The history of Zagrodno, a large chain village in the northern part of the Kaczawskie Foothills on the border with the Chojnów Plain, dates back to the 13th century. Thanks to favourable environmental conditions, its development as an agricultural village was rapid. During the Reformation period, the village was a strong centre of Protestantism. From 1536 to 1563, Paul Lemberk, who was a disciple of Martin Luther, led the local evangelical community. The village suffered greatly during the Thirty Years’ War, and after its conclusion, the depopulated area was settled by a group of religious emigrants from Czech lands.
An interesting episode from the period immediately after the end of World War II was the discovery of a hidden part of the collections of the Lviv Ossolineum, including the manuscript of Adam Mickiewicz’s ‘Pan Tadeusz,’ which had been concealed here by the Germans. The most valuable historical landmark is the local church, built between 1789 and 1792 in the Neoclassical style on the site of an older structure, according to the design of the renowned architect of that period, Karl Gotthard Langhans. The building has a layout similar to a Greek cross, with three levels of galleries surrounding the central nave. In the axis of the church stands a tall tower with a spire. Next to the church, there is a cemetery with a Neoclassical burial chapel of the von Reibniz family. In the lower part of the village are the ruins of a palace dating back to the 16th century, built in the Renaissance style as a three-winged structure with a circular tower. The remnants of a landscape park surround the area. The upper palace, in the Baroque-Neoclassical style, dates back to the mid-18th century.
Description: Piotr Migoń
