The façade detailing, representative of the style which marked the transition from Late Baroque to Early Neoclassicism and incorporating decorative motifs reminiscent of vernacular art, represents an outstanding level of artistry.

History

Idzików was first mentioned in written sources back in 1340, with the references to the so-called Middle Manor appearing in 1400. In 1475, a reference was made to the local grange. The Middle Manor remained the property of the local nobility of the Kłodzko Region, whose representatives had a residential tower (keep) erected here between the late 15th century and the year 1530. The tower was erected near a country road, in the corner of the manor farm; designed on a quadrangular plan, the tower featured walls with a thickness of approximately 120-150 centimeters. In the years 1530-1625 or thereabouts, the Middle Manor remained in the hands of the Idzików-based line of the von Reichenbach family, who had the residence extended in order to satisfy their needs. Before 1599, a manor house was added to the old keep; designed as a two-storey, two-bay masonry structure following a tripartite layout, the manor house featured a central vestibule as well as a middle axis which was drawn without regard to the axis of the older keep. The manor house was subsequently extended in years 1625-1804; no precise dating of this phase is possible, however, due to the fact that the manor house was later rebuilt on numerous occasions after being repeatedly damaged by fire (after 1622, after 1651 and after 1664). In any event, the manor house was extended through the addition of a short, two-bay section, as evidenced by the presence of an visible joint in its rear façade. One may also not rule out the possibility that volute-shaped gables may have been added in the course of the reconstruction which took place in the third quarter of the 17th century. The Middle Manor is believed to have periodically served as a country home for the local nobility; after 1723, when all the local lands were brought together by the comital family of von Wallis, based in Pławnica, the manor house became a local administrator’s building. When the Idzików manor was taken over by the counts of von Magnis, whose family residence was located in Bożków, the old manor house still served the same function. The new owners of the manor have ordered the last major redesign of the manor house, which took place in 1804. It was at that point that the building received the staircase and the mansard roof. The local builders have executed the surviving façade decorations, combining the elements of the Late Baroque and Early Classicism with Neoclassical detailing displaying heavy influences of folk art. The manor house was subsequently redesigned in the early 20th century as well as in the second half of the 20th century; in the latter case, the works performed resulted in the destruction of the original ceilings with their plasterwork decorations as well as of the period window and door joinery.

Description

The manor house is a masonry structure made of stone, its walls covered with plaster. It was designed on an elongated rectangular plan with a slightly offset axis. The building consists of the northern section - the former residential keep - as well as the more recent southern section, constructed in two stages and following a two-bay layout, with a middle hallway leading across parts of the building. The first floor follows a one-and-a-half-bay layout with a broader front suite of rooms and a narrower hallway. In the middle of the front suite of rooms on the ground floor level there is a vestibule with a barrel vault featuring envelope-shaped lunettes. Next to the vestibule there is a staircase leading up to the first floor - a two quarter landing, mirrored structure made of wood and stone. The ground floor interiors feature groin vaults, barrel vaults with lunettes as well as sail vaults resting on structural arches. The manor house is a two-storey structure with a mansard roof, featuring a clearly offset axis at the junction of the two sections of the structure - the old residential keep and the more recent part of the building. Only two of the building’s façades - the front façade overlooking the yard and the side (northern) façade visible from the driveway - feature the original decorative detailing. The entire arrangement is based upon the use of decorative framing, a profiled crowning cornice and plain, stone surrounds of the portal and some of the ground-floor windows. The first floor windows, on the other hand, feature plasterwork eared surrounds. The window headers are adorned with palmette motifs in the form of tree branches arrange in different patterns. Similarly stylised palmettes also serve as corbels beneath the profiled lintel cornices. The decorative arrangement of the northern gable-end façade is supplemented by the centrally positioned faux window with ornate surround - an imitation painted on the plaster-covered wall, added for the sake of symmetry in the arrangement of the first-floor windows. Furthermore, the northern gable-end façade and the southern gable-end façade feature vestiges of what had once been ornamental, volute-shaped copings. The rear façade presents a utilitarian style, with an irregular arrangement of windows and traces of numerous alteration works. Nevertheless, one can still see that in the early 19th century, the windows were larger than they are now and featured moulded plasterwork surrounds.

The building can be viewed from the outside.

compiled by Iwona Rybka-Ceglecka, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Wrocław, 09-07-2015.

Bibliography

• Brzezicki S., Nielsen Ch., Grajewski G., Popp D. (ed.), Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, Warsaw 2006
• Kögler J., Historische Beschreibung der Herrschaft Kieslingswalde, 1805, Vierteljahrschrift für Geschichte und Heimatkunde der Grafschaft Glatz, Band X, 1890/91