History

The Baroque manor house was erected in the years 1685-1689 by funding of Balthasar von Unruh, a land judge of the Zielona Góra district and the then owner of Zatonie as well as nearby Książ Śląski and Słone. In the period when the estate belonged to Frederika Christiana Cosel, i.e between 1771-1784, the manor house was redeveloped, but the scope of those works is unknown. After the death of the countess, five successive owners of the manor house were mentioned. At that time, the manor house was a two-storey, cuboid building covered with a tall, hip roof. In 1809 the ownership of the property was passed to Duchess of Courland Dorothea Biron, later to become Duchess de Talleyrand-Périgord. By her order, in 1815 a greenhouse and an orangery were added to the eastern wall of the manor house. After 1841 the garden was extended, thus forming a landscape park (most likely according to the instructions formulated by Peter Joseph Lenné). In the years 1842-1843 the manor house was redesigned and obtained a form of a Classicist palace. W. Gurlt authored the design. After the death of the Duchess in 1862, the estate was inherited by her son, Duke Alexander Edmund de Talleyrand-Périgord. At his initiative, the orangery and the greenhouse were remodelled and guardhouses were erected at the main entrance, according to the design by A. Jeckl. In 1879 Zatonie was bought by Karl Rudolph Friedenthal and in the years 1890-1945 the estate belonged to his daughter, Renate von Lancken-Wakenitz. In her days, in 1893 a portico was erected at the garden-facing façade of the palace, according to the design by architect Schild, the park was extended before 1905 and a forester’s lodge was built between 1935 and 1937.  In 1945 the palace and the orangeries were burned down by the Russian troops and have remained a ruin to this day.

Description

The complex is located in the heart of the village, on the eastern side of the Zielona Góra-Kożuchów road, within a vast landscape park. The architectural landmark of the complex is formed by the ruins of the Classicist palace located in the western part of the park, with remnants of an orangery and a greenhouse added later. Classicist utility buildings are located to the south of the palace. They include a stable, a carriage house (currently a residential building), a greenhouse, a wheelwright’s house and a forester’s lodge (currently a seat of the Przytok Forest District). After 1945 they were refurbished and remodelled. The main entrance is located on the west side, at the level of the church ruins.

The palace is a three-storey masonry building, designed on a rectangular floor plan, of a two-bay structure and featuring a basement underneath its structure. Perimeter walls and some sections of external walls have survived. There are four-columned, Doric porticos made of sandstone on the axis of the front and garden-facing façade. The façades are plastered, rusticated and adorned with cornices and profiled window surrounds. There is a preserved parapet with a stone crest cartouche above the crowning cornice.

The Late Classicist, single-storey orangery on the east side of the palace was set on a square floor plan and features plastered walls. The front façade features two composite columns, originally supporting the triangular tympanum. The corners are accentuated with pilasters crowned with composite capitals.

Heritage site accessible to the general public.

Author of the note Anna Jackiewicz, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Zielona Góra. 13-11-2017

Bibliography

• Bielinis-Kopeć B. (ed.), Zamki, dwory i pałace województwa lubuskiego, Zielona Góra 2008, pp. 441-442.
• Bielinis-Kopeć B. (ed.), Zabytkowe parki województwa lubuskiego, Zielona Góra 2013, pp. 469-471.
• Garbacz K., Przewodnik po zabytkach województwa lubuskiego, vol. 1, Zielona Góra 2011, pp. 33-34.
• Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, Warsaw 2006, p.1072.