Palace in Pyszczyn, Early Classicist palace in Pyszczyn, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland
The Palace in Pyszczyn is an early Neoclassical building expanded in 1794–96 from an earlier manor, with two storeys and two bays of rooms under gabled roofs with dormers. The main entrance has a Baroque portal flanked by paired Corinthian pilasters and a semicircular gable; above it is a cartouche with the arms of Heinrich Gottfried von Spätgen and Anna Barbara von Oexle zu Friedenberg and the date 1726. A round tower with a conical roof stands on the south side.
A castle existed in Pyszczyn by 1365, when the first record of a fortified manor appears; the village belonged to the von Tschirn family from 1339 to 1520. Heinrich Gottfried von Spaetgen rebuilt the residence in 1727, adding a chapel, and in 1794–1796 it was enlarged into a palace with a new wing. The von Matuschka-Toppolczan family held it until 1945, when Soviet troops looted and devastated it; it was renovated in 1954–1957.
The von Matuschka-Toppolczan counts kept a private theatre in a converted granary, staging amateur premieres several times a year that drew the notable families of the surrounding estates. Countess Matuschka also invited long-staying guests, mostly connected to the Catholic Church or converts to it. The theatre building, later used for housing and storage, stands by the palace.
The palace stands in Pyszczyn, a village in the Żarów municipality of the Świdnica district, Lower Silesia. The building is in private hands since a private buyer purchased it in August 2013, so there is no regular visiting arrangement; view it from the outside and the surrounding park. The park beside the palace dates from the late 17th to the 19th century.
In 1987 a bottle was found walled into the estate wall, sealed there in 1923 by a Matuschka estate assistant. On company paper it listed the livestock breeds kept on the farm and explained that the wall was built because of frequent break-ins.
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