Palace Park was laid out in the 19th century around a splendid residence built for the Russian tsar, on the site of an ancient royal hunting lodge once used by Polish kings. The southern entrance to the park, beside the PTTK office, leads across a pond past a stone obelisk, which commemorates a bison hunt led by King August III Saxon in 1752. The royal bag that day was 42 bison, 13 elk and two roe deer.
From the eastern entrance, just past the national park's tourist information centre, the main path leads uphill past a red-brick gate, which is all that remains of the tsar's palace – it was burned to the ground by retreating Germans in 1944. Note the ornate wooden 1845 Manor House by the lake, which hints at the lost grandeur.
