It was an estate of wealthy families and art collectors. It is an outstanding example of Neoclassical architecture and Poland’s first reference to the famous Italian Villa Rotonda by Andrea Palladia. Rebuilt after the destruction during World War II, it became a seat of the Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture, branch of the National Museum in Warsaw.

History

The Królikarnia estate was founded in the first half of the 18th century by king August the Strong. In 1748 it was taken over by Count Heinrich von Brühl, the first minister of August III and from 1775 it belonged to Duchess Marshal Izabela Lubomirska nee Czartoryska, owner of the nearby Mokotów. In 1778 the grange was bought by Count Karol de Valery-Thomatis, chamberlain of king Stanisław August Poniatowski and director of royal theatres. He was Italian, who gained wealth and honours by playing cards. He built a profitable grange in the estate and a residence of a suburban villa type, located on the edge of the Warsaw Escarpment and having visual links with the palace of Duchess Lubomirska in Mokotów and Łazienki Królewskie. The palace was built by Dominik Merlini, the royal architect and the main architect of the Republic of Poland, in the years 1782-1786. Designs proposed by Jan Fontana and Jan Christian Kamsetzer are also known. Next to the residence, on the side of the escarpment slope and below the terrace, a brick grotto was made. The palace and the grotto were linked by underground passages with the kitchen pavilion located on the north side. During the Insurrection of 1794, the palace was plundered and for several days remained the headquarters of Tadeusz Kościuszko. In the times of the Duchy of Warsaw it hosted a military hospital for Napoleon’s soldiers. In 1816 the property was bought from the family of the late Thomatis by Duke Michał Hieronim Radziwiłł, forestalling the intentions of Nikolai Novosiltsev. Radziwiłł was a Voivode of Vilnius and he relocated parts of his art collection from Nieborów to Królikarnia. Following his death in 1831, the estate was inherited by Duke Michał Gedeon Radziwiłł. In 1843 the palace underwent refurbishment under the supervision of Franciszek Maria Lanci, during which a part of the terrace with a grotto was rebuilt. In 1849 the Królikarnia palace was bought by Franciszek Ksawery Pusłowski, a philanthropist and collector, who equipped his estate with numerous works of art. After his death, the palace was inherited by his brother, Wandalin. In August 1879 the valuable equipment and décor of the interiors was destroyed in the fire. Only the walls of the building survived. In 1880 an architect Józef Huss completed a true reconstruction of the palace on the basis of preserved measurements and fragments, which was recognised as a pioneering conservation achievement in Poland. In 1884 the residence was purchased by Duke Aleksander Drucki-Lubecki and from 1889 it belonged to Marta Pusłowska, daughter of Wandalin and wife of Duke Kazimierz Krasiński. In 1902 she initiated a comprehensive renovation of the Królikarnia palace. In 1916 the property was incorporated into the borders of Warsaw. During World War II the palace was consumed by flames in September 1939 and the surviving walls suffered further destruction during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. In 1948 it was decided that the palace, taken over by the state, would house the museum and workshop of a sculptor Xawery Dunikowski. The reconstruction of the palace according to the design by Jan Bieńkowski lasted until 1964. The original external form of the building was restored, without a balcony in the south façade, while in the interiors only the décor of the central rotunda was reconstructed and the layout of the neighbouring rooms was slightly altered. On 26 January 1965, on the anniversary of Dunikowski’s death, the museum holding his name was opened in the palace.

Description

The palace is located in the Królikarnia park, on the edge of a tall promontory of the Warsaw Escarpment, framed by deep gorges at the north and south end. The steepness of the escarpment is reinforced by a retaining wall with two flights of stairs leading to a grotto opening through three arcades and covered with a semi-circular terrace, from which a broad view on, among others, ponds and greenery of the Arkadia park. The masonry villa is characterised by a compact silhouette and a regular, clear square floor plan, with a central, round room surrounded by rectangular rooms on two storeys, crowned with a cupola on a tholobate and topped with a motif of an artichoke (formerly gold-plated). The tall ground floor, hosting basements, and corners of the building are adorned with rustication, while the façades are crowned with entablature with dentils over a smooth frieze. The seven-axial front façade facing west is distinguished by a recessed portico with 4 stone Ionic columns supporting a triangular pediment with a tympanum decorated with panoplies and emblems depicting the benefactor’s interests. The portico is preceded by stairs framed by tall plinths and semi-circular low walls. On the remaