobitten Castle as a whole, prompted him to offer the items returned to him by various East German museums to the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg for purchase. The Foundation decided to take over the Dohna-Schlobitten collection in two tranches, in 1992 and 1999. It consists of over 1000 individual pieces, including 72 paintings, 35 pieces of furniture, over 200 porcelain and faience items, 48 glasses, over 600 objects made of precious and base metals, 250 individual craft items of various materials, and more than 500 textiles.