page_title: The Princely Pheasantry
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: The Princely Pheasantry / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Plan Bażantarni
context_page_description: The Princely Pheasantry is a late 18th-century neoclassical building in Poręba, Pszczyna County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It was founded by the Prince of Pszczyna Frederick Erdmann, designed by Wilhelm Pusch and built between 1792 and 1800.
context_section_description: In the 19th century additional buildings were constructed - the palace commonly known as the Palace of Prince Christian, Manor House Ludwikówka, Hunting Manor House (on Żorska Street) and the Hunting Castle in Promnice.  In the Pszczyna archives there is a description of the interior. On the ground floor there was a hall with a table, chairs, bench and a desk; the storied drawing room had a balcony equipped with eight benches padded with black linen, a round sofa, two big mirrors, a chandelier, eleven wall candelabras and a round stove; the ladies' chamber had a sofa, six chairs, a table, a two-way mirror and a partition by the fireplace; a smoking room was equipped with a sofa and eleven reed chairs; and a billiard room. There were also a few rooms in the attic. The Poręba Palace was devoted mainly to entertainment.
  In contrast to the dignified and formal interiors of Pszczyna Castle, the Pheasantry was a "true temple of fun and joy". The ballroom of the Pheasantry was decorated with festoons of fruit and numerous bouquets of flowers. Guests from the town and its environs were invited to balls organized to celebrate princely birthdays. A particularly ceremonious birthday party was organized for Princess Augustina Esperanza Fredericka von Reuss - Henry Anhalt’s wife (Henry Anhalt ruled the duchy in the years: 1818-1830 and 1841-1846) whose birthday coincided with that of King Frederick William III of Prussia. The Palace in Poręba and Pszczyna Castle were brightly lit for parties. The celebrations usually started at midday with a sumptuous dinner and numerous toasts, and after the dinner there was the partying which lasted well into the small hours. Plenty of toasts were proposed during the parties, accompanied by trumpets and drums. Up to 3,500 people took part in a single party.  
   
  It must be assumed that the popularity of the Pheasantry was over with the death of the last member of the Anhalt family. After the reconstruction in 1870-1874 (already under Hochbergs ruling) formal parties took place in Pszczyna Castle.
caption: The plan of The Pheasantry from the 18th century
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