The Lubostroń Palace is a
neoclassical palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
, built in 1795-1800 by
Stanisław Zawadzki, a leading architect of the time. Author, among others, of edifices in
Warsaw and in the region of the
Greater Poland
Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed ...
, Zawadzki was commissioned by
Count Fryderyk Skórzewski to realize the project on the location of the Piłatowo
folwark. The complex has been registered on the
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List.
History
The Łabiszyn estate was brought in the dowry of Marianna née Ciecierska in 1762, when she married the count Franciszek Skórzewski (1709-1773), a general of the Crown troops, supporting the
Bar Confederation
The Bar Confederation ( pl, Konfederacja barska; 1768–1772) was an association of Polish nobles (szlachta) formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia (now part of Ukraine) in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish� ...
. Marianna was beautiful and brilliant, shining at the royal court in Berlin and at
Sanssouci: King Frederick II even became the godfather of their first son, Fryderyk.
In spring 1772, she was visited by
Franz von Brenkenhoff
Franz Balthasar Schönberg von Brenkenhoff (1723-1780) was a Prussian secret financial adviser. He was the head of the Netze District, Nadnotecki District and the builder of the Bydgoszcz Canal.
Life
The von Brenkenhoff family, originating from ...
, mandated by Frederick II to collect demography data in the area, in the perspective of the
First Partition of Poland.
After he inherited the estate, Fryderyk Józef Andrzej (1768-1832) became a Count of the Prussian Empire,
chamberlain of the court and Grand Cross in the
Order of the Red Eagle. He initiated the project to raise a palace there, on the territory of the village of Piłatowo. The name ''Lubostroń'' was forged by Fryderyk himself, in reference to the Polish wording ''Lube ustronie'' ('' en, Pleasant retreat'').
Fryderyk commissioned
Stanisław Zawadzki (1743–1800) to realize this scheme. The latter was a famous
architect of his time, educated in
Rome. He was known for designing buildings in
Warsaw,
Kamianets-Podilskyi and palaces in
Dobrzyca and in
Śmiełów
Śmiełów is a settlement in the administrative district of Gmina Żerków, within Jarocin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately north of Żerków, north of Jarocin, and south-east of the regional c ...
(region of
Greater Poland
Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed ...
).
Zawadzki's design at Dobrzyca brought him in contact with Skórzewski, as Dobrzyca's palace was owned by Fryderyk's sister, Aleksandra Augustynowa Gorzeńska.
Most likely, the design aimed at recalling the famous
Villa Rotonda near
Vicenza, created in 1550 by the Italian architect
Andrea Palladio.
After the completion of exteriors, interiors decoration works took five more years to be achieved.
Most of the
column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
s in the Lubostroń Palace used material previously assigned to the building of the
Temple of Divine Providence
The Temple of Divine Providence ( pl, Świątynia Opatrzności Bożej) and Pantheon of Great Poles (in Polish, Panteon Wielkich Polaków, in southern Warsaw's Wilanów district, is a principal Roman Catholic church in Poland. The backstory of i ...
in Warsaw. Planned to become the place where people would vote for the
Constitution of 3 May 1791, the edifice could not be erected because of the
Third Partition of Poland.
The Temple of Divine Providence was eventually completed in 2016.
Designed as the new seat of the Skórzewski family, Fryderyk moved there in 1808, while the palace was not yet completed. The construction of the residential complex has undoubtedly been completed before 1815, as in November 1814, Count Fryderyk hosted there a wedding.
The palace once completed became an informal seat of the representative authorities of the
Duchy of Warsaw. Important personalities of the Napoleonic era stayed here. It became a manifesto of the ancestral patriotism of the family, complemented by decoration elements:
busts of famous Poles and a painting gallery of Polish kings, princes and hetmans, such as
Frederick Augustus - the Duke of Warsaw.
Ignacy Chodźko (1794-1861), a Polish novelist and storyteller, commented in one of his work at the end of the 1830s:

Leon Fryderyk Walenty Skórzewski (1845-1903), Fryderyk's descendant, invited in 1872 to the palace (1803-1873), a famous Polish historian,
translator and
lexicographer, who died here a year later. Among the other famous people who visited the palace during the 19th century, one can mention:
Stefan Garczyński
Stefan may refer to:
* Stefan (given name)
* Stefan (surname)
* Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname
* Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname
* Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer
* Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...
,
Adam Mickiewicz in 1831,
Wincenty Pol, (1809-1881) or (1804-1896).
The estate remained in the hands of various branches of the Skórzewski family until the outbreak of
World War II.
