History

Until the end of the 12th century, Mogilany was a royal property. In 1199 the village went into private hands. Prince Leszek the White gave the village to Goworek, the voivode of Sandomierz. In 1231 Goworek’s widow offered the Mogilany estate to the Kraków voivode, Teodor Gryfit, who transferred it to the Cistercians from Ludźmierz in 1243. A wooden church erected in Mogilany was evidence of their activity. The parish was established before 1325. After over 300 years, in 1560, pursuant to an agreement endorsed by King Sigismund, the Cistercians exchanged the monastic property of Mogilany, Głogoczów, and Włosań for the estate of the castellan of Kraków, Wawrzyniec Spytek Jordan, of the Trzy Trąby coat of arms.

The new owner was a true Renaissance lord. Wealthy, influential, well-circumstanced at the royal court, he also had his ambitions, which he successfully pursued. After acquiring Mogilany, Jordan made it his seat and vacated his former residences: the castle in Melszyn and the manor house in Myślenice. Fascinated by the beauty of the region and the magnificent panoramas of the Tatra Mountains and Kraków, he built a residence in Mogilany on an artificially raised terrace to achieve an even more spectacular view. The palace in Mogilany, erected in the years 1560-1567, combined the qualities of an Italian-type suburban villa, which was very fashionable at the time, with a typical Polish building material, i.e. wood. According to tradition, the palace standing on a stone foundation was flanked by turrets. From the north, there was a brick porch decorated with putti and a loggia from the south. However, no image of Spytek’s residence has survived. There is only a description which shows how magnificent it was. The residence “built of massive timber of sawn, studded wood; it was erected on a foundation and a yew plinth secured by a roof-shaped cornice against rainwater; it was adorned on the sides by two white tinned turrets topped with cupolas and spiky spirelet. Entrance from the north with a view of Kraków, Tenczyn, Tyniec, Lipowiec, the graves of Krakus and Wanda, and even further, was through a brick porch by the stairs and vestibule; it was encircled with a stone balustrade with carved, artichoke balusters, vases and two putti on baskets with apples, leaning against the lord’s coat of arms... In addition to the more magnificent rooms with decorative tapestries, there were side outbuildings and rooms with planed walls painted in red and white and with impressive plant motifs and various patterns...” 

The impressive wooden palace survived until 1796.  As regards its shape remembered by witnesses, the Mogilany manor did not differ much from other similar residences of the time that dotted the map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. What made it stand out was, and still is, a magnificent garden. It is not sure who designed it, although some researchers pointed to the Italian architect and decorator Bartolomeo Ridolfi from Verona, son-in-law and associate of the famous architect, Giovanni Maria Falconetto. It was a geometric, quarter garden described in 1567 by Mikołaj Rej during his stay in Mogilany.

Spytek Jordan was an art lover, known in Poland and abroad. He surrounded himself with people of culture. In Mogilany he created some sort of an artistic fraternity. Apart from Mikołaj Rej, he hosted many artists, writers, and scholars, among them, the Rev. Stanisław Orzechowski. He also set up a printing house in one of the outbuildings. Mikołaj Rej’s Żywot człowieka poczciwego was printed here.

After Spytek’s death in 1568, the Mogilany estate became the property of the widow, Anna Sieniawska. Later, it changed hands through family affiliations and gradually declined.

In the first half of the 17th century, the design and garden layout were probably updated. Michał Jordan,the voivode of Bracław, is considered the initiator of the project. As a result, a building was designed symmetrically situated on the axis of the geometric ornamental garden, probably lined with hornbeam rows. During this period, a kind of artificial earthen buttress was formed in the area of the slope to reduce the steepness of the central part of the garden. The first indirect mention of hornbeam alleys comes from the second half of the 18th century, and a direct one from 1851. In 1761 the Mogilany estate accumulated immense debt and was handed over to creditors, among them the Lubomirskis. In 1764 they forced the owner, Stefan Jordan, to sell the neglected property to Prince Józef Massalski. Later on, after marriage to the Massalskis’ daughter, Helena (Sydonia, princess de Ligne), the property became the ownership of Franciszek Potocki. In the second half of the 18th century, he extended the axis-aligned, ornamental architectural complex by two side outhouses. At that time, there was probably a partial change in the architecture of the farm buildings from wooden to brick.

In 1802 Mogilany, together with Głogoczów and Kuleszów, was purchased by Józef (I) Konopka, master hunter from Sanok. He used the basement of an older building (probably a utility structure) to build a new mansion, which is the heart of the building existing today. The manor house remodelled around 1830 (design by Juszczkiewicz) is a late classicist, brick, rectangular building with arcaded porticoes from the road and from the garden side, topped with a triangular abutment. Further expansion of the building towards the north followed at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1885 Mogilany was inherited by Stanisław Konopka. In the interwar period, he made Mogilany a model farm attracting students and trainees from the Agricultural University in Kraków. At the beginning of the 20th century, he also extended the park section of the estate. Stanisław Konopka planted a group of spruce trees partially closing the Italian garden from the north (along with the manor house and a lane of trees). He ultimately transformed it into a recreational and decorative garden. Perhaps, during that time, the edges of the garden quarters were planted with clipped boxwood.

During WW2, the roof of the Mogilany manor house burnt down. The Konopkas repaired the damage and renovated the house themselves, but in 1945 the property was nationalised.

At the turn of 1967, the manor house in Mogilany became the property of the Polish Academy of Sciences. After a major renovation, the House of Creative Work was installed here.

Description

The complex funded by Wawrzyniec Spytek Jordan after 1560 is located at the top of a hill and consists of the manor house and the surrounding park.

The building as it is today was probably built next to Jordan’s non-existent residence. This is indicated by its asymmetric position in relation to the garden.

As a result of archaeological survey, it was found that the manor house had a rectangular plan, with a length of ca. 25m, symmetrical and three-axis. The contemporary manor house is a classicist building, set on a rectangular plan, covered by a steep, mansard roof with dormers illuminating a habitable loft. The front (north) and garden (south) elevations are decorated with axially placed avant-corpses with pillar arcades topped with triangular abutments. To the east, there is a small terrace and steps leading to it from the north and south. The terrace and the steps are closed from the east with a stone balustrade with balusters; from the west, a two-storey outbuilding with a multi-pitched roof was added. The older part of the manor house is covered by standing seam metal sheet; the newer outbuilding is covered by a flat tile roof in brick-red colour. The manor house has full basement.

In the south section of the park, with an excellent view of the Tatra Mountains, there is a terrace closed with a stone garden balustrade with balusters and two putti, perhaps originally from the times and materials used in the Mogilany palace, which was demolished in the 18th century (similar motifs and figures in the east terrace of the house).

The manor house and the park belong to the state and have been leased to the commune for a period of three years. The manor house is not open to the public. The park is fenced with a mesh; access only through the main gate. Opening hours at the entrance.

Author of the note Grzegorz Młynarczyk, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 01-20-2014

Bibliography

• J. Nowina Konopka, Wieś Mogilany. Monografia. Kraków 1885
• Tadeusz Galarowski: Mogilany:zarys monograficzny”, Kraków 1976
• Józef Sternalski-”Mogilany dawniej i dziś”, Mogilant :TPM;Kraków:MBP,1986 (Kroniki Mogilańskie;1)
• Roman Marcinek, Zbigniew Myczkowski “Teki Krakowskie.-[T.] 2 (1995)
• Marta Dvorak, Dwory, zamki, pałace, Kraków 2005