The Prince's Stables in Pszczyna

The project intends the revitalization of the former historic stable buildings, the coach house and the prince’s garages being part of the castle complex of the Castle in Pszczyna as well as conversion of those buildings into a museum and for exhibition purposes. One- storey stables were built of brick in 1866-1867, whereas the coach house was built in 1864. The buildings were designed in the neo – Romanesque style.  

In the beginning of the 20th century (years 1904-1910) the brick garages for 9 cars were built east of the coach house as well as the storehouse with a few cellars. At present, the buildings of the former stables, the coach house and the prince’s garages require immediate renovation due to their poor condition affecting not only the aesthetic qualities of the building but also posing a threat to safety.

The project implementation aims to restore the devastated historic stable complex buildings, being part of the Castle complex in Pszczyna, for present and future generations, which is unique in Poland and in Central Europe. At the same time, the revitalized buildings will serve the purpose of enriching and improving the quality of the Pszczyna Castle Museum cultural offer. The functional plan of the revitalized buildings presents itself as follows:

 I. The stable

1. The main room – ground floor (floor surface – 637,5m2)

The main room will be dedicated mainly to holding permanent and temporary museum exhibitions.  The permanent exhibition will include exhibits concerning  broadly defined hunting/ trophies, weapon, instruments, relics, etc. /, ancient horse riding  equipment, exhibits connected with the court and the area of Pszczyna, archeological and ethnographic collection, exhibits of the former household appliances used in the castle, lapidary, etc.

In the horse box stalls, there will be presented temporary exhibitions concerning different areas. Moreover, they will be periodically used for market activity connected with monuments, their conservation and tourism.

2. The former  groom’s house and the adjoining rooms (the feed house, the caretaker’s lodge) – ground floor (floor surface – 396,9m2)

These rooms will be allotted to:

• a small restaurant also serving museum guests,  total surface of 90,6 m2 (the lessee will be selected by open tender)
• a ticket office,  a museum shop and an exposition of publications and guides concerning the present activity of the museum (surface 50,2m2), a staff room by the ticket office and a toilet (8,2m2)
• restrooms (including restrooms for the disabled) – 34,4 m2, a boiler room (7,2 m2). 

3. The first floor – former living quarters (floor surface – 1042,8 m2).

The destination of these rooms will be:

• Open space conservatory workshops (open for visitors)
• a public library, a reading room and laboratories
• a small lecture room
• public guest rooms for the museum guests /three guest rooms have been prepared so far/
• restrooms for visitors, including people on wheelchairs
• a security room
• a staff room and restrooms for staff

II. The coach house 

1. The ground floor – floor surface 256,5 m².

The intended  function of this room is partial restoration of the former use – a collection of historic court vehicles, coaches, carriages and sledges as well as cars and other vehicles connected with the court of Pszczyna or the area of Pszczyna /within its historic boundaries/ will be presented here.

2. The first floor – it is the former storehouse of forage and other materials, floor surface – 255 m2

This room is planned to be used as a conference room for daily museum activities including organization of lessons in the museum for children and teenagers, and lectures concerning art and culture, as well as other events connected with the museum’s activity – various scientific meetings, symposiums as well as conferences and training courses. There will be a possibility of organizing music concerts, which are beyond the scope of the music types appropriate for the Castle and the Mirror Room.

III. The building of the former garages 

The whole building (floor surface – 321,1m2) will be the location of museum conservation studios, primarily the furniture conservation studio, the woodworking studio and the metal conservation studio. The studios will be opened for visitors, including students, for the purpose of carrying out lessons in the museum, within the framework of specially prepared programmes, during which it would be possible to learn more about the techniques of art conservation.  

IV. The outbuildings /former mill/

Two outbuildings /floor surface- 103,9m2/ are allotted to small expositions of the “gallery” type. Temporary, thematic, photographic exhibitions including museum’s exhibits or those borrowed will be presented here.

V. The project of the surrounding area – roads, road surface

The project includes building of the communication routes:

• the access route for cars along the northern elevation of the stable, the western elevation of the coach house with the possibility to drive to the gate in the eastern part of the garages
• roads of appropriate durability and arrangement, according to the guidelines of the State Fire Service, the Police and the Emergency Ambulance Service
• pedestrian paths along all the elevations of the stable complex with the possibility to walk round the buildings from the north as well as from the south.
• parking lots for the purpose of the museum and parking spaces for visitors
• eliminating all the barriers and obstacles for the disabled between the Castle and the Stable Complex
• outdoor lightning
• the alarm system and the security system of the buildings and the surrounding area

The owner of all the buildings and the land being the subject of the project is the Pszczyna district. The Pszczyna district is responsible for preparing the project for realization and its complete execution.