Pałac Gorzanów

The history of this place is a gold mine of ideas for books and film scripts. Sit back, we will tell you a bit, but be warned - for more, you need to get out of your armchair, pack your bags and go to the very centre of Kłodzko Valley, where for 450 years a story about a certain palace has been told. But first a word of caution. The Gorzanów Palace is still under renovation, and we as a foundation are still learning how to welcome guests. Many things don't work yet, and despite our being fired up with the project - we haven't managed to get it to earn only good reviews. We didn't tackle the kitchen, we're still working on that. There really were a lot of things that went wrong last year and any poor feedback (apart from one we didn't deserve) is well deserved. We promise to do better this year. Give us a chance. But remember, this is not a hotel and spa, it's more of a hostel, but in a really cool place. If you want to know its history, see below... Our favourite part is the one about an eccentric who was lucky enough to inherit this magnificent palace at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Why do we call him an eccentric? He had a completely different vision of life than most of his predecessors. His name was Johann Hieronymus von Herberstein. He expressed no particular interest in the property but was passionate about plants. What he enjoyed most about his impressive inheritance was the opportunity to tend his large garden. However, when you have a palace and not much money, you have a lot of problems to solve (which Johann did not want to deal with). However, he was born under a lucky star, which crossed his path with an actress from Berlin - Eleonora Petrelli. Like Johann, Mrs Petrelli was an interesting personality and had her own big dream: her own theatre. Suffice it to say that their very relationship broke the stereotypes of the time: Eleonora, when she moved into the Gorzanów Palace, was in her thirties and already had 4 children from her first marriage to a rich Italian merchant. Johann apparently did not care about the opinions of outsiders, who shook their heads at this bizarre choice of life partner. Only good things came out of this relationship: thanks to Mrs Petrelli there was a theatre in the palace, which staged performances 3 times a week, 8 months a year for the next 28 years, and Johann renovated the Orangery and could endlessly dig in the flower beds. Many years after Johann's death, the Herbenstein family went bankrupt (investing in gold turned out to be a very bad idea at the time) and the palace was taken over by the municipality of Bystrica, but the legacy of their joint efforts has survived the centuries and today inspires us to make further bold plans for this place. Since the 1960s, the castle had been falling into ruin. In 2012, Marek Haisig bought the palace and set up the Gorzanów Palace Foundation, which has since been fighting tirelessly to save this pearl of Renaissance architecture from destruction. He could repeat the words of Karl von Holtei, a poet and actor who made his debut on the stage of the Petrelli Theatre: "Like a fairy castle, a strange building stood before me, as if it had been specially conjured into this valley so that I could begin my adventure in the same place". This adventure is still ongoing, and today, proud and happy, we can finally open the doors and invite you to the Palace.