Gallery

Drone shots, misty scenes, the area as it looks today, and drawings and postcards from a hundred years ago. Click on any image to view it in a larger size – you can navigate between the photos using the arrows or by swiping with your finger.

A bird’s-eye view

A tower in the landscape

From the ground, the tower disappears into the treetops. It is only from the air that you can see it stands on a hill overlooking the valley – exactly where Gersdorf wanted to have a view in all four directions.

The Mon Plaisir Tower amidst a springtime forest, bathed in the light of the setting sun, with the ridge of the Izera Mountains and the buildings of Pobiedna in the background — Gierałtówek at dusk, April 2025 – a still from the loop in the background of the homepage

The snow-covered hills of the Izera Mountains; in the valley, the buildings of Pobiedna; on the right, the stone core of the tower amongst the spruce trees — View of Smrek and Świeradów-Zdrój, February 2025

A bird’s-eye view of the tower, surrounded by the fresh greenery of beech trees and dark spruce trees — April 2024 – a tower visible only from the air

A sweeping view of the wooded Gierałtówek hill with a tower in the centre, with a valley and a mountain range in the background — September 2022 – the hill on which Gersdorf built his observatory

Vertical downward view: the open shaft of the tower with no ceilings, the crown of the brick and stone walls overgrown with self-sown plants — The building shell has no ceilings or stairs – that is why you must not go inside

In the mist

Winter in Gierałtówek

For most of the winter, the hill is shrouded in cloud. These are the toughest conditions for the walls, but the best for photographs.

The Mon Plaisir Tower in the mist, surrounded by leafless beech trees; a path strewn with leaves leads to the barred entrance — Fog over Gierałtówek – this is what the tower looks like for most of the winter

The silhouette of the tower in the mist, as seen from the Green Trail, with the blurred outlines of trees in the background — The green trail from Lubań to Świeradów passes by a tower right next to the walls

A close-up of the moss-covered walls of the tower, shrouded in mist, with the brick frames of the openings visible — Stone, brick and moss – the materials from which the tower is built

Current situation

What remains

A brick structure with no ceilings or stairs, a recess above the entrance, and a barred opening. The interior is inaccessible – the walls are stable, but it is still a ruin.

A forest path through the beech trees leading up to the tower, in the late spring sunshine — The last few metres of the dirt track from Hetmańska Street

The Mon Plaisir Tower photographed from below in spring, showing the brick window surrounds and a recess in the façade — Four storeys of the brick core – all that remains after the demolition of the wooden superstructure

A roofless stone tower seen from the entrance, surrounded by leafless trees and leaf litter — Condition: brick core, a niche above the entrance, no ceilings or stairs

Archival material

The tower that is no longer there

Drawings from the year the building was completed and postcards from the time when a wooden arbour stood above the brick core and there was a restaurant operating next to the tower.

A sheet featuring two drawings of the tower dating from 1804, with handwritten descriptions in German, showing views from the east and the north — From the Görlitzer Sammlungen collection. A sheet dated July 1804: „Der zu Meffersdorff … erbaute Thurm", views from the east (20 July) and from the north (30 July), with a description of the panorama

A drawing of a tower with a wooden superstructure and a viewing platform, with a road and farm buildings in the foreground — From the Görlitzer Sammlungen collection. View from the east, drawn on 20 July 1804 – the tower in the year of its completion

A view of the tower from the north: a brick central section, a wooden viewing pavilion, and next to it a log shed and a pile of wood — From the Görlitzer Sammlungen collection. View from the north, drawn on 30 July 1804

Ink and wash drawing: a tower with a wooden superstructure, next to it a half-timbered house, surrounded by spruce trees — Drawing from the Schultz collection, ref. MR 76a

A postcard showing a tower topped with a wooden arbour, with a tree-lined avenue and the restaurant’s veranda in the foreground; at the top, the inscription ‘Gruss aus Meffersdorf’ — A postcard postmarked 4 October 1904 – from the collection of polska-org.pl

A black-and-white postcard: a tower on a wooded hill seen from the other side of the valley, with a meadow and buildings in the foreground — The tower as seen from the valley; the caption on the postcard states 600 metres above sea level – from the collection at polska-org.pl

How you can help

Let’s rebuild it together

You can support the project financially, with donations in kind or by offering your expertise – or simply come along to the event and tell your friends about the tower.

I support the reconstruction

Become a partner