Kajetan Kraszewski ( Pruzhany district, 11 March 1827 - 1 July 1896, Pruzhany district) was a younger brother of

Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (28 July 1812 – 19 March 1887) was a Polish writer, publisher, historian, journalist, scholar, painter, and author who produced more than 200 novels and 150 novellas, short stories, and art reviews, which makes him the ...

and Lucjan Kraszewski. He wrote many novels and plays and a history of the Kraszewski family.

Life

He was from a noble family, bearing the

Jastrzębiec coat of arms Jastrzębiec () is one of the most ancient Polish coat of arms. Dating back to the 10th century, it has been used by Poland's oldest szlachta families — Poland's Immemorial nobility — and remains in use today. History Legend of the coat of ...

; born to , a major landowner, and his wife, , née Malska. In addition to Józef, he had another older brother, Lucjan, who was an artist and photographer. His primary education took place at the gymnasium in

Svislach Svislach or Śvislač ( be, Свiслач, ; russian: Сви́слочь, Svisloch; pl, Świsłocz; yi, סיסלעוויטש or ''Sislevitch''; lt, Svisločius) is a town in the South-West of Grodno Region, Belarus, an administrative center of ...

. in 1854, he married Maria Rulikowska. Upon his father's death, in 1864, he inherited the family's estate in Romanów; reconstrycting the manor house, which had been heavily damaged by a fire. He also created an

astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

, with equipment imported from Munich, Berlin, Vienna and Paris, introduced modern farming methods, and built a

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

where he grew pineapples. He and Maria had five children; two of whom were

deaf mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both deaf and could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak an oral language or have som ...

s.Irina Sedova, "My Kraszewski" (Мае Крашэўскія), In: Раённыя будні, #36, 2012 He died at home, and was interred at the family chapel in . He left a library of over 10,000 volumes, as well as collections of old prints and manuscripts, historical portraits, and various objects, including weapons. His son, Krzysztof, donated the books to the

Jagiellonian Library Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. Most of the other items were destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.Danuta Majka
"Sekrety rodu Kraszewskich"
Inwestycje w Lublinie, ''Gazeta Lublin'' (2012) He wrote historical novels, plays, poetry, sketches and memoirs. All but a few of his works are set in what is now

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. He also published detailed records of the Kraszewski family and their estates. He was an amateur composer as well; creating music for piano based on local folk motifs.

Most notable works

* ''Ze wspomnien kasztelanica'' (''From the Castellan's Memoirs''), 1896
Online
* ''Monografia domu Kraszewskich vel Kraszowskich Jastrzebczyków'' (''Monograph of the house of Kraszewski''), 1862
Online

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kraszewski, Kajetan 1827 births 1896 deaths People from Pruzhany District People from Pruzhansky Uyezd Polish male writers __NOTOC__