Probably the first brick castle in Głogówek arose in the XIIIth cent. Certainly in the years of 1283-1313 there was a defensive mansion of duke Bolesław I of Opole. The first references to the castle emerge, however, only in the XVth cent. The castle was a property of dukes of Opole till 1532 when it came into Zeidlitz family’s property and then into Oppersdorff family’s, who were the owners of the castle until World War II. They also made several conversions of the castle. In 1655 during the Swedish invasion a king Jan Kazimierz took shelter in the castle, while in 1806 a guest of Oppersdorf family was Beethoven. After destructions of World War II the castle was provisionally secured, but did not find the owner who could renovate it up to this day.

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Castle Głogówek

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The Moszna Castle (Polish: Pałac w Mosznej) is a historic castle and residence located in a small village of Moszna in Poland. The castle is one of the best known monuments in the western part of Upper Silesia. The history of this building begins in the 17th century, although much older cellars were found in the gardens during excavations carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the investigators, including H. Barthel, claimed that those cellars could have been remnants of a presumed Templar castle, but their theory has never been proved. After World War II, further excavations discovered a medieval palisade.

The central part of the castle is an old baroque palace which was partially destroyed by fire on the night of April 2, 1896 and was reconstructed in the same year in its original form by Franz Hubert von Tiele-Winckler (the son of Hubert von Tiele-Winckler). The reconstruction works involved an extension of the residence. The eastern Neogothic-styled wing of the building was built by 1900, along with an adjacent orangery. In 1912-1914, the western wing was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. The architectural form of the castle contains a wide variety of styles, thus it can be generally defined as eclectic. The height of the building, as well as its numerous turrets and spires, give the impression of verticalism. The whole castle has exactly ninety-nine turrets. Inside, it contains 365 rooms with a total floorage of 7,000 sq. m. and a cubic capacity of about 65,000 m3 The castle was twice visited by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. His participation in hunting during his stay at the castle was documented in a hand-written chronicle in 1911 as well as in the following year. The castle in Moszna was the residence of a Silesian family Tiele-Winckler who were industrial magnates, from 1866 until the spring of 1945 when they were forced to move to Germany and the castle was occupied by the Red Army. The period of the Soviet control caused significant damage to the castle's internal fittings in comparison to the minor damage caused by WWII.

After World War II the castle did not have a permanent owner and was the home of various institutions until 1972 when it became a convalescent home. Later it became a Public Health Care Centre for Therapies of Neuroses. Nowadays it can be visited by tourists since the health institution has moved to another building in the neighbourhood. The castle also has a chapel which is used as a concert hall. Since 1998 the castle housed a gallery in which works of various artists are presented at regular exhibitions.

Apart from the castle itself, the entire complex includes a park which has no precise boundaries and includes nearby fields, meadows and a forest. Only the main axis of the park can be characterised as geometrical. Starting from the gate, it leads along the oak and then horse-chestnut avenues, towards the castle. Further on, the park passes into an avenue of lime trees with symmetrical canals running along both sides of the path, lined with a few varieties of rhododendrons. The axis of the park terminates at the base of a former monument of Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. On the eastern side of the avenue there is a pond with an islet referred to by the owners as Easter Island. The islet is planted with needle-leaved shrubs and can be reached by a Chinese-styled bridge. The garden, as part of the whole park complex was restored slightly earlier than the castle itself. Preserved documents of 1868 state that the improvement in the garden's aesthetic quality was undertaken by Hubert von Tiele-Winckler.

Moszna Castle

The history of the Krapkowice castle is little known. It is difficult to establish the exact date of its construction. We can assume that it was built in the Middle Ages as it had already existed before the town of Krapkowice were granted its charter by Duke Wladyslaw of Opole in 1294. Legend has it that it was built by the Knights Templar, but that seems unlikely. Neither do we know anything of the function that the building was to have. The town was established in the area of the Duke’s property and the castle was located just outside its walls. Who lived there? It is possible that it was a seat of the Duke’s landlord. The history of the castle must have been tumultuous if J. Sinapius in his book “Stories of Silesian Nobility” talks about a white lady who could be seen in the castle of Krapkowice. When the Upper Silesian (Opole and Racibórz) line of the Piast dynasty came to an end in 1532, the duchy was seized by Frederick Habsburg. Faced with heavy debts after his war with the Turks, he was forced to put the town in pledge to Joachim Buchta for the mere 6500 thalers. On September 29 1582 Krapkowice was sold to Count Jan Joachim von Redern for 1600 thalers and was no longer a duke’s town. The status of the castle grew as it was now a seat of the town’s owner. However, during the reign of the Rederns it was not inhabited as they had another seat in the castle in Rogów Opolski. The Rederns changed the architecture of Krapkowice to give it its present look. The old wooden castle was replaced by that noble family by a new one with 2 stories, four sides, and a courtyard in the middle. There is only one entrance to the courtyard through a hall located in the western wing. At the time the castle had an orangery which was directly connected to the garden, park and the hothouse. Construction works were finished in 1678, a date which was put on the gate to commemorate the event. The reign of the Rederns was the halcyon period for the castle which had a mirrored summer dining room, beautiful orangery with glass walls and direct connection with the hothouse, garden and park. Galleries led to the basements where wine and ice were stored. On August 28 1759 the last male descendant of the von Renderns, Count Henryk Adolf died leaving a sole heiress, Countess Henrietta who also died in 1765 at the age of 9, thereby putting an end to the Krapkowice line of the family. The property was taken over by Henrietta’s mother who sold it in 1775 to Karl Wilhelm von Haugwitz for 18,000 thalers. On June 16 the whole town was engulfed by rapid fire. A lot of houses burned down, as did the church and the castle. After the fire, the height of the castle was decreased by one storey and it is in this form that it has survived. The Haugwitzes owned the place until 1944 but they seriously neglected it. Between 1806 and 1807 a weaving house was set up inside. During the Napoleonic Wars, the castle turned into a hospital for French troops. It was totally destroyed at that time. After a fire which consumed the town, one of its stories was torn down. The castle’s chambers had different functions such as a weaving manufacture, Evangelical school, and a Masonic lodge. After the war the place was renovated and has housed a school since 1947.

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Castle Krapkowice

The castle was built in the fifteenth century. Probably by the Piast princes Niemodlińskie. Rebuilt in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Renaissance style. Expanded in the 2nd half of the nineteenth century. Consists of four wings in a square with a courtyard and two towers. In the halls of the barrel-vault cross.