At the end of the conflict, it became initially a training centre of the District Council of Trade Unions in Bydgoszcz.
Afterwards, the place was managed by the local
State Agricultural Farm and housed, among others, a center of the ''Employee Holiday Fund'' ( pl,
Fundusz Wczasów Pracowniczych).
In the 1960s,
Andrzej Szwalbe
Andrzej Jan Szwalbe (1923-2002) was a Polish lawyer, social and cultural activist and manager of the musical life in Bydgoszcz. He was the originator and creator of numerous artistic projects outside the region. In 1993, he has been designated ...
, then director of the
Pomeranian Philharmonic in
Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...
, took interest in the aging palace. Urging the
voivodeship to carry out renovation, he decided to revive the monument via music performances. Hence, during the first ''Bydgoszcz Music Festival'' in 1963, concerts were organized in the rotunda of the Lubostroń palace with most of the audience brought from Bydgoszcz by buses.
One of the first recitals occurred on May 8, 1963, with a performance of the Bydgoszcz Chamber orchestra (''Capella Bydgostiensis'') directed by . During the following iteration of the festival, the palace housed Polish medieval compositions of
Stanisław Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko (; May 5, 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuania ...
.
This tradition of concerts still lasts today, with various Polish and foreign artists, guests of the different Bydgoszcz Festivals (e.g. ).
In 1991, the ''State Agricultural Farm'' was liquidated and the estate was taken over by the state. The ensemble underwent major renovations, setting up a palace-and-park complex with a hotel and a restaurant, hosting diverse activities. Since January 1, 2013, the complex is managed by the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship.
Nowadays, music events are regularly performed by Bydgoszcz artists: musicians from the Pomeranian Philharmonic or the
Opera Nova Bydgoszcz, as well as teachers and students of the
Music Academy. In addition, the university of Bydgoszcz initiated a series of Sunday "Palace Concerts", consisting in particular of recitals, chamber ensembles and choirs or thematic performances. The famous composer
Krzysztof Penderecki planted a
black pine tree in the park during a stay.
In 2021-2022, the Bydgoszcz Music Academy planned to have a monthly performance in the palace.
Furthermore, the Lubostroń Palace, as a cultural institution, houses other events, such as
vernissage
A vernissage (from French, originally meaning " varnishing") is a preview of an art exhibition, which may be private, before the formal opening. If the vernissage is not open to the public, but only to invited guests, it is often called a ''pri ...
s and theater plays in parallel with the activity of its hotel and restaurant. The palace ensemble has been listed in 1933 and 1994 on the Heritage registry of the
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.
Architecture
The shape of the palace refers originally to Palladio's villas from the 1570s: Villa Capra "La Rotonda" (1571) and
Villa Trissino in
Sarego
Sarego is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, north-eastern Italy. It is southwest of Vicenza. SP500 goes through the town of Sarego.
Main sights
In the ''frazione'' of Meledo, there are two incomplete villas designed by A ...
. In Poland, the Lubostroń Palace was preceded only by two realisations, Warsaw's
Królikarnia
Królikarnia (in English, "The Rabbit House") is a historic classicist palace in Warsaw, Poland; and a neighborhood in the Mokotów district of Warsaw.
Since 1965 the palace has housed a museum dedicated to Polish sculptor Xawery Dunikowski.
Hi ...
by
Domenico Merlini
Domenico Merlini () (22 February 1730 – 20 February 1797) was an Italian-Polish architect whose work was mostly in the classical style.
Life and Style
From 1750 till his death, Merlini lived in Poland. In 1768, he became a nobleman and later ...
(1786) and
Lubomirski Palace (1780s).
The Palace does not display an absolute symmetry in the layout of the rooms and the façades, so characteristic of the Palladio masterpiece. It has a square footprint with a circular three-storey hall in the center. Despite deviations from the rigid Palladian rules, the building gives the impression of a perfectly harmonious work, with a magnificent silhouette.
Stairs lead to the main
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
boasting eight
giant order columns. The portico is topped with a
pediment bearing two coats of arms:
* to the right Fryderyk Skórzewski's, as count of Prussia;
* to the left
Garczyński's, referring to Antonina Garczyńska (1770-1824) Fryderyk's wife.
Moreover, the portico bears the inscription ''SIBI AMICITIAE ET POSTERIS MDCCC'' ( en, To Myself, My Friends and Descendants 1800).
Every other facades exhibit a wall portico supported by four giant order columns, topped with a triangular pediment.
