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THE EVIL COUNTESS’S PALACE
– KROWIARKI
The palace was built about 1800. It belonged
to the families: Strachwitz, Gaszyna and industrialists
Donnersmarck. In the second half of the 19th
century it received the Neo-reneissance and Neo-baroque
look. The front elevation referred to the north-European
style, Italian Renaissance and late Baroque. Carefully made
Arabian ornamental motifs in the Mauritanian room are a
reminder of the richly adorned interiors. After 1892 a twostorey
wing in Art Nouveau style was built. The palace is
surrounded by a beautiful park with old trees, with a family
of Donnersmarck mausoleum. The legend says that an
evil countess Gaszynowa lived in the palace. She talked her
husband into refusing the emperor’s request to give living
accommodation to the army. She claimed that she would
prefer to keep two hundred dogs to Prussian soldiers. The
emperor was furious. He told the countess to buy dogs
and she was willing to do that. Thereafter, making people
frightened, she would gallop on a white horse with her
pack into the nearby forest, hunting animals. One day she
shot her two fingers away. She ordered two gold artificial
fingers. Being even more savage she still chased animals
in the woods. When she died she did not rest in peace.
Local people claim that they saw the ghost of the countess
on a white horse at night. They recognized her from the
gold fingers shining in the moonlight. When the ghost appeared
dogs were howling in the village. Probably she was
responsible for her servant’s death.
Only the exterior of the building can be visited, in the
neighbourhood there is a green recreation centre
Fot. B. Stachow