Despite fragmented preservation of the palace and a far-reaching degradation of the park, the complex belongs to features with a unique value on the regional scale.

History

A wooden manor in Piotraszówka existed already in the second half of the 15th century, when Andrzej Ligęza owned the town. At the turn of the 15th and 16th century a defensive manor existed here. It was probably made of brick and was expanded in the second half of the 17th century after being taken over by the Ustrzycki family. At that time the gardens were planned as well.

The palace complex was established after 1724, when Teodor Józef Konstanty Lubomirski became an owner of Piotraszówka. Wishing to make the area a centre of his estates, his efforts led to granting of township rights to Piotraszówka. Subsequently, he changed its name to Boguchwała and initiated the construction of the family residence. At that time the palace was erected, consisting of three linear, two-storey pavilions linked by one-storey connections. Terrace gardens were also arranged on a high escarpment of the Wisłok river valley. The extreme, northern pavilion incorporated the corpus of the former defensive manor house. A masonry church was erected nearby. After construction initiator’s death the complex ceased to be expanded and within the next century over a half of the substance of the palace suffered degradation and was finally demolished. Cadastral maps from the mid- 19th century did not show its existence. In 1763 the estate in Boguchwała was bought by Paweł Starzyński and after 10 years the property was taken over by the Straszewski family. In 1901 the estate was bought by Zenon Suszycki, founder of the Scientific Institute in Boguchwała. In the first decade of the 20th century a granary and an entrance gate were built in the complex area. In 1919 Wanda Suszycka allocated the property to the establishment of the Scientific and Agricultural Foundation in the reborn free Poland. After World War II an Agricultural Counselling Centre functioned in the former palace complex. The complex area was marred by new development, blocks of flats and utility buildings. Moreover, manor buildings were gradually demolished.

Only the northern pavilion of the palace with a one-storey connection and a fragment of the central pavilion, a granary, an entrance gate, masonry terraces of the garden and remains of a vast park complex, including a nearly completely indecipherable pond with an islet, have survived to our times.

Description

The palace complex is located in the central part of the village - only recently enjoying privileges of the town again. It is limited by a local road and a bus depot in the west, the Wisłok river valley in the east, along with allotment gardens established in the second half of the 20th century, utility and residential buildings of the agricultural centre in the south and a church complex and village development in the north.

The palace, or rather, the remnants of the Baroque estate, are located in the northern part of the complex, at the foot of a steep escarpment. The palace comprises of two parts linked together. The northern part, erected on a rectangular floor plan, with a two and three-bay interior layout, compact, cuboidal, two-storey body with a basement extending underneath, covered with a mansard roof, was made of brick and topped with interlocking sheet metal. The front façade has seven axes and a centrally positioned entrance and rectangular openings; the garden façade has six axes and features four windows on the upper floor, terminating in a segmental arch; other windows on this façade are rectangular; the north façade has four axes. All façades are decorated with frame partitions consisting of lesenes resting atop a profiled plinth and braced with a pronounced, profiled crowning cornice. An adjoining southern part, erected on an elongated rectangular floor plan, with an irregular arrangement of interior, with a one-storey, rectangular body topped with a tall gable roof, is diversified by a porch at the front and a recessed garden portico along the entire length. Material solutions are analogical to the northern side. Facades are arranged similarly as in the two-storey part, including a plinth, lesenes and a cornice. The dominating feature of the front façade is an entrance portico with one arcade, whose arch is accentuated by a profiled surround with a keystone, resting on masonry pillars with stuccowork, crowned with a parapet with a motif of arcades terminating in a cornice. Arcades on the garden façade are decorated in an analogical way. The nine-axis front façade includes rectangular windows, while the nine-axis garden façade features windows terminating in a semi-circle.

A small building with the length of five axes and the width of less than a half of the palace’s width abuts to the one-storey part in the south. Perhaps it is a relic of the two-storey pavilion of the central terrace. However, it is stylistically different, as it is covered with a shed roof, obstructed at the front by a stepped parapet with Gothic Revival features.

The palace was renovated in the third quarter of the 20th century: wood shingles, visible in the photos from the 1959 records, were replaced with interlocking sheet metal.

The granary is located in the southern part of the complex, in the area of a former manor farm. Erected on a rectangular floor plan, with a single-bay interior, a shallow avant-corps at the front, a compact, cuboidal body with a basement extending under a part thereof, reinforced on corners with massive buttresses, topped with a gable roof. The building was made of brick and the roof was clad with ceramic tiles. Small window openings are arranged rhythmically on façades - longer with five axes and shorter with three-axes - and on gables, on two storeys of the attic. Symmetry of the front façade is accentuated by a small entrance avant-corps and by a wide gate terminating in a semi-circle on the opposite façade. The interior is adapted to modern needs, as an element of the so-called new urban market square.

The entrance gate is located in the northern screen of the fence and consists of brick, unplastered posts covered with a pronounced stone cornice, crowned with stone vases and featuring forged, metal doors with initials of owners on each of them.

The park arrangement is almost completely unclear. During the recent renovations cavities in stone ramps, retaining walls and balusters were complemented; currently, they constitute a part of the former gardens that is preserved in the best and clearest way. An impressive pond with an islet was dried up and partitioned into arable fields. The islet is visible but there is no trace of a building that could be seen on archival photographs. Relics of a mound and its spiral fence have survived south of the palace. The plant material mainly dates back to the early 20th century. As regards the old flora, a circular group of trees in the church yard has remained in the best shape. The yard used to be a part of palace gardens.

The complex is partially accessible. The palace complex houses the Subcarpathian Centre for Agricultural Counselling (PODR); the feature is available upon consent of PODR. The park is accessible to visitors upon consent of PODR.

compiled by Mieczysław Kuś, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Rzeszów, 12-12-2014.

Bibliography

• Majewski K. Willa Teodora Konstantego Lubomirskiego w Boguchwale, w Architektura rezydencjonalna historycznej Małopolski, Łańcut 1982
• Wnęk. S. Boguchwała, Boguchwała 1991
• Libicki P., Dwory i pałace wiejskie w Małopolsce i na Podkarpaciu, Poznań 2012
• Polakowski S. Pozostałości założeń dworskich województwa podkarpackiego, Krosno 2012,
• J. Piórecki, Zabytkowe ogrody i parki województwa rzeszowskiego, Bolestraszyce 1996
• Karta ewidencyjna, Dwór, pałac, oprac.: Żurawska T., 1959 r., Archiwum Wojewódzkiego Urzędu Ochrony Zabytków Delegatury w Rzeszowie
• Karta ewidencyjna, Park, oprac.: Łyjak M., 1963 r., Archiwum Wojewódzkiego Urzędu Ochrony Zabytków Delegatury w Rzeszowie