A search in the moat of Pielaszkowice Palace in Lower Silesia has produced a fragment of 19th-century cavalry armour, turning a film-preparation exercise into an unexpected investigation of the estate’s past.
The discovery was made near Kostomłoty, about 40 kilometres from Wrocław, by Wiesław Andrysiak of the DRACO History Explorers Association. The expedition was organised by writer and journalist Joanna Lamparska for the young cast of an upcoming Polish adaptation of Kornel Makuszyński’s novel Satan from the Seventh Grade. The actors had joined professional searchers to gain practical experience related to the treasure-hunting story at the centre of the film.
The recovered object is a fragment of cuirassier armour. Cuirassiers were heavy cavalry soldiers whose equipment generally included metal breastplates and helmets. According to the organisers, the fragment may have belonged to either a French or Prussian cavalryman. Its precise association has not been established in the supplied reporting.
The palace has a documented connection with the Napoleonic Wars. On June 4, 1813, an armistice between Napoleon’s forces and the allied armies of Russia and Prussia was agreed at the residence. That history also provided a link to the film’s fictional story, which involves treasure supposedly hidden by a soldier from Napoleon’s defeated army.
Searchers recovered more than armour from the moat. The finds also included pieces of elaborately carved park sculptures and metal fittings from the palace, including original door locks. The objects are expected to be donated to the Silesian House Museum in Ziębice for inclusion in a state museum exhibition rather than entering private collections.
Some of the material could relate to the palace’s destruction during the final months of the Second World War. Accounts cited in the report state that the residence was heavily looted by the Red Army in 1945, with furnishings thrown from the building into the moat. The objects reportedly disappeared beneath about a metre of watery mud. Local residents later recovered Meissen porcelain, but the moat had apparently not undergone a comprehensive search.
The expedition involved the HUNTER Search Group, geophysics specialist Dariusz Gwiazda and the DRACO association. The film, scheduled for cinemas in 2027, provided the original reason for the search, but the armour and other objects have added material evidence to the palace’s complex history.
