History

At the end of the 18th century, Hugo Kołłątaj built a wooden manor in Michałowice. Michałowice belonged to the Kołłątaj family for most of the 19th century (with the exception of the period 1794-1811 when the Austrian administration took it over and leased to Józef Trojanowski). At the end of the 19th century, the property was purchased by Tadeusz Radwan Dąbrowski, Józef’s son, major of the Polish army during the Congress Kingdom, and an insurgent of 1830. On the site of the wooden Kołłątaj’s house, Dąbrowski and his wife, Maria née Rostworowski, erected a new mansion designed by Teodor Talowski in 1892. Until the end of the construction in 1897, the Dąbrowski family lived in a wooden house abandoned by the Kołłątaj family; it was demolished later. Along with the manor house, a grange complex was built. It has a brick stable and a wooden granary, probably also designed by Talowski.

The manor house of Michałowice witnessed important historical events. For example, during the struggle for independence at the beginning of the 20th century, Józef Piłsudski’s First Cadre Company commanded by Lieutenant T. Kasprzycki marched through Michałowice. The Dąbrowski family cherished national traditions. Their home was a place of lively debates about the most burning national and social affairs, and the young Dąbrowskis were reared in a patriotic spirit. During the Great War, the manor house was a military hospital. After WW2, the estate was nationalised. It housed as farmers’ cooperative offices and warehouses. Two chambers were rented by the local cooperative bank. The manor house was gradually falling into disrepair until the devastating fire in 1979. In the mid-1980s, the house was purchased by the Lorenz family. Since then, attempts have been made to restore the past glamour of the Dąbrowski family’s residence.

Description

The manor complex is located in the south-east edge of the village, east of the nearby Dłubnia River and the local road to Młodziejowice.

The house sits in the highest section of the park. It was designed in such a way that the tower/bastion in its south-west part stands exactly on the axis of a private alley leading to the residence.

The house’s plan is the letter “L”. The irregular layout of the strongly fragmented body is enhanced by numerous outbuildings, the tower, a huge loggia, and avant-corpses.

The interiors are arranged freely and functionally, and the clear functional division of the space is emphasised by distinct styles. The residential part was designed n the spirit of the Renaissance, the utility section was arranged in the “Gothic” wing. The rear wing has an annex with a chapel, its chancel closed on three sides, as well as a tower. The front façade has a side avant-corpse which houses the living room. It is topped with a triangular gable with stone pinnacles and a panel with the Dąbrowskis’ coat of arms: Radwan and Nałęcz.

In addition to the complex layout of the body, the textural effects employed in the façades also add extra colour to the building. They combine various materials in an extremely decorative fashion. The building was set on a quarry stone plinth; above the brick, which is the main building material of the façade, was combined with decorative stone elements: a horizontal cornice, pseudo-rustication in the corners, and above all, pleasing forms of triangular gables topping the avant-corpses with neo-Renaissance and neo-Gothic elements.

Around the house, there is a large park, which also existed during H. Kołłątaj’s life. Re-designed to make the best of the natural values of the terrain abounding in inclinations and terraces, it represents the type of a romantic landscape park. In addition to the acacia threes that dominate the park, there is one of the largest and oldest specimens of dogwood in Poland in the form of a bush; it has been recognised as a natural monument.

Both the manor house and the rest of the premises are a private property and no entry is possible.

Author of the note Grzegorz Młynarczyk, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 12/2015

Bibliography

• A.Beiersdorf, Karta ewidencyjna zabytku, Kraków 1982
• A.Beiersdorf, Architekt Teodor M. Talowski, Charakterystyka twórczości, [in:] Sztuka 2 poł. XIX w., Warszawa 1973, p. 201
• Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół Ziemi Michałowickiej, Naddłubniańskie pejzaże no. 4/2004 i 5/2005. “Nad Dłubnią”
• Kazimierz Girtler, Opowiadania. Vol. 1: Pamiętniki z lat 1803-1831. Wydawnictwo Literackie Kraków 1971