The Hunting Palace

The palace was built between 1906 and 1907 at the request of the Oertzen family, based on a design by the renowned Berlin architect Karl Edward Bengert. In 1925, the building was seized by the Prussian tax authority. In 1926, it was transferred to the Prussian State Forests, and until 1945 it housed the Forest Office (forest district). After the war, the State Treasury took over the building and transferred it to the Polish State Forests. From that point on, it successively housed the offices of the Orla Forest District and the Mirosławiec Forest District; the mansion also served as a vacation and summer camp facility. From 1968 to 1974, the Basic Forestry School operated here, followed by the Volunteer Labor Corps. Winter camps for children and recreational stays for people with disabilities were also organized here. Today, it houses a stylishly decorated hotel.

The palace, with its very picturesque appearance, was built in an eclectic style with a predominance of Art Nouveau elements on the slope terrace. The walls are constructed of ceramic brick on a foundation of hewn granite and solid brick. The building’s floor plan resembles an elongated rectangle, with projections on the north and south sides. In the southeast corner is a veranda accessed by stairs, while the corners of the projections feature suspended three-sided bay windows, and the west facade has a rectangular bay window. The roof is multi-sloped and adorned with pinnacles; the turret is covered with a high pyramidal roof. The walls are topped with a cornice, and the windows are framed by decorative moldings.

The main entrance is particularly striking; the door is framed by a basket-handle arch within a portal enclosed by a richly developed, profiled cornice line, meandering outward on either side, and features a panel with a coat-of-arms surrounded by a plume; the shield bears the emblem: two armored arms bent at the elbows and facing each other, with a helmet in the crest and the emblem repeated there.