A Gourmet’s View of Książ

An album of Luis Hardouin`s photographs, a chef who from 1909 to 1926 was in charge of the kitchen of the Hochberg family in Książ Castle, and likely employed by Hans Heinrich XV until 1932.

Książ owes its unique collection of photographs, miraculously saved in the family collection, to the Frenchman’s great passion for photography. There are images where the massive Castle is proudly ensconced in its verdant surroundings, and pictures of the massive Castle’s aristocratic owners and their staff. Hardouin’s camera captured Książ’s landscapes in every season of the year, the flora and fauna of the area, and photographed the Waldenburg (Wałbrzych) and Pless (Pszczyna) regions, as well as the many places that he visited during his travels around Europe.

As a loving husband and father, he presented tender images of his wife and sons. He also was glad to take pictures of the Hochberg’s children, who happily spent their time with the Hardouins, and to document manor life with portraits of nannies, butlers. cooks, guards, foresters, teachers, stable grooms, coachmen, outriders, gardeners, security officers, farmers and managers… Thanks to this testimony it is easier to understand the organic complexity of the great castle during the time of last Hochbergs.