History

The manor house was most likely erected in the 17th century, although virtually nothing is known about its founders or the circumstances surrounding its origins. In years 1770-1775, the manor house was redesigned by rev. Józef Karśnicki (Karsznicki), who would later go on to design the Benedictine church forming part of the Święty Krzyż (Holy Cross) monastery. During the interwar period, the manor remained in the hands of the Malinowski family, while after World War II it served as a school. A new chapter in the history of the manor house complex began in 1976, when it was acquired by the renowned sculptor Zygmunt Kaczor from Kielce, who is still well-remembered in Nikisiałka to this very day. It was during that period that the renovation of the manor house began, with certain works having been performed on an ongoing basis ever since. In 1984, an inventory of the manorial park was prepared. The manor house complex is currently private property.

Description

The manor house is a brick and stone building standing on the top of the hill towering above the tightly clustered village to the south; the mansion is surrounded by the vestiges of what had once been an extensive landscape park. A masonry utility building of unspecified age lies south-west of the manor house, while remnants of terraces and walking paths lined with lime trees can still be seen on the slope of the hill behind the manor house. The manor house itself is a single-storey building with a tall, two-tier hip roof of the so-called Polish type, similar to a sateri roof, albeit without the narrow strip of wall separating the two roof sections. The roof is clad with wood shingles. The main body of the manor house, designed on a rectangular plan, follows a two-bay, symmetrical layout; the two chambers positioned at the edges of the house in the eastern suite of rooms (an arrangement similar to the corner extensions often seen in Polish manor houses, albeit indistinguishable from the rest of the house when looking from the outside) feature vaulted ceilings of the double barrel type. The façades are topped with a profiled cornice running just beneath the eaves; the windows are arranged symmetrically, reflecting the layout of the rooms within. The walls of the central porch projecting from the main façade are adorned with Tuscan pilasters, while the Baroque gable is decorated with a semi-circular pediment flanked by volutes. The windows of the side walls of the porch are semi-circular in shape and feature a radial arrangement of muntin bars; the main entrance is likewise topped with a semi-circular arch. The design of the porch is the only feature of the building allowing for the period of its construction and redesign to be determined in an unambiguous manner. The utility building positioned on the south-western side of the manor house does not possess any design features pointing towards a specific architectural style. The vestigial remnants of the park surrounding the manor house bear the hallmarks of a landscape park with traces of what might have been an earlier formal, geometric garden.

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

Compiled by Aleksandra Ziółkowska, 04-12-2015

Bibliography

• Record sheet of monuments of architecture, Nikisiałka Mała, dwór (Nikisiałka Mała, manor house), prepared by A. Adamczyk, 1991, Archive of the Regional Monuments Protection Office in Kielce, Sandomierz Branch Office.
• Verification sheet of the park in Nikisiałka Mała, prepared by S. Styczyński, 1994, Archive of the Regional Monuments Protection Office in Kielce, Sandomierz Branch Office.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. III, issue 7, Warsaw 1959.
• Morelowski M., O działalności architektonicznej ks. Józefa Karsznickiego, “Prace Komisji Historii Sztuki”, II, 1922.
• Olszewski A., Życie i twórczość architekta ks. Józefa Karsznickiego, “Biuletyn Historii Sztuki”, XIX, 1957.