Poland

Palace (not castle!) in Moszna (not Moszna) :)

We continue our tour of our beautiful Poland as part of our Ready for Poland series. After Malbork Castle, we decided it was time to see other outstanding castles. So we set off in the direction of Lower Silesia, our goal: Moszna Castle!

But before we begin our discussion of castles in Lower Silesia, let’s take a look at one palace (yes! not a castle!), which is admittedly located in the Opole Province, but we couldn’t help but see it while we were in the south :)

So, we start our tour of Lower Silesia from a place that does not belong to this region, but it is worth bouncing a little to the east :)

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Moszna Palace or Moszna Castle?

Moszna Castle (or Palace? ;-)), as it is referred to, captivated us as soon as we saw it in the ranking of Top 10 castles in Poland. First impression looking at the photos – so Disney, and a lot of it is right. It was modeled on Bavaria’s Neuschwanstein, which in turn inspired Disney. Of course, the castle in Moszna is definitely smaller, but still impressive.

As a matter of fact, we should use the word ‘palace’, but somehow it has become accepted that it is a castle (although it never had a defensive function) and under this name the building is officially listed, so we will not make unnecessary confusion here and will continue to wade into this anomaly, forgive me! ;-)

Due to work commitments, we could only come to the area on a weekend, on top of a long one, so we expected crowds, queues and high prices. Fortunately, it wasn’t that bad! Admittedly, we parked far from the entrance, by the stables, but this was due to the road we took here.

You have to walk a bit to the castle itself, and from everywhere you are attacked by stalls with all sorts of goodies, waffles, ice cream, etc. By the time you get to the checkout, you can spend a fortune on Made in China plastic toys (does really every road where there are more tourists have to be swamped with these booths and stands?).

After a short walk, a castle emerges on the left, but it’s also worth looking to the right, where there’s a lake and, among other things. swans. A couple of photos and we move towards the entrance, but not yet the castle, but to the park surrounding the building.

Entrance to the park costs $6, and as part of this, in addition to the park itself, we can also enter the castle, but only the first floor section including the orangery.

Park in the Moszna Castle

We went for a walk to begin with, and left the castle for last. The grounds are quite extensive, nicely arranged, with a pond, an island and canals that run parallel along the Linden Avenue, which leads up to the castle.

Unfortunately, our knowledge of plants is mainly limited to those that can be bought in a flower shop or grown on a windowsill, so we will not throw around the names of all species here. However, special mention should be made of azaleas, which bloomed beautifully in April/May.

After a short walk, we reached the aforementioned avenue to the castle. From this side, the building looks its best: in the foreground is the fountain, next to it, on two sides, benches and stairs leading to the entrance.

Tour of the Moszna Castle

Of course, we absolutely wanted to go inside, so we had to buy a separate ticket (PLN 10/person) and wait for a tour, as the tour is only possible with a guide. Our entrance was in 45 minutes, so too short to eat something in between (the queue for the restaurant was long), and too long to sit back and wait.

Currently, prices are as follows:

Introduction	Reduced Price	Normal Price
Admission to the park during the season	6 zł	10 zł
Guided tour of the castle	9 zł	15 zł
Tour of the Castle Towers	8 zł	12 zł
Extreme tour	32 zł	38 zł

We poked around inside for a bit, went out to the park again, and at the stated time we were waiting in the small lobby by the reception desk together with a group of about 20-25 people.

The tour lasts about 45 minutes. During the tour, the guide talks about the history of the castle, describes each room we pass through, as well as presents many interesting facts.

We won’t elaborate on what you can read about on every other blog (we checked, the most common information is that there are 365 rooms and 99 towers and turrets here – although we haven’t counted them so far ;)), but we will write what you can see for that extra ten, among other things: Chapel, Salons, Gallery or the magnificent Library.

Unfortunately, the interiors disappointed us a bit…. The chapel and the Count’s Room were impressive, but the other rooms were very austere, sparing furniture or furnishings. Anyway, the guides say right from the start that little remains from the glory days – most of the valuable things were destroyed and looted, mainly during the Russian raid in 1945.

Thus, for example: there are 33 fireplaces in the entire castle, of which only one works,no paintings or original chandeliers have survived, there is only one original mirror (!). It is puzzling that the guides have a fair amount of knowledge about what went on in the castle, but on the other hand there is a lack of documentation or detailed information (for example, we know that an arranged hunt for animals imported from Africa took place on the grounds, during which almost 3,000 animals were killed, but it is not known at all what they were).

The most valuable in the entire castle is the door, or rather the beautifully decorated entrance to the Count’s Study, also known as the Library.

Is it worth visiting the Palace in Moszna (Moszna Castle)?

We lacked any kind of map, leaflet or at least captions for the various exhibits – we were reliant only on what the guide would say, and even hearing everything was sometimes difficult.

As for the castle tour, the price is adequate for what we saw inside. 10 zloty is not a fortune, and you can really learn a lot about the history of the place. There are no knock-down interiors, but that’s not what we expected either, but the castle is most impressive from the outside.

If someone would like to enrich their tour, they can also climb the castle towers, go to the stables, take a carriage or horseback ride. There is something to do. In addition, there are quite a few attractions for children, but we don’t know how much of them are there permanently and how much were just for the long weekend.

We also recommend more photos in our gallery:

Zobacz galerię wszystkich zdjęć >>>

And have you already been to the Palace in Moszna? How are your impressions?

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