History

One of the first residences of the Bishops of Przemyśl in Krosno was a wooden manor house, bought in the last quarter of the 14th century by the then Ordinary of the Przemyśl Diocese, Erik von Winsen. In the second half of the 16th century the residence that abutted on the municipal defensive wall was expanded and modernised by the Bishop of Przemyśl, Stanisław Tarło. In 1626, by decision of Bishop Achacy Grochowski, the residence was relinquished to the Chapter of Przemyśl. In 1630 the palace was sold by the Chapter of Przemyśl to Zofia Skotnicka nee Ligęza, widow of Jan Skotnicki, a Castellan of Połaniec. After the fire of Krosno in 1638, which destroyed numerous buildings in the town, the palace building was subject to renovation and construction works that were completed in 1646. That same year the reconstructed palace with a newly erected wooden wing in the north was relinquished by Zofia Skotnicka to the College of Rorantists in Krosno. From 1745 onwards the palace was owned by the College of Vicars in Krosno. Around 1770 the wooden, northern wing of the palace was demolished, while in 1777 the feature was leased to the Austrian administration. In 1841 Józef Dembowski became a new owner of the former Palace of Bishops, while in 1873 the town took over property of the building. In the 1880s the building shortly housed barracks of troops of the Imperial and Royal Army, while from 1884 a poviat court had its seat there. In 1893 the building was altered. At that time a masonry northern wing, an avant-corps with a staircase in the east and new corridors on the ground floor and the first floor were constructed. In the years 1987-1994 the entire building underwent renovation, during which a new, eastern wing was added. From 1954 onwards, the old Palace of Bishops housed the Regional Museum. Currently, the Museum of Subcarpathia in Krosno is based in the building.

Description

The palace is located in the central part of Krosno, within the area of the chartered town, on a parcel located on the edge of the Old Town’s escarpment, in the immediate vicinity of relics of defensive walls and the Cracow Gate. Its front faces to the south-west, towards the former Hungarian Tract, currently Piłsudski Street. The palace was erected on an irregular plan, as a combination of three rectangles connected with one another to form a polygon, with an enfilade arrangement of the interior. At the front, the building has one and a half bays and one bay in the south-eastern wing. The building includes an avant-corps housing a staircase in the front wing. The feature has two storeys, a basement and a simple body composed of three elongated cuboids. The front wing is covered with a gable roof, the south-eastern wing, erected on the border of the parcel, is covered with a shed roof, while the northern wing is covered with a gable roof. Later expansions (from the 19th century) along the northern border of the parcel belonging to the Bishops joined the parts of the building, thus forming a courtyard inside. The palace is made of brick and stone, while the roofs are covered with copper sheet. The front façade, facing to the south-west, constitutes a relatively long section of the frontage. It has two storeys, eleven axes and was irregularly planned with an asymmetrically positioned gate to the pass-through vestibule. Windows, arranged along axes, are accentuated by profiled window surrounds with a window sill and, additionally on the second storey, with cornices above windows. The gate is framed by pilasters supporting a triangular pediment with a niche containing a figure in the middle. Two stone escutcheons were laid on its both sides. The front façade is crowned with a pronounced crowning cornice. Other façades inside the courtyard are irregularly planned and include no decorations. The rooms on the ground floor and on the first floor as well as the pass-through vestibule feature surviving barrel vaults with lunettes.

The building is accessible during opening hours of the Museum of Subcarpathia.

compiled by Mieczysław Kuś, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Rzeszow, 15-12-2014.

Bibliography

• Katalog zabytków sztuki. Województwo krośnieńskie, pod red. E. Śnieżyńskiej-Stolotowej i F. Stolota, Krosno, Dukla i okolice, oprac. E. Śnieżyńska-Stolotowa i F. Stolot, Warszawa 1977, s. 96-98.
• Malczewski J., Historia pałacu biskupiego na tle dziejów Krosna, w: Studia i Materiały Muzeum Okręgowego w Krośnie, nr 2, Krosno 1982, s. 18-34.
• Z. Gil, Pałac biskupi w Krośnie. Dzieje i ewolucja budowli na przestrzeni wieków, w: 50 lat Muzeum w Krośnie, red. J. Gancarski, Krosno 2004, s. 11-34.