History

The village of Horodyszcze was founded in the vicinity of an early medieval hillfort, on an important trade route leading from Krakow through Lublin to Brześć. Horodyszcze was granted a foundation charter during the reign of King Sigismund Augustus. In the 16th century, it was the property of the Połubiński Knyazes, who built a fortified castle here. Then the estate was transferred to the Dembiński and Koniecpolski families, and from 1625 to Mikołaj Firlej, the starosta (a community elder) of Lublin. His granddaughter Anna Rysińska brought the palace and its surroundings as dowry to her husband Andrzej Potocki at the end of the 17th century. They remained in the hands of this family for almost the entire 18th century. During that time, a magnificent Baroque residential complex was built, to the south-west of the town.

Left as inheritance after the death of Jerzy Michał Potocki, Horodyszcze was bought in 1801 by Michał Butler, who, around 1809, sold it to Jan Dionizy Frankowski. The latter erected the existing palace, designed in 1825, on the site of the earlier (perhaps wooden) seat of the Potocki family. The present-day palace was probably designed by the famous architect Antonio Corazzi and decorated with reliefs by Paweł Maliński.

After the death of Jan Dionizy Frankowski, Horodyszcze was inherited by his son Julian Frankowski and then his daughter Anna brought the property as dowry to Julian Horodyski. Their son Julian was the last pre-war owner of the palace. In 1915, the palace was requisitioned for military use by the Germans, who robbed the palace of its furniture and ornaments. In 1922, Julian Horodyski rebuilt the farm and prevented the palace from falling into ruin. During the Second World War, the German administration seized the palace again. At the end of the war, some rooms of the palace were destroyed by a fire. After the Second World War, the property was nationalized and the palace was used as a school and then as living quarters and utility rooms. For many years, the palace was abandoned and devastated. In 1983, the ruined heritage site was bought by the brothers Adam and Marian Osypiuk, who carried out a full-scale renovation of the palace (including the replacement of portico columns, roof truss and roof cladding, wall plasters, window and door woodwork). 

Description

The palace complex is situated to the south west of the village. The Palace. Classicist. The front elevation faces north-east. The palace is built on a rectangular plan. It is a one-storey building with cellars under some of its parts. The interiors have a symmetrical, two-bay layout in the middle and a three-bay layout on the sides. On the axis, there is a hall with truncated internal corners, adjoined on the left by a staircase. Behind the hall, there is an oval lounge with an avant-corps overlooking the garden. The rooms on the sides of the lounge are arranged in an enfilade. In the front bay, there are two vestibules adjacent to the lounge and a hall (in the north-west section, there is an additional staircase) and two outermost, hexagon rooms in the middle bay, each with an avant-corps in the side elevation. On the first floor, the rooms follow a similar layout, with an oval ballroom over the lounge. The palace is made of brick and plaster and covered with a hipped roof with sheet metal cladding (originally shingled).

The front elevation is seven-axial, with slightly protruding uniaxial avant-corpses with psuedo-rusticated corners. On the axis, there is a recessed portico in the giant order with four Ionic columns. Below the portico, there is a balcony on the first floor. Above the portico, there is an attic wall topped with a gable arch (reconstructed in a simplified manner). The window openings are rectangular and topped with cornices. On the first floor, there are avant-corps with semi-circular arches, surmounted by profiled surrounds and decorated with reliefs featuring pairs of winged geniuses with wreaths. The garden-facing elevation is seven-axial too, with a semi-circular, three-axial avant-corps flanked by Ionic columns and covered with a half-dome. The side elevations are five-axial, with three-sided avant-corps in the middle. All elevations are divided longitudinally by a profiled cordon cornice and topped with a simplified entablature with a corbel cornice.

The ground floor of the garden-facing elevation is covered with rusticated strips. The interiors originally contained rich architectural, stucco and painted decorations, as well as fireplaces and stoves (preserved only in fragments and partly reconstructed today). The present-day landscape park dates back to the same period as the palace. It replaced the pre-existing geometric garden, with a partially preserved access avenue lined with linden trees and a hornbeam alley behind the palace, with trees planted in single rows, and a pond in the south-eastern part.

The building is not accessible to visitors (private property).

compiled by Bożena Stanek-Lebioda, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Branch Office in Lublin, 5 January 2016

Bibliography

• Aftanazy R., Dzieje rezydencji na dawnych kresach Rzeczypospolitej, vol. 2, Województwo brzesko-litewskie, nowogródzkie, Wrocław (…) 1992, pp. 52-54; vol. 11, Województwo kijowskie oraz uzupełnienie do tomów 1-10, Wrocław (…) 1997, pp. 413-419.
• Baranowski J., Pałac w Horodyszczu (domniemane dzieło Antoniego Corazziego, (in:) “Studia i Materiały Lubelskie”, Lublin 1969, vol. 4, pp. 129-151.
• Antoni Jodłowski, Dzieje obiektów zabytkowych z wybranych miejscowości północno-wschodniej części woj. lubelskiego, Biała Podlaska 2002, pp. 30-32
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, vol. VIII: Województwo lubelskie, issue 18: Powiat włodawski, compiled by E. Smulikowska, pp. 16-18.
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