Książ Castle

Listen for a moment. Below the castle walls, a river runs fast through a deep wooded gorge, and the sound rises up through the trees. The air here smells of damp moss and old stone. Grey and cream façades climb above you, layer on layer, with tall windows catching whatever light comes through the forest. Few castles sit this dramatically. Książ seems to grow out of the rock itself, perched on a cliff above the Pełcznica river.

This is Książ Castle, on the northern edge of Wałbrzych in Lower Silesia, in south-western Poland. It is usually described as the largest castle in Silesia, and one of the largest in the whole country. The name comes from an old Polish word linked to a prince or duke. In German, the language of its owners for centuries, it was called Fürstenstein, which means roughly the Prince's Stone. Both names carry the same idea. This was a seat of power.

The story begins in the late thirteenth century. A Piast duke, Bolko the First, known as Bolko the Strict, built a fortress on this rocky spur. The Piasts were the first ruling dynasty of medieval Poland, and their branches governed much of Silesia. Bolko ruled the duchies of Świdnica and Jawor, and he fortified his borderland with a chain of strongholds. Książ was one of the most important. The cliff gave natural protection on several sides, and the gorge below made any attack slow and difficult.

As you look at the building, notice that it does not match itself. That is not an accident. Książ grew over many centuries, and each era added its own style. The oldest core is medieval. Later owners added Renaissance features. In the eighteenth century came a grand Baroque wing — Baroque being the ornate, theatrical style of that age, full of curves, sculpture and gilding. Then, in the early twentieth century, a major rebuilding added large new sections in historical revival styles. You are looking at roughly seven hundred years of ambition, stacked on one rock.

The family most closely tied to this place is the Hochberg family. They acquired the castle in the early sixteenth century and held it for more than four hundred years. Over that long period they became one of the richest noble families in the German lands, partly thanks to coal mines in the Wałbrzych region. Much of what you see today was paid for by that coal. It is a surprising thought. The elegant rooms above ground were funded by the hard, dark work of miners beneath the same hills.

Inside, the most celebrated room is the Maximilian Hall, a Baroque hall of the eighteenth century. It rises through more than one floor, with painted ceilings, marble, and rich decoration designed to impress guests from the moment they entered. Stand in the middle and look up. The ceiling paintings show scenes from classical mythology, a common choice for noble houses that wanted to link themselves with ancient grandeur. The windows look out over the gorge, so nature and art meet in a single view.

The most famous person to live here was not born in Silesia at all. Daisy, Princess of Pless, was an Englishwoman, born Mary Theresa Cornwallis-West. In 1891 she married Hans Heinrich the Fifteenth of Hochberg and came to live in this castle. She was known for her beauty, her strong opinions, and her place in European high society before the First World War. She also wrote diaries and memoirs, which give a lively picture of aristocratic life in these rooms — and of her frustrations with it.

Daisy is linked to one well-known story. Locals and guides often mention a pearl necklace of extraordinary length, said to be a gift from her husband. The details vary in the telling, and the necklace has become part of the castle's legend as much as its history. What is clearer is that her marriage did not end happily. The couple divorced in the 1920s, and the family's fortunes declined in the difficult years that followed. Daisy later died in Wałbrzych, far from the glamour she had known.

The darkest chapter came during the Second World War. In 1941 the Nazi authorities took the castle from the Hochbergs. They began a vast rebuilding, and beneath the castle they dug tunnels into the rock. These works were part of a secret wartime programme known as Project Riese, or Project Giant, which built underground complexes across these mountains. Prisoners and forced labourers did much of the digging, in brutal conditions. Many died. The true purpose of the tunnels under Książ is still debated by historians.

That uncertainty has fed many rumours. You may hear stories of hidden Nazi treasure, or a lost train filled with gold somewhere in the Wałbrzych area. In recent years, these claims have drawn treasure hunters and journalists from around the world. So far, no such treasure has been confirmed. It is worth treating these tales as legend, not history. The real story — of forced labour carved into the mountain — is serious enough on its own.

After the war, Soviet troops occupied the castle, and it suffered heavy damage and looting. Furniture, art and fittings disappeared. For years the building stood neglected. Restoration began in the decades after the war and has continued in stages ever since. Today the castle belongs to the city and works as a museum, a cultural centre and a place for events. Some rooms are fully restored. Others still show bare walls and the marks of what was lost. That contrast is part of the visit.

Take time for the outside, too. Terraced gardens step down the slopes around the castle, with stone balustrades, fountains and flower beds. From these terraces, the view opens over the forested gorge. Paths lead down into the surrounding landscape park, where you can walk among old trees and look back at the castle from below. Nearby, the town also has a historic palm house and a long-established stud farm, both connected to the estate's aristocratic past.

As you leave, pause on one of the terraces and look back at the walls. Notice how the colours change from section to section, and how the windows differ in shape and size. Each change marks a different owner, a different century, a different idea of power. Listen again to the river in the gorge below. It was running here before Bolko built his fortress, and it will run long after you walk away. The castle rises above it — patient, layered, and still unfinished.