Castle in Pszczyna

Castle in Pszczyna - former magnate residence in Pszczyna (German: Pless) in Upper Silesia, which was built on the site of a defensive Gothic castle from the beginning of the 15th century, probably built on the site of an earlier fortification. Then the castle was rebuilt in the 16th century in the renaissance style, and in the 18th century in the baroque style and again in the 19th century in the French baroque style from the times of Louis XIII. In the Middle Ages it was the property of, among others, the Opole-Racibórz dukes, the dukes of Opava and the dukes of Cieszyn. In the years 1548–1765 it belonged to the Silesian family of Promnitz, 1765–1847 to the princes Anhalt-Köthen-Pless, and from 1847 to the princes Hochberg von Pless from Książ. In the years 1870–1876, they rebuilt the castle, as a result of which it obtained its present architectural shape in the neo-baroque style.
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamek_w_Pszczynie

A palace complex that evolved from a 15th-century Gothic defensive castle into an elegant residence through multiple reconstructions in Renaissance, Baroque, and French Baroque styles. The castle served as the seat of various noble families including the Promnitz, Anhalt-Köthen-Pless, and Hochberg dynasties, with its final architectural form achieved during the 1870-1876 renovation directed by French architect Hippolyte Alexandre Destailleur. During World War I (1915-1916), it housed the German Army's Great General Headquarters where Kaiser Wilhelm II, Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, and General Erich Ludendorff made crucial military decisions for the Eastern Front.

The castle's Mirror Hall features two enormous mirrors (each 14m²) that were manufactured in Paris and transported to Pszczyna, along with five crystal chandeliers that can be lowered to floor level using pulley systems from the attic - a mechanism that still functions today from the Hochberg era.