Schloss Unwürde

Schloss Unwürde was a small Baroque palace built between 1727 and 1730 on a gentle rise above the Löbauer Wasser in the village of Unwürde, now part of Löbau. It belonged to the von Hund und Altengrotkau family, who turned an earlier medieval stronghold into a three-storey building with a tall mansard roof and slender cupola. The main front faced a formal garden, and the entrance was marked by a stone arch dated 1727 with a carved coat of arms above the keystone. Inside, visitors would have found a grand hall with a 1727 stucco ceiling and other rooms similarly decorated, while the ground floor windows were fitted with iron grilles shaped like hearts and rings. The palace’s history stretches back to the 14th century when it was held by the von Kittlitz family and later by the von Nostitz line, who regarded it as their ancestral seat. After a Hussite raid in 1425 it was rebuilt as a knight’s manor and in 1527 became a registered estate. In 1603 it passed by marriage to the von Hund und Altengrotkau family, who commissioned the new Baroque palace and installed a Masonic lodge in the main hall. By the early 19th century the building had changed hands several times, passing through the families von Salmour, von Gabelentz, von Gutschmidt and von Sydow before being bought in the 1920s by Julian Czapski and Vally Friedländer. Today only a few outbuildings remain on the quiet rise above the river. The former stable block, built at the same time as the palace, still stands with three carved keystones in its walls, the central one bearing the 1730 marriage arms of von Hundt and von Raben. A simple orangery and other minor structures complete the remains, surrounded by the gentle slopes and meadows of the Löbauer countryside.