Medieval-style castle residence in EU-protected Polish forest nears completion despite legal battle

Construction is continuing at a controversial private residence being built in the style of a medieval castle in a protected and sensitive natural area, despite legal challenges and the earlier detention of investors and officials involved.

“It is evident that work is ongoing and that the investor is making up for a lost time,” writes Business Insider Polska, which visited the site in Notecka Forest in western Poland, an area that is protected as part of the European Union’s Natura 2000 network.

Development of the “castle”, which stands on a made-made island in a lake, looks, at least from the outside, nearly finished, reports the news website.

The story of the infamous development, which received an initial green light in 2015, has long captured public attention in Poland. Among the twists and turns have been the detention of seven people by police in 2020 and the removal of the provincial governor from office.

As well as various administrative offences, people detained over the construction were accused of acting to the detriment of the environment. Notecka Forest, near the city of Poznań, is home to a number of nature reserves, and the castle development has been deemed to breach rules relating to a local bird sanctuary.

Environmental approval for the project was revoked in 2019 and the building permit was declared invalid in 2021 by the building supervision authority, but construction continued anyway, Polish media report.

Work was in theory allowed to resume at the beginning of the year, when an administrative court overturned the cancellation of the building permit. However, that decision was challenged again by the building authority. It is still possible that the construction will have to be demolished.

According to Business Insider, the vast majority of the castle, including the wall enclosing the construction, already has a facade. Work on a 90-metre-high tower and ballroom, the largest room in the castle, is advanced.

Sources close to the project say that work may still take a couple more years and the building might be commissioned in 2025, the website reports. Conservative estimates suggested that the cost of the investment is around 400 million zloty (€85.75 million).

Main image credit: Lukasz Cynalewski / Agencja Gazeta

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.