Brzostowski was a renowned activist, socio-economic reformer, engineer and inventor, known for creating a unique agricultural and industrial conglomerate known as the Sztabin Commonwealth.

History

In the 16th and 17th century, the Cisów manor formed part of the Krasnybór domain allocated by duke Alexander Jagiellon to the Chreptowicz family of the Odrowąż coat of arms. Towards the end of the 17th century, Cisów remained part of the lands held by the Dominican friars, who were brought to Krasnybór by Konstancja, the widowed wife of Samuel Chreptowicz. In the early 19th century, count Karol Brzostowski, the grandson of Joachim Chreptowicz - chancellor, founder of the Commission for National Education (KEN) - decided to settle in Cisów. Karol Brzostowski, whose mother, Ewa, was Joachim Chreptowicz’s daughter, would later become known as one of the most eminent activists for social and economic reform in the 19th century. Initially, he occupied the outbuilding, which served as a manor house at the time; later on, in the 1820s, he erected the existing, brick manor house next to the older structure. Following Brzostowski’s death, the manor continued to serve as the administrative centre of the so-called Sztabin Commonwealth, remaining the seat of the Sztabin Foundation. In 1949, the manor house complex was taken over by the State Treasury. In the 1960s, both of the surviving buildings remained under the administration of a spring manufacturing plant based in Warsaw. Later on, the manor was taken over by the Rural Youth Union, which continued to occupy the buildings until the early 1990s. During the period in question, the manorial buildings in Cisów have become the property of the local community. Today, however, the manor has a private owner once again.

Description

The manor house complex in Cisów is situated on a hill located at a distance of 300 metres north from the cluster of buildings forming the village of Podcisówek, on the western side of the Sztabin-Augustów road (road no. 8). The complex consists of the manor house, the outbuilding and the surrounding park. The Classicist manor house was erected by Karol Brzostowski in the 1820s. The building is a brick structure with a tall stone foundation, its walls covered with plaster. Designed on a rectangular floor plan, it features a jerkin head roof with small roof dormers and oeil-de-boeuf windows. The front (southern) section of the manor house is a single-storey structure with an attic, whereas the northern section was designed to have two storeys due to the presence of sloping terrain. The interior of the house follows a two-bay layout, with a hallway on the middle axis. The front entrance is preceded by a colonnaded portico with a triangular pediment. The entrance from the garden side likewise features a colonnaded portico, with pairs of columns supporting a terrace accessible from the upper storey of the manor house. The terrace itself features an openwork cast iron balustrade adorned with the motif of intertwined Acanthus scrolls and stylised rosettes. The nearby outbuilding, possibly erected back in the late 18th/early 19th century, is a single-storey structure designed on a rectangular floor plan, positioned on a stone socle and topped with a gable roof with jerkin heads. The interior follows a two-bay layout, with a central vestibule. The entrance is preceded by a colonnaded porch topped with a triangular pediment incorporating an oculus in the centre. The buildings are surrounded by a park filled with both coniferous and deciduous trees.

Private property, no visitor access.

compiled by Grzegorz Ryżewski, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Białystok, 27-08-2014.

Bibliography

• Kotyńska-Stetkiewicz J., Dwory i dworki, [in:] Z biegiem Biebrzy. Przewodnik historyczno - etnograficzny, A. Gaweł, G. Ryżewski (eds.), Białystok-Suchowola 2012, pp. 114-116.
• Ryżewski G., Sztabin. Dzieje gminy Sztabin od czasów najdawniejszych do współczesności, Białystok-Sztabin 2002, pp. 139-170.