Gilded chair with Hochberg crest. Duke van Hochberg took over the property in 1846. This region was the independent duchy after the fragmentation of the Polish kingdom in 1138. The Dyuchy of Pless with its capital at Pless, current day Pszczyna had various rulers, but after 1742 Pless was a state country within Brandenburg-Prussia. The Hochsbergs came to rule in 1847. They were one of the wealthiest familiesn the Holy Roman Empire, in part because of the coal mines of Pless.