Kórnik Castle
The current look of the castle resembles Gothic Revival architecture, one of the popular historicising styles in the 19th century. The main entrance to the castle is located at the northern side. Its characteristic feature is a four-centred arch at the top of the window above the entrance. Up until the interwar period the castle was entered through the so-called babiniec - a barbican-shaped chamber which was subsequently demolished in the years 1925–1939.
The western side of the castle features an expanded terrace overlooking Lake Kórnik. The southern side is dominated by a chaitya arch, which was probably modelled on the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and the Islamic architecture of India. On the eastern side, there is a Gothic Revival tower whose red brick façade clearly contrasts with the rest of the castle. The tower was erected during the remodelling of the castle by Tytus Działyński.
Also near the entry to the Kórnik Castle, there are historic outbuildings and a carriage house.
The castle is surrounded by Kórnik Arboretum founded by Count Tytus Działyński in the first half of the 19th century - the oldest and largest one in Poland as well as the fourth largest arboretum in Europe covering around 40 hectares and containing more than 3300 taxa of trees and shrubs which includes rich collections of rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias, conifers, lilacs, apple trees, cherries, meadowsweets, honeysuckles, poplars, birches, and other woody species from all over the world. Old specimens of native and alien trees and shrubs can be seen there, such as lindens, beeches, oaks, maidenhair trees, arborvitaes, spruces, and firs.
The first outstanding representative of the Działyński family was Teofila Szołdrska-Potulicka née Działyńska (1714-1790). After the death of her first husband, Stefan Szołdrski, and the divorce from the second Aleksander Potulicki, Teofila devoted her life to the cultural and economic development of Kórnik and the reconstruction of the residence in the middle of the 18th century. Next to the castle, she arranged a French-style garden (now, after reconstruction in the 19th century, earlier mentioned arboretum), established tree nurseries and a zoo with exotic plants and animals, and took care of the city's development, bringing German colonial craftsmen to it. The castle itself was completely rebuilt in the baroque style.
The portrait of Teofila in a white dress, painted by Antoine Pesne, preserved to this day in the castle, gave rise to the legend of the White Lady - one of the most famous ghosts in Polish castles.