It has a clear form and internal layout characteristic for the 17th century buildings as well as well-preserved vaults on the ground floor with stucco decorations and original larch ceilings on the first floor. With its scale and form, the manor house alluded to a reduced Palladian villa. The artistic provenance of the manor house brings us back to royal structures and is linked to Tommaso Poncino.

History

The residence in Chrzęsne, constituting an element of the manor together with a village from the first half of the 16th century, functioned as the land leased from the king Sigismund I. According to an inspection carried out in 1568, a wooden manor house and manor infrastructure already existed there. In 1623 the property in Chrzęsne was purchased by Stefan Dobrogost Grzybowski, Chamberlain of Warsaw, Starost of Warsaw and Kamieńczyk, Chamberlain of Lublin and an emissary to the Sejm. The first brick manor house was erected around 1635, using parts of the foundations of a previous structure (according to archaeological research carried out in 2009). In 1735 the estate was bought by the Grzybowski family, later to become property of the Kiełczowski family by inheritance, who in turn sold it to Teodor Szydłowski in 1755. Michał Pac became the next owner of Chrzęsne in 1762, followed by bishop Józef Kossowski in 1781. During the ownership by bishop Kossowski, the palace was subject to partial redesigning: among others, a separation of a chapel on the first floor and transforming an overhanging loggia over the main entrance into a balcony with a baluster, whose sandstone corbels have survived to this day. In 1787 the property was bought by Franciszek Jan Nepomucen Przemski, only to be sold to Tomasz Kubin de Tylla two years later. In the 19th century the property changed owners several times: Antoni Siarczyński was its owner from 1802, Mateusz Murawski from 1832 and Andrzej Zamoyski from 1840. In 1859 the palace was bought by the Koskowski family, while later, by inheritance, it found itself in the hands of the Karski family, to whom it belonged until 1944. In the mid-19th century the residence became an “artistic lounge.” Numerous artists were related to Chrzęsne, among others, members of the Kotarbiński family, W. Podkowiński, C.K. Norwid or S. Kobyliński.

After 1945, as a result of the agrarian reform, the palace and park complex in Chrzęsne became property of the State Treasury and was adapted to serve as an educational institution of the Children’s Friends Society and social housing. After the liquidation of the educational institution in 1998 the palace stood empty. The Wołomin Poviat has been its owner since 2002.

Description

A Late Renaissance palace was erected as brick, plastered, two-storey building with a two-level usable attic. The building has a rectangular floor plan with a hall on the central axis, from which doors lead to symmetrically arranged rooms crowned with groin vaults. In the main hall there is an entrance to a representational staircase located in the northern part of the palace. The first floor of the palace, where the functional layout of the ground floor has been repeated, is terminated with a ceiling in the form of a vault made of larch bales. A balcony is located on the first floor, above the main entrance to the palace. The front (east) façade has a 9-axial layout and is partitioned by pilasters. Its corners are adorned with rusticated lesenes. The west façade has 7 axes and two projections in the form of corner towers on the third and fifth axis. The palace windows are adorned with surrounds in the form of chambranles. A frieze under the eaves is decorated with a plant motif. The side façades follow a two-axial layout. End walls of the attic are partitioned by Tuscan pilasters. The entire body is crowned with a half-hip roof, covered with ceramic roof tiles. The surviving elements of the palace interior include groin vaults, bale vaults, decorative plasterwork and Rococo fireplaces. 

The site is accessible to visitors during the museum opening hours.

Author of the note Katarzyna Kosior 21-06-2017

Bibliography

• Libicki P., Libicki M., Dwory i pałace wiejskie na Mazowszu, Poznań, 2009,
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, vol. X, Województwo Warszawskie, issue 27, powiat wołomiński, Instytut Sztuki PAN, Warsaw, 1969;
• Atlas Zabytków Architektury w Polsce, Faryna-Paszkiewicz H., Omilanowska M., Pasieczny R., Wydawnictwo naukowe PWN. Warsaw, 2003;