Palace
In the heart of the Drawskie Lakeland, in the village of Siemczyno, there is the largest original baroque palace in Western Pomerania, which we can admire to this day. The palace was built in 1722-1726 by Henning Berndt von der Goltz.
The imposing structure was built on a horseshoe plan with a terrace in the center, 122 feet long (approx. 35.38 m) and 72 feet (20.88 m) wide. The palace had a spacious hall from which double oak stairs, 4.5 meters high, led to social, living and sleeping rooms. The knight’s hall, open fireplaces and huge tiled stoves attracted attention.
After several hundred years of managing the von der Goltz family in Siemczyno, in 1793 the property passed into the hands of the von Arnim family, whose representatives will stay here for the next 102 years.
In 1905, the palace and the property were purchased by the Frankfurt banker Adolf Marwitz, who sold the Siemczyno property to Eryk von Borcke after a year. The latter, however, sells the property just as quickly, because as early as 1907 Hartwig and Mascha von Bredow became its owners.
The period 1907-1914 was seen by the property owners as a peaceful and prosperous time. The estate managed by Hartwig prospered very well. The palace was extended by the northern wing, where the kitchen and laundry, previously located in the basement, were moved.
On April 26, 1927, Hartwig was taken to a hospital in Szczecin, where he died of anemia. His death was a great blow to the von Bredow family, and the ownership of the estate now fell on the shoulders of the widowed Mascha. At the end of the 1920s, Pomeranian agriculture was hit by the global crisis, as a result of which in 1931 the land property in Siemczyno was drowning in debt and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
During World War II, Mascha’s two youngest sons, Siegward and Wilfried, died on the Soviet front in 1942 and 1943. The remaining members of the von Bredow family survived the war. Today’s owners of the palace in Siemczyno maintain friendly contacts with Mathias von Bredow (son of Wichard), who has been the president of the von Bredow family since 2010. The order to evacuate the inhabitants was issued on March 1, 1945, too late for the effective escape to the west of most of the inhabitants of Siemczyń. Soviet armored divisions overtook the columns of refugees, and eventually a large part of Heinrichsdorf’s inhabitants returned to their homes.
The palace and the estate abandoned by the von Bredow family were briefly occupied by the Soviet army. In the spring of 1945, the most valuable furnishings of the palace were plundered. Polish authorities renamed Heinrichsdorf Henrykowo. However, already in 1947 the name was changed again to the present Siemczyno.
In 1949, the estate was transformed into the Siemczyno State Farm, which was liquidated in 1953. Then the ?Kłos? Production Cooperative was established, despite its difficult beginnings, it turned out to be an efficient enterprise. For decades, she offered jobs to the inhabitants of the countryside and surrounding areas.
Thanks to the efforts of the local teacher, Henryk Leszczyński, in 1950 the primary school was moved to the palace, which certainly prevented further devastation of this building. During the summer holidays, it housed a summer camp. The school in the palace functioned until the beginning of 1986, when it was closed after a construction disaster, and school students were transferred to Czaplinek.
On March 19, 1960, the Palace was entered in the register of monuments under number 249, and 20 years later, on June 12, 1980, the park by the palace was entered into the register of monuments under number 1103.
In the years 1986-90, the palace had no owner and was deteriorating more and more. At the end of 1990, the palace was sold to private people who did not take any action to save or renovate it. In 1999, the palace became the property of the Andziak brothers, who had previously bought it in parts, including as a result of a bailiff’s auction. The new owners immediately started working to prevent further degradation of this unique monument.
Another important step was the purchase in 2002 by the owners of the palace of a significant part of the farm buildings and the land belonging to the Agricultural Production Cooperative in Siemczyno. The complex of buildings, historically constituting a palace and farm complex, located along the national road No. 20, has undergone extensive renovation.
Considering the good of the historic buildings of Siemczyno, on the initiative of the owners of the palace, the Henryków Association in Siemczyno was established and on December 14, 2005, the owners entrusted the use of the palace and park. Since then, the Association, or HSS for short, has been stubbornly and relentlessly trying to recreate both the architectural and historical beauty of this facility.
In June 2009, the renovation was completed and the entire farm part (former pigsty, cowshed, stable and outbuilding) was handed over to the hotel.
Currently, in the renovated palace cellars and in the attic, there are two museums: “Siemczyno Palace in the Baroque Era” and “Universal Craftsmanship”.