History

The original castle in Dukla was built around mid-16th century upon initiative of Jan Jordan. It fell into ruin already in 1636. Therefore, a new palace was erected in this place around 1636-1638 by efforts of Franciszek Bernard Mniszech. It was a two-storey building on a square floor plan, with a front facing the south, set within fortifications and thus, representing a “palazzo in fortezza” type. After a fire in 1758 the palace was rebuilt upon initiative of Jerzy August Wandalin Mniszech and his wife, Maria Amalia nee Bruhl, in the years 1764-1765, making it an element of a Late Baroque “entre court et jardin” residence, probably to the design of a Dresden-based architect Jan Friedrich Knobl, under guidance of Leonard Andrys, a court builder of the Mniszech family. At that time, the palace gained an additional storey and was reoriented along the east-west axis, at the same time framing the front (west) façade by two outbuildings based on former casemate fortified towers. What is more, formal gardens equipped with garden buildings and landscape architecture (theatre, stone bridges, garden benches, fence and vases) were established. In 1779 the Ossoliński family took over property of the palace complex, followed by Stadnicki and Męciński families. The last pre-war owners of the complex were the Tarnowski family.

The palace was destroyed by fires in 1810, 1821 and 1848. It was reconstructed in 1875 by efforts of Adam Męciński; at that time, internal partitions of the ground floor and décor of all façades were altered. As a result of World War I the palace was ruined; it remained uninhabited during the inter-war period and stood as a burned ruin without a roof and ceilings until 1962, when a renovation and partial reconstruction of the palace form began. Originally, the outbuildings served as apartments for servants, later also for owners. They were partially destroyed as a result of acts of war in the years 1941-1944 and subject to renovation in 1958. The park, established in 1758 in the style of a French formal garden, was transformed in the 19th century into a landscape park. A Gothic Revival chapel, probably built in 1875, and an ice house have survived in the park.

Currently, the complex is used by the Dukla Palace Historical Museum.

Description

The palace and park complex is located north of the chartered town with a market square, in a part of the town situated in a bifurcated area formed by Jasiołka and Dukiełka rivers; it is limited in the west by an international road - Trakt Węgierski Street. Buildings are grouped in the southern part of the complex.

The palace in a Baroque style was erected on a floor plan similar to a square and features a rectangular, two-storey body covered with a tall mansard roof. Walls are made of stone and brick; ceilings coming from the 1960s are made of reinforced concrete; the mansard roof is clad with sheet metal.

The seven-axis, front, west façade is partitioned by shallow avant-corps along extreme axes and a cornice between the storeys located above the first floor, giving way to a crowning cornice below the upward extension. The roof cover includes three symmetrically arranged dormers with semi-circularly terminating windows, closing into a gentle, flattened and stepped arch at the top. The east façade is smooth, five-axis and asymmetric with analogical dormers. The north and south twin façades are symmetric, five-axis and feature an entrance along the axis and five dormers in the roof. The entire body is topped with a string course. Inside, there is a clear arrangement of rooms, corresponding to the previous orientation of the palace; two bays are partitioned by a pass-through vestibule parallel to the building’s front.

The northern outbuilding is located to the north of the palace and frames its front façade on the left. It was erected on an irregular pentagon floor plan, has two storeys and a basement and is covered with a multi-hipped roof. The building is made of stone and brick and the roof is covered with sheet metal. Windows of a different width are arranged in axes on façades. The entire body is topped with a string course.

The southern outbuilding is located to the south of the palace and frames its front façade on the right. It was erected on an irregular heptagon floor plan approximating a pentagon, has two storeys and a basement and is covered with a multi-hipped roof. The building is made of stone and brick and the roof is covered with sheet metal. Windows of a different width are arranged in axes on façades. The entire body is topped with a string course.

The chapel is located in the centre of the park, close to its border. It is a small building erected on a rectangular floor plan and featuring an avant-corps on a shorter wall. The building is made of stone blocks, rests on a plinth and features a steep, multi-pitched roof. Façades are diversified by a rhythm of straight pilasters, between which rectangular windows are positioned in longer walls. The roof is accentuated by a turret topped with a bulbous cupola.

The ice house has survived in a residual form as a feature integrated with a slope lowering towards the Jasiołka river within the park. Erected on a floor plan similar to a square, made of stone, aligned to the ground level in the north-west.

The park, originally in the French formal garden style, was transformed into a landscape park in the 19th century. Its area includes three ponds that represent a remnant of a symmetric water complex, partitioned by levees overgrown with rows of trees, mainly lime, hornbeam and robinia. Several elements of garden architecture have survived: a stone bridge and garden benches.

A fence in the form of a stone wall made of irregular sandstone panels covers nearly the entire area of the complex. Its condition varies: in certain places fragments of the wall are missing.

A well is located close to the palace; its stone casing made of profiled sandstone blocks is visible above the ground level.

At present, the palace houses the Historical Museum. The park is available for viewing; the area includes a sports pitch.

compiled by Barbara Potera, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Rzeszow, 02-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Libicki P., Dwory i pałace wiejskie w Małopolsce i na Podkarpaciu, Poznań 2012, s. 75-77
• Polakowski S., Pozostałości założeń dworskich województwa podkarpackiego, Krosno 2012, s. 172-175
• Morawska J., Dukla miasto na rubieżach Rzeczpospolitej, Dukla 2008
• E. Snieżyńska-Stolotowa, F. Stolot, Katalog zabytków sztuki, Krosno, Dukla i okolice, Warszawa 1977, s. 26-29
• E. Swieykowski, Monografia Dukli, Kraków 1903, s. 46-74