Interesting castle that was built centuries ago (in the 1600s) and added on to in 1900 and 1912…read more There are over 90 towers and over 300 rooms. The tour doesn't do all of them - but does quite a bit. The rooms are restored to various points in time. The grounds have a greenhouse as well as outside manicured gardens. There's even a restaurant on-site and rooms you can stay in overnight. Tells the story of the area which started as Poland for centuries, became Prussia, then part of the German Empire, then back to Poland. We spent 90 minutes there with an audio tour in English - but wish we had spent longer on the grounds.

How to review this place…read more.. I want to give it 5 stars, and I want to give it 1 star, so I suppose I'll have to settle for 3... The outside is magnificent - the building is only about 120 years old, but it was built as a copy of the owners' favourite castles from around Europe, with great attention to detail in... all of the different styles employed... A very popular place for wedding photos, the beautiful building is surrounded by extensive gardens, though all except the parts nearest to the building seem to have been somewhat neglected, at least judging by the photos and drawings of how it all originally looked. Which brings me to what's wrong with this place... This area of Poland was actually part of Germany before WWII, and Prussia before that. The original owners, part of the Prussian aristocracy, turned the place into a hospital for soldiers during WWII. So, as the Russians arrived towards the end of the war, they felt within their rights to steal anything they could, and destroy anything they couldn't steal. Unlike many other stately buildings however, this one wasn't demolished, as a fully - functional military hospital was considered a rather handy thing to keep in service, even without the artwork or statues or.. furniture. After the building was handed to the newly re-formed and somewhat relocated Poland, it was used for an array of purposes until it eventually became a psychiatric hospital, which it stayed until 2013. The resulting attraction today is the most oddly mismatched, or 'eclectic' if you're trying to make money with it, estate that one could possibly imagine. From the turrets-and-sandstone neo-gothic wing and the original tiled reception floor that predates the buildings themselves, through the 1970s chandeliers and socialist murals that would look more at home in Nowa Huta, to the "what's a straight line?' building-maintenance techniques so prominent in post-communist institutions, this place has an "oh that's amazing!" and a "what were they thinking?!" for every visitor.

Don't miss the Tower in the middle of the square while you're in Swidnica. If you don't feel like…read moreclimbing all the stairs, you can easily get to the observation deck by the modern lift. Don't miss the exhibitions on almost all the floors on the way back. The entrance is for free and you can even use the toilet in -1 floor. Excellent views from the top!