The palace floor is richly adorned with
marquetry depicting the
Polish Eagle and the
Coat of arms of Lithuania
The coat of arms of Lithuania consists of a mounted armoured knight holding a sword and shield, known as (). Since the early 15th century, it has been Lithuania's official coat of arms and is one of the oldest European coats of arms. It is ...
. In the side rooms (e.g.
boudoir
A boudoir (; ) is a woman's private sitting room or salon in a furnished residence, usually between the dining room and the bedroom, but can also refer to a woman's private bedroom. The term derives from the French verb ''bouder'' (to sulk ...
,
library)
are displayed murals by Antoni and
Franciszek Smuglewicz or Jan Bogumił Plersch. The palace additionally comprises a private
chapel and
cellars (under the rotunda).
Rotunda
The edifice is a two-storey building with a central three-level
rotunda roofed with a copper sheet covered
dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
. The latter is crowned with a bronze figure of
Atlas designed by
Władysław Marcinkowski
Władysław Marcinkowski (June 16, 1858 in Mieszków, Greater Poland Voivodeship – December 10, 1947 in Poznań) was a Polish sculptor who created a monument of Adam Mickiewicz in Milosław.
He was commander of Organizacja Wojskowa Zwi ...
at the end of the 19th century.
Stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
es of the rotunda hall were realized by
Michał Ceptowski from
Poznań.
Under the dome, large and high,
runs a
frieze depicting
ancient sacrificial processions. Above it are placed four
relief slabs, by Michał Ceptowski, illustrating local historical events:
* King
Władysław I Łokietek and Florian Szary at the
Battle of Płowce
The Battle of Płowce took place on 27 September 1331 between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order.
Background
The Teutonic plan was to support John of Bohemia in an invasion of Silesia. Władysław I the Elbow-high had claimed lordshi ...
(1331);
*
Queen Jadwiga meeting
Konrad von Jungingen,
Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in
Inowrocław (1397);
* the
Battle of Koronowo (1410);
* Marianna Skórzewska, Fryderyk 's mother, presenting the plans of the
Bydgoszcz Canal to
Frederick the Great (1773).
The dome adorning is complemented by a huge
brass chandelier
A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent li ...
hanging from the top. The
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
s and bases of the columns standing in the rotunda originate from the then unbuilt
Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw.
Other buildings and park
Next to the palace stand various edifices also designed by Zawadzki:
* a neoclassicist old mansion which served as an outbuilding (end of 18th century);
*
stables and
coach house (19th century), which have been converted into a restaurant.
Additionally one can notice later
neo-gothic farm buildings and a
hunting lodge.
The palace is surrounded by a
landscape park covering approximately and partially integrated into the nearby forest. Its designer was Oskar Teichert.
On the night of August 2, 2017, a storm destroyed about 200 trees including 4 monumental
lime trees
''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...
. Another storm on the night of August 11, 2017, brought further destruction to natural monuments and damaged the
orangery, the administration office, the former coach house and the stables.
Gallery
File:Pałac w Lubostroniu o zachodzie słońca.jpg, Bird eye view
File:604017 Lubostroń pałac tył.JPG, Facade onto the park
File:604018 Lubostroń pałac zwieńczenie kopuły.JPG, Atlas statue topping the dome
File:Wnętrze pałacu w Lubostroniu - panoramio (3).jpg, Rotunda interiors
File:Lubostron Castle Relief2.jpg, Relief depicting Marianna Skórzewska and Frederick the Great
File:Lubostron2.jpg, Side room
File:Kaplica w Pałacu Skórzewskich w Lubostroniu.jpg, Chapel
File:Oficyna, tzw. stary pałac przy kompleksie pałacowym w Lubostroniu..JPG, Administrative office
File:Oranżeria pałacu w Lubostroniu 2009-07-23 20-21-26.JPG, Palace orangery
File:Lubostroń, stajnia z wozownią, ob. restauracja, ok. 1800a.JPG, Old stable and coach house
File:Park pałacowy. - panoramio.jpg, View of the park
See also
*
Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...
*
Upper Noteć Canals
The Upper Noteć Canals are an aggregate of inland water channels in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. They stem from the upper part of the Noteć river (''Górna Noteć''), north of Gopło lake, and mouth at their northern point into the ...
*
Palaces and park ensemble in Ostromecko
The Palaces and park complex in Ostromecko is a residential complex, including two palaces and a park, located in Ostromecko. It has been owned since 1996 by the city Bydgoszcz. The ensemble is a regional cultural and recreational centre. It hou ...
*
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
References
External links
Official website
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
Palaces in Poland by voivodeship
Neoclassical palaces in Poland
Buildings and structures in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Museums in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
{{Bydgoszcz notable buildings