A neo-Gothic hunting lodge of the princes of Pless from 1861 on Lake Paprocany in Kobiór, currently undergoing revitalisation.
The Promnice Hunting Palace, also called the Promnice Hunting Lodge (Zameczek Myśliwski Promnice), stands in a forest on Lake Paprocany, in a part of the village of Kobiór in Pszczyna County. This neo-Gothic brick residence was built in 1861 as a guest seat for the princes of Pless during hunts in the forests of the Principality of Pless. It now belongs to the Pszczyna Castle Museum and is closed to visitors because of revitalisation work.
The lodge was built in 1861 to a design by Olivier Pavelt, royal provincial builder, on the initiative of Prince Hans Heinrich XI Hochberg von Pless. From 1865 the prince held for life the office of Master of the Hunt to the King of Prussia, and in the years 1872-1893 he headed the Imperial Hunting Office. On the site there had earlier stood a manor house of the Promnitz family from the years 1760-1766, whose appearance was replaced by the new building.
In September 1867 the residence burned down. It was insured, so rebuilding began at once and was completed at the end of October 1868, under the supervision of the same architect. The new seat kept its picturesque character, combining elements of Gothic Revival and German Renaissance. On the fireplace inside there is a set of family coats of arms and the date 1868. The wooden ceilings, stairs, doors and floors have survived to this day in an almost untouched state. Inside, a large, ceremonial spiral staircase was built.
For decades Promnice hosted European aristocracy who came for the famous hunts in the Pszczyna forests. Among them were the German emperors Wilhelm I and Wilhelm II and the crown prince Friedrich Wilhelm. The most famous hunts were for deer and European bison. The number of hunting trophies rose from 34 in 1865 to 450 in 1927.
For the princely family the lodge was also a place of rest. Princess Daisy von Pless was particularly fond of it, and after the death of her father-in-law in 1908 she changed the interiors: the walls were painted in light colours, and comfortable furniture with light upholstery and colourful wallpaper appeared. Electricity was also added, along with a small lift for transporting dishes. In the courtyard, since 1864, there has stood a figure of St Hubert, patron saint of hunters, with a stag and a pair of hounds, the work of Johann Janda. In 2000 it was smashed by a branch of an old oak, and after conservation it returned to its pedestal in 2001.
In 1938 the palace passed into state ownership. After the war it was looked after by the State Forests, and from 1967 by the mining ministry, and it served as a training and recreation centre. In the 1990s it was leased by a company that ran a hotel and restaurant here. In 2018 the lodge was handed over to the Pszczyna Castle Museum, and since then a revitalisation project has been under way, adapting it for museum and educational activity.
The museum is recreating the historic wallpapers on the basis of surviving fragments from its collections: 163 rolls of about 11 metres each, 1.7 kilometres of wallpaper in total, with motifs of peonies, roses, birds of paradise and bamboo. According to the museum, completion of the project and the start of museum activity are planned for the second half of 2027, and until then the lodge remains closed to visitors.
Promnice lies in the Kobiór municipality, near Tychy. A walk in the forest combines well with a visit to the residence and to nearby places, for example the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kobiór or the Żubrowisko nature reserve. In Tychy there are also the Tychy Water Park and the Tyskie Browarium.
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