Warcino Palace, 19th century palace in Warcino, Poland.
Warcino Palace, known in German as Schloss Varzin, grew from a Baroque manor house to which the Podewils family added two side wings. Otto von Bismarck had a square, flat-roofed annex built to plans by Ende and Böckelmann, and his son Wilhelm added a Neo-Baroque wing. Inside, Bismarck's study survives with its original furniture and a large Silesian tiled stove.
The estate was a von Zitzewitz fief in 1485 and passed by marriage to the von Blumenthal family in 1805. Adalbert von Blumenthal sold it in 1867 to Otto von Bismarck, whose wife Johanna von Puttkamer had grown up on a neighbouring estate. The von Bismarcks held it until the Red Army occupied Pomerania in 1945; from 1946 it served as a training centre, and the forestry school was founded in 1951.
Since 1951 the palace has housed a forestry school, and the former Wagenremise opposite now holds an education centre. Inside, visitors can see Otto von Bismarck's study with its original furniture and a large Silesian tiled stove. The landscape park once contained Johanna von Bismarck's rose garden.
Access to the building is limited since it currently functions as an educational facility and is not freely open to the public. To visit the grounds or learn more about its history, it is advisable to contact local authorities in advance.
The Bismarck family mausoleum on the estate was destroyed in 1957, so no family grave survives there today. Countess Sybille von Bismarck, widow of Otto von Bismarck's son Wilhelm, was buried in it in March 1945 at age 81 after refusing to flee the advancing Red Army. The grounds also hold the graves of Bismarck's dogs.
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