The buildings of the complex in Wąsowo in their historical layout and form, without the modern buildings, were built over several centuries. The Wąsowo complex has a unique layout due to its components, the high-class architecture of the baroque palace and neo-gothic castle set in a vast 50 ha landscaped park, and the impressive manor farm buildings and architecture of the residential houses. The residential part forms an extremely coherent whole with the buildings of the farmyard and the form of the residential houses. The coherence and harmony of the whole complex was achieved by using similar materials and harmonious inclusion of buildings into the existing space by honouring the existing and creating new compositional links (mainly viewing axes) and dominants. Wąsowo is an excellent example of development and evolution of the layout in the space of a medieval village. The buildings of the Wąsowo manor farm present very good architecture of high technical level. The complex in Wąsowo is probably the only so well preserved complex of German architecture in Wielkopolska, and beyond, an example of multicultural heritage of Wielkopolska and preservation of its historical integrity despite different ownership and use by several separate owners.

History of the structure

The origins of Wąsowo date back to the 13th century, when it was mentioned as part of the parish in Wytomyśl. In the 15th century, as a knight’s property, it was owned by the Niegolewski family from nearby Niegolewo (the same family owned Niegolewo from the 14th century until 1945). In 1580 the owner was Jakub Niegolewski. In 1649, the Wąsowo estate was purchased from Jadwiga Strykowska by Wojciech Rogowski. In 1715, it was owned by Stanisław Zakrzewski, the castellan of Biechów. In the years 1776-81 Wąsowo was owned by Kazimierz Raczyński, a general of Wielkopolska. The Wąsowo estate was purchased from him by Sylwester Sczaniecki, starost of Środa, married to Anastazja Skórzewska of Czerniejewo. The Sczaniecki family had already owned Michorzewo, Śliwno, Brody, Pakosław, and Mościejewo. Sylwester Sczaniecki moved his family seat from Brody to Wąsowo and began construction of a late Baroque palace and probably extension and reconstruction of the farmyard. 5 years after the purchase Sylwester died and for the next decades the estate was managed by his wife Anastazja née Skórzewska, first on behalf of their son Łukasz and then after 1810 (after Łukasz’s death) their grandchildren. Before 1790 a classicist chapel was built. After the death of grandmother Anastazja the estate was owned by Konstanty and Zygmunt Sczaniecki. Their sister was Emilia Sczaniecka, an extraordinary patriot and activist of the partition period. The second of the sisters, Nimfa, was, from 1820, the wife of Wincenty Antoni Łącki, the owner of nearby Posadowo. As a result of poor management, the indebted estates of the Sczaniecki family: Brody, Chraplewo, and Zębowo were sold to the Germans in 1848. A similar fate befell Wąsowo, which in 1861 was purchased by J.F. Frank at a compulsory auction. Over a period of 8 years he constructed new stone and brick buildings: a distillery (1861), a barn (1862) in the eastern yard and a cowshed (1861-68) in the southern part of the western yard. From the south, the courtyard was surrounded by a stone wall with a gate in the axis of the Baroque palace.

In 1868, the Wąsowo estate was purchased by Richard Hardt, a Berlin merchant. The estate was to become a summer residence; it was also to build the prestige of the new owner. After 1872 the courtyard was further developed, new buildings were built in the western frontage, such as a cowshed, a granary and a dairy. Brick elements in the form of defensive towers with crenelation appeared on the stone base of the fence. R. Hardt built a new residence for himself, a neo-Gothic castle to the north-east of the Baroque palace designed by the Berlin architect Gustaw Erdmann. The old palace of the Sczaniecki family began to function as an outhouse. At that time, the landscaping of the park began, which now covers an area of almost 50.00 hectares. In 1887, R. Hardt created an entail out of his estates (Wąsowo, Głuponie, and Chraplewo). After his death in 1898, the estate was taken over by his son Fryderyk Wilhelm. By 1910 buildings were constructed in the northern part of the yard (a carriage horse stable, a smithy, a foal barn) and a working horse stable with a shelter in the southern part of the yard, as well as 3 residential houses. A doorkeeper’s house (from Nowy Tomyśl and Lwówek) and a gardener’s house (from Chraplewo) were built at the entrances to the residence. An orangery was built in the southern part of the park. A new brick, neo-Gothic gate was also built, leading to the complex from the west. In 1910, the entire entail covered an area of 1488 ha, of which 726 ha were farmlands. The estate had a distillery, dairy, and brickyard. The main direction of production was the breeding of Simmental cattle and pigs. After 1910, a modern colony of two-family, three- and four-room residential houses was built. The buildings were erected on both sides of the cobblestone road to Nowa Róża (now Lipowa Street), running along the axis of the baroque complex, from the old palace, through the gate in the southern border of the manor yard.

    After the Wielkopolska Uprising, in 1919, the estate became part of reborn Poland. In the years 1924-25 there were attempts under the land reform law to forcibly buy the property out of German hands. However, there was no buyer, probably because the price was too high. The estate had impressive buildings. There were industrial plants operating in the estate, a water supply system, and the arable land was drained. Through Wąsowo ran the route of the Opalenicka Narrow Gauge Railway. There was a stop near the southern entrance gate to the farm yard. The railroad, apart from carrying agricultural products (mainly sugar beets), also served passenger traffic after 1945. The Wąsowo property was owned by the Hardt family until 1945. Fryderyk W. Hardt died in 1938. In 1941, his son Richard was mentioned as the owner. The last German owner of Wąsowo was killed by the Red Army in 1945.

After World War II, the State Agricultural Holding was established in the estate. Since the 1990s, the Neo-Gothic castle, the old palace, and the park have been in private hands. In 2011, there was a fire in the partially restored castle. This part of the complex currently serves as a hotel, business and conference centre. After the liquidation of the State Agricultural Holding, the farm buildings and the land were administered by the Agricultural Property Agency of the State Treasury. It was used by a tenant since 1999 and became his property in 2010. From the very beginning, the farm has been producing vegetables in an ecological way. The Wąsowo Manor Farm has been a member of the Wielkopolska Culinary Heritage Network and an agrotourism farm since 2011.

Description of the structure

Wąsowo village is located on the edge of the forests, which in the past were part of the primeval forest stretching from Opalenica to Zbąszyń and the lower Obra River. Wąsowo is located 9 km northeast of Nowy Tomyśl, in an area now surrounded mostly by farmland, on the road from Duszniki to Nowy Tomyśl. The palace-park-farm complex occupies the north-eastern part of the village. From the east it is bounded by the road to Chraplewo, one of the three estates of the former Wąsowo entail. South of the complex, by the road to Nowa Róza (now Lipowa Street), there is a residential estate. The complex in Wąsowo consists of a palace-park (residential) complex, a manor farm and a residential estate for farm workers. The space of this part of the complex is organized by a baroque north-south axis of the composition, running from the façade of the Sczanieckis’ palace through the farmyard, a gate in the southern frontage of the yard and an alley, now Lipowa Street. The residential part is mostly fenced with a wrought metal fence on a brick foundation. In its south-western part, there is a late baroque palace, with its façade facing south, an ellipse-shaped gazebo and an asymmetrically situated classicist chapel. Behind the palace there are two oaks that were planted along with its construction. A neo-Gothic palace, called the castle, was built to the northeast of the palace. A landscaped park of 50 ha extends to the east and north. Apart from Gołuchów and Ujazd, the park is one of the largest in Wielkopolska. In the northern part it was formed on the slopes of a winding valley. It has two large clearings planted with old trees, mainly beech and oak. There are two ponds in the water system in the eastern part of the park. To the north, the park naturally transitions into a forest. The Hardt family graveyard is situated in this part. A doorkeeper’s house (to the west) and a gardener’s house (to the east) were built at the entrance gates in a similar style to the castle.

The most impressive building in Wąsowo is the neo-Gothic Hardt family Castle. Its form at the time of its construction was extremely innovative and its shape was complex. With an octagonal observation tower, it stood out from other residences in Wielkopolska (Duncker). Around 1900 the palace was expanded and rebuilt, preserving its original style. In this unchanged form it has been preserved to this day. The elevations of the castle were made of well burnt dark red clinker brick, supplemented with sandstone details. The roofs were originally covered with slate, and in the 20th century they were covered with metal sheets. After a recent renovation, the dark grey tiles were returned. During the last renovation, in 2011, the roof and trusses and attic ceilings were partially burned. The castle now houses a hotel and conference centre. The castle itself, somewhat hidden in the greenery, is not visible from the manor yard, however, its tower can be seen from a distance of even several kilometres.

An equally valuable building of the complex is the late baroque Sczanieckis Palace. Due to its location, it is the dominant feature of the complex, visible from practically every part of the complex. Its form somewhat resembles the palaces in Czerniejewo and Gułtowy.  It was built on a rectangular floor plan with three flat avant-corps, two storeys high. The hipped roof over the main body and the three-sided roofs of the side avant-corps are covered with tiles. On the southern façade there are cartouches of the Sczanieckis (Osoria) and Skórzewskis (Ogończyk) coats of arms. In the following centuries the interior of the palace was transformed. To the south-east, a Classicist chapel of the Ascension of Christ was built, in the form of a rotunda covered with a semicircular dome with a lantern and a bulbous cupola. Originally it was a Catholic manor chapel, and during the time of the Hardt family it was an Evangelical chapel. In the years 1976-2004 it was a parish chapel (until a new church was built in the village). It is now used for occasional weddings.

The farmyard is located in the south-western part of the complex, in the immediate vicinity of the park and the residence, separated from it by a plastered brick wall. Limited by the road from Kuślin to Nowy Tomyśl. Communicated with the palace through a gate on the axis of the baroque complex. Originally the courtyard buildings were situated along this axis. The remnants of this layout include the distillery and stone barn buildings constructed in 1861-62. At the same time, the courtyard was expanded by 1/3 to the west. The first building on the west frontage is a stone barn dating from 1861-68, where the roof was damaged in 2015 due to strong winds. In the last quarter of the 19th century other buildings in this frontage were built: a cowshed, a granary, a warehouse, and a dairy. From the south the courtyard is limited by a stone wall with a brick crenelation. Before 1910 a stable and a shed were incorporated into it. In the northern part of the yard a stable for carriage horses, a smithy and a foal barn were built. At that time, a brick neo-Gothic entrance gate to the courtyard was built, from the west. This part of the yard also had a communication connection with the residence through the gate (unused now due to various ownerships). The last structure to be built before World War II was the garage (to the north of the carriage horses stable). The surface of the yard is paved. The buildings of the farmyard represent a high standard. Modern structural solutions (Klein ceilings) and architectural details resulting from the construction (e.g. in the granary, the stable, and the smithy) were applied. The livestock buildings have damp-proof insulation, floors, ceramic wall coverings (stables), etc. It should be emphasized that in the construction of some of the residential houses, as well as the doorkeeper’s and gardener’s house, similar high-quality materials were used as in the castle, and typical architectural and construction details were applied (stair treads, window sills, archivolts, and keystones made of sandstone). The author of the farm and residential buildings is unknown, but the high level of architecture indicates their individual design.

A complex of residential buildings for farm workers is located south of the farmyard and the park by the road to Nowa Róża - paved Lipowa Street, planted with lime trees on both sides. It consists of five types of houses, repeated symmetrically and set on both sides of the street. The residential house, which housed the pharmacy, is compositionally connected with the farmyard. There are flower gardens in front of the houses and outbuildings in the back, set parallel to the residential houses. To the west of the colony there are typical fourfold houses, the oldest in the complex. The Wąsowo estate is complemented with old lime tree alleys running among the fields from the estate by the road to Chraplewo and east - towards the seat of the Kuślin commune. Access avenues planted with trees are a characteristic element of the landscape coexisting together with residence-manor farm complexes in different parts of Wielkopolska.

The palace, park and manor farm complex in Wąsowo has preserved its historically integral whole despite the different ownerships of its components. Its historical stages of development, from the end of the 18th century to the present day, are still legible. It is possible to trace the evolution of the complex resulting from changing functional and technological requirements - farmyard and principles of spatial composition - residence and park. Both the castle and palace as well as the Wąsowo Manor Farm invite you to visit and have an interesting offer, all in the space of high class, well preserved and maintained historical buildings.

Visitor access. The site can be visited from the outside. Viewing of the interior is possible by arrangement with the owner; the park is accessible to visitors. More information can be found online at: www.folwarkwasowo.pl and www.wasowo.pl

Author of the note: Teresa Palacz, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Poznań, 14.03.2018

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