It is a distinctive and important historic building in the city.

History of the site

The manor house in Chrzanów was mentioned in historical sources already in the 17th century. At the end of the 17th century, it started to be referred to as “castle.” The 1857 extension design of the manor house in Chrzanów seemed to indicate that the original stone mansion had been built in the first half of the 16th century to be enlarged at the end of the same century and the beginning of the 17th century. A preserved inventory from 1784 lists, next to the house, two one-level outbuildings to the north, stables to the south and a “little grange” to the west, behind the house. The next components of the manor and farm complex were erected at the turn of the 18th century and in the first half of the 19th century. They were two stone buildings on the south side of the complex, one of them still exiting today. Originally, it was a granary and was perhaps an adapted storage from the 16th century run by the Ligęza family. The building was rebuilt at the end of the 19th century into a residence of the owners of Chrzanów, the Loewenfelds. In the 1960s, it was adapted to accommodate a museum function. Today, the building houses the Museum in Chrzanów.   

Site description

The building of the Museum in Chrzanów is located north-west of the market square in ul. Mickiewicza running to a roundabout with an exit towards Oświęcim, Katowice and Kraków. It stands on the verge of the city park with many interesting specimens of trees and shrubs from the former manor park complex. The building was built in the early 19th century. The designer preserved some sections of earlier walls (the Renaissance vaulted arch in the ground floor) and the architectural body (later distorted by reconstruction and expansion). The building of the Museum in Chrzanów is made of local stone and brick. It is a two-level building with an attic and partially basement. All the building façades are three-axis. The two-level, plastered extension added to the rear (south) façade has two axes. The museum building is covered with a hipped, tiled roof. The interior is designed in a corridor and enfilade system. The original interior design includes: door joinery, two tile stoves, the staircase railing, wood panelling by the stairs, and the décor of one room in the ground floor. The Museum in Chrzanów, named after Irena i Czesław Mazaraki, has been collecting, storing, preserving, and exhibiting collections of historical, cultural, and natural items since 1960.

The site is open to visitors.

Author of the note Tomasz Woźniak, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 10/12/2015

Bibliography

• Decyzja nr(st. rej. Nr A- 1298/83 [A-815/M]z dn. 13-01-1983 r., w sprawie wpisania dobra kultury do rejestru zabytków nieruchomych województwa katowickiego, archiwum MWKZ Kraków
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, vol. I, Województwo krakowskie, no. 4, Powiat chrzanowski, Warszawa 1952
• Krasnowolski B., Leksykon zabytków architektury Małopolski, Warszawa 2013
• Krasnowolski B., Zabytki i wartości kulturowe, [in:] Muzeum w Chrzanowie (ed.), Chrzanów, Studia z dziejów miasta, vol. 2, Chrzanów współczesny, part 1, Chrzanów 1999