Sibyllenort Palace

Today, only individual remnants of buildings and the vast, largely overgrown park bear witness to the once grand and representative castle complex.

[1][3] From 1685 to 1692, he constructed a summer residence there for his second wife, princess Sibylle Maria of Saxony-Merseburg (1667–1694), after whom he named both the town and the palace, Sibyllenort.

[1] Christian Ulrich's son, Charles Fredrick II (1690–1761), gifted the palace to his wife, Sibylle Charlotte Juliane of Württemberg (1690–1735), in 1712, who initially leased the property.

His daughter, Friederike Sophie Charlotte Auguste (1751–1789), was married to prince Frederick Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1740–1805), son of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1713–1780).

[1][3] East of the newly integrated corps de logis, a new economic wing was built, as well as a glazed orangery.

[2] Simultaneously, a 75-hectare English landscape park with several ponds and a wild game reserve of over 200 hectares were created.

[2] It was possible to visit the park and 60 representative rooms with a large collection of 5,000 prints and paintings, and Meissen porcelain, making the palace a popular tourist attraction.

Under Albert, the theatre was converted into a chapel, the palace received water and sewage systems, and the large fountain in front of the main facade was installed.

Also, there were other improvements like importing a marble altar from Venice and covering the dining room walls with embossed leather depicting ancient scenes.

The Duke, who was a great admirer of the fair sex, had a private theatre there, and the ballet was composed of numerous pretty girls, whom he kept in harem-like seclusion.

I remember seeing some rather startling pictures when I visited the castle as a girl of sixteen, but these were very properly banished by Queen Carola's orders, and Sibyllenort became a highly decorous royal residence.

[2] In the People's Republic of Poland, the still usable parts of the buildings were used by the State Security Service, including as a recreational centre for officials.

[1] After extensive renovation from 1977 to 1980, the preserved part of the east wing became a training centre for employees of the Lower Silesia Voivodeship and the city of Wrocław.

Still existing structures in 2015 included: In the former park there is also a memorial cross for King Albert, which his wife Carola (1833–1907) had erected after his death.