History

The original, most probably wooden, town hall in Oleszyce was erected after the previous village had been granted town rights based on the Magdeburg Law in 1578. The new town hall was erected probably in the last quarter of the 17th century from funds of the then owner of the town, Hieronim Sieniawski (1666-1726), the future Voivode of Bełżec and Field Hetman of the Crown. In 1719 the town hall suffered severe damages due to an accidental fire, as a result of which a part of the building collapsed. In 1727, after another fire that devastated the interior of the town hall, Adam Mikołaj Sienawski initiated renovation and reconstruction works. In consequence, a masonry, one-storey building was erected. At the turn of the 18th and 19th century, during renovation works, the southern wing of the town hall was extended upwards by one storey and the façades obtained a Classicist décor. Subsequent renovations of the town hall were carried out in 1930 and straight after World War II, during which the town hall was partially destroyed yet another time. After the war the town hall was used by a Commune Cooperative “Farmers’ Self-Help” in Oleszyce; in the following decades the rooms were also leased to private users and, among others, PSS Społem. In 1997 the town hall was renovated and since 1998 it has been a seat of the town authorities.

Description

The town hall is located in the middle of the market square and its front façade faces to the south. It was set on a rectangular floor plan with proportions approximating those of a square. It consists of four wings including a rectangular courtyard, accessible by pass-through gates in the northern and southern wing. The southern wing has an arrangement of rooms based on two and a half bays. There are basements under some parts of the building. Heights of particular parts are diversified; the most representational southern wing has two storeys and is covered with a hip roof. Northern, western and eastern wings have one storey and are covered with gable roofs differing from each other in height due to a different width of bays. The body is diversified by a shallow front avant-corps above a vaulted pass-through gate on the ground floor, with a gable featuring a gable roof above the upper floor. In the northern wing, a vaulted pass-through vestibule was accentuated with an avant-corps and a separate gable roof. Two roofs over entrances were installed in recent times in a courtyard interior. The town hall was made of brick and the roofs were clad with ceramic tiles. The front, south façade was planned as a two-storey, symmetric, eleven axes one, with a single-axis, two-storey avant-corps in the middle, with a door of the pass-through gate on the ground floor. Storeys are partitioned by a string course topped with roof tiles and surmounted by a crowning cornice. The ground floor features frame partitions of the façade with Tuscan pilasters separating axes from one another as well as flat surrounds of window and door openings along extreme axes; the avant-corps features pilasters in the Giant Order, supporting the gable with an Ogończyk coat of arms of the Działyński family - owners of the town in the second and third quarter of the 19th century. The upper floor features a smooth façade with simple window sills. East and west façades were planned as mirror images, with a two-storey part in the south and small differences as regards the arrangement of window and door openings. A string course of two-storey parts gives way to a crowning cornice above the one-storey parts. On the ground floor, along the entire length, a rhythmical, alternate arrangement of flat, rectangular niches and openings in flat surrounds terminating in segmental arch, was designed. The north façade is decorated in an analogical way. It is broken in the middle by an avant-corps of the pass-through vestibule crowned with a pediment, with internal corners braced by pilasters, similarly as all corners of the building. After recent renovations, return of the historical arrangement of the façades and size of openings, the town hall has an excellent appearance.

The monument is available during the opening hours of the café and the civil registry.

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

Bibliography

• Karta ewidencyjna, Ratusz, oprac.: Poprawa D., 1989 r., Archiwum Wojewódzkiego Urzędu Ochrony Zabytków w Przemyślu
• Kłos S., Lubaczów i okolice, Krosno 1998, s. 59-60.