Palace in Zielin

The palace in Zielin, a village in Mieszkowice municipality, was built in 1720 on cellars from the 17th century and rebuilt in 1780 in the Neoclassical style. The Baroque features of the building have faded, but the palace has kept its layout with a park and viewing axes. For years it has served a primary school.

History of the palace

The estate belonged to the von der Marwitz family, and in 1795 it was bought by the starost of Chojna County, Carl Christoph Gottlob von Knobelsdorff, later royal grand equerry. In the 1930s the last owner handed the estates over to the state, and in the palace a Reich Labour Service camp for girls was set up. In 1975-1992 the building fell into such disrepair that the school was moved to the former parsonage. In 1991 the residents set up a rebuilding committee, and the renovation was financed, among other sources, from a village development fund, a government grant from Canada and voluntary contributions from the village.

Interiors and park

Inside, two rooms with stucco have survived. The landscape park from the 18th century, entered in the register in 1980, has its composition preserved with viewing axes, and in the western part of the village stands a former manor farm. The palace was entered in the heritage register in 1965 (no. 496).

Practical information

• Address: Wincentego Witosa 48, Zielin.
• The palace is an active school, so it is easiest to view it from the outside.
• Next to it, 300 m away, stands the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of granite ashlar from the second half of the 13th century, with a Baroque tower from 1704. In Zielin the former parsonage has also survived, the family home of the poet Gottfried Benn. It is about 5 km to the palace in Smolnica.