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| - The village of the Castle's location was called Arnoldsdorf between at least 1341 (the earliest extant record) and 1670. For the next 275 years between 1670 and 1945 the village's name was Grafenort ("the Seat of the Counts", with reference to the von Herberstein family). In 1945, after the accession of Lower Silesia to Poland, the locality was renamed Gorzanów by the Polish authorities. The Castle, situated at an elevation of c.329 m (1,080 ft) above sea level and comprising over 100 interior chambers within its structure, is surrounded by 6.6 hectares (16.3 acres) of parkland (palace gardens) that once were one its greatest glories (see historical lithographs below), the views extending from some vantage points being described as having a mesmeric effect on the viewer. The Castle has historical associations with Cardinal Ernst Adalbert von Harrach (15981667), the bishop of Trent, who in his Italian diaries for 16631664 refers to Grafenort alternately as Arnsdorff, Arnßdorff, or Arnßdorf, and the composer Ignaz Reimann (18201885; buried at the nearby Krosnowice). The poet and actor Karl von Holtei (17981880) who began his career as an actor at Grafenort Castle mentions it repeatedly in his pleasantly amusing, light-hearted biography, Vierzig Jahre ("Forty Years"). He says he spent thirty years of his life in the Castle; on a return visit he muses about the rooms in which I dwelt, made love, watched people die, cohabited with the survivors, poetized, quarrelled with the Count, written plays, learned roles, managed the theatre, made plans for the future, and God knows what else? The foreword in his 1840 play Shakspear in der Heimath is dated July 1839 at "Schloß Grafenort". In another of his works Holtei speaks of Schloß Grafenort as the ancient edifice that is the oasis of hospitality whose "brightly coloured gabled halls look up towards the Silesian Schneeberg" (the mountain is about 22 km away). His 333-page edition of twelve letters written "from and to Grafenort" between July 1839 and May 1840 (Briefe aus und nach Grafenort, published in 1841) are a treasure trove of information on the Castle. The Polish scholar Filip Sulimierski (18431885), editor of the monumental Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1881), describes the property as "the beautiful castle of the Herberstein counts" in which theatrical performances were given three times a week for eight months of the year (see Bibliography). Apart from pieces of mainstream dramatic literature, the Castle's theatre staged ("with great pomp", according to contemporary accounts) a special genre of "Jesuit dramas" under the patronage of the Grafen von Herberstein. A large number of photographs of the Castle's exterior and interior, and its outlying structures, including details of the Castle's unique architectural features (such as its sgraffiti-clad windows), are published in Richard Konwiarz's book Alt-Schlesien (1913). The book speaks of the Castle's front staircase leading to the garden as the historically significant architectural element, and the gardens themselves with their intricate layout as ranking on the same level of importance. A photograph of the theatre's interior, including the stage and the seating area, was published in the monthly periodical Schlesische Monatshefte: Blätter für Kultur und Schrifttum der Heimat of March 1933. The numerous pictorial representations of Grafenort Palace include works of Friedrich Bernhard Werner (16901776) and Josef Schall (17851867).
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