HISTORY
A first fortification at the site was destroyed by the Bohemian forces of King Ottokar II in 1263. The Silesian duke Bolko I the Strict (d. 1301), ruler in Świdnica and Jawor, had a new castle built from 1288 to 1292 and took his residence here, adding Lord of Książ to his titles. The burgraviate included the neighbouring settlements of Świebodzice, Szczawno, and Pełcznica. When the last Świdnica duke Bolko II the Small died in 1368 without children, the castle's estates passed to the Luxembourg king Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, the son of Bolko's niece Anne, while his widow Agnes of Habsburg reserved the usufruct for herself. After her death in the year 1392, King Wenceslaus, also King of the Romans since 1376, seized the Duchy of Świdnica and obtained Książ Castle.
As Agnes, contrary to her limited real rights, had sold the Książ estates, the castle passed through many hands. In 1401 it was obtained by the Bohemian noble Janko of Chotěmice (d. after 1442), who later rose to a governor of the Świdnica-Jawor lands. During the Hussite Wars, the castle was captured by the insurgents and occupied in 1428-1429. After Janko's death, the Bohemian king George of Poděbrady acquired Książ from his descendants and transferred the administration to the Moravian general Birka of Nasiedle. In 1466 Hans von Schellendorf obtained the castle from the Bohemian Crown. It was renamed Fürstenstein.
The second castle complex was devastated in 1482 by Georg von Stein, a military commander in the service of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus while his forces campaigned in Silesia. Stein granted Frederick von Hohberg the estates, his descendant Konrad I von Hohberg obtaining the castle hill in 1509. The von Hohberg family were elevated to the rank of Freiherren (Baron) in 1650, Graf (Count) in 1666, and Imperial counts (Reichsgrafen) in 1683, and owned the castle until 1944.
From the mid 16th century onwards, the premises were rebuilt in a lavish Renaissance style.
Schloss Fürstenstein in the 1920s
During World War II, the castle was seized by the Nazi regime in 1944 after Count Hans Heinrich XVII of Hochberg, Prince of Pless, had moved to England in 1932 and became a British citizen; moreover, his brother Count Alexander of Hochberg, also a Polish citizen and owner of Pszczyna Castle, had joined the Polish army in 1939. Supervised by SS and Organisation Todt personnel, the building complex at Fürstenstein became part of the vast underground Project Riese complex, presumably a projected Führer Headquarter and a future abode for Adolf Hitler. Construction works were carried out under inhumane conditions by forced labourers and inmates of Gross-Rosen concentration camp. The castle was subsequently occupied by Red Army forces in the wake of the Vistula–Oder Offensive in 1945. A memorial marks the site of the Fürstenstein subcamp. Parts of the historic building structure were demolished during reconstruction; numerous artefacts were stolen or destroyed during the Soviet occupation.
After the war the castle complex was used as a recreation home and cultural centre by the communist authorities. In recent years, large parts of the interior have been elaborately restored. Parts of the tunnel complex beneath the castle are currently used by the Polish Academy of Sciences for gravimeter measuring, while several tunnels are accessible to the public on guided tours.
ARCHITECTURE
The castle was built on a rocky promontory, with three sides ended with steep walls. In its south-east parts were located upper castle, erected on an oval plan. The main element was a four-sided tower. The development of buildings along the defensive perimeter with a lenticular courtyard on the longer axis of the castle is connected with the younger phase of the construction. Outside the south-eastern curtain, a three-story house was also than built on a plan of a bend rectangle. From the side of the slope he was supported by three powerful buttresses. It could had a representative functions, although it is not known if the net vault preserved in it, is not a result of a regothization. At that time, there was also a kitchen building with a characteristic bottle chimney, added to the southwestern section of the perimeter wall.
The outer bailey with an oval outline was adjoined to the upper castle from the south. From the south-east there was a courtyard with an entrance gate, preceded by a moat carved into the rock. Behind it lay the lower castle with its own fortifications. It was surrounded by a wall topped with battlements and additionally reinforced with cylindrical towers, protruding from the face of the defensive perimeter.
CURRENT SITUATION
Today much of the castle is open to visitors, including the Maximilian Hall, the Games Salon and the exquisite China Salon, with its delightful murals. To say it has been restored to its former glory, however, would be a bit of a stretch - a certain commie-esque vibe still lingers around the place and criss-crossing groups of visitors are hurried along impatiently by guides rattling off historical details at a mile a minute. Go with the flow and remember that this is an Eastern European experience which is getting rarer to come by. English-language tours are organised only for groups of fifteen or more who call ahead of time and only in the warm season, but multilingual audioguides and information boards scattered around the premises give all the info you’d care about, so just do it solo. The downside is that self-guided tourists theoretically cannot access the photo exhibition on the third floor and underground Project Riese structures (shelter and 96m section of tunnel); our advice is to take advantage of the usual industrial-scale bustle of visitors - groups getting mixed up is rather commonplace- and 'accidentally' attach yourself to whomever is heading in the right direction.
Weather allowing, a walk around the Książ Landscape Park surrounding the castle could be a good way to round off your visit, and it’s worth noting that you can visit the Daisy-era Palm House with your Książ ticket - located a walkable 2km away from the castle, it’s a somewhat shabby affair, but features a splendidly leafy in-greenhouse cafe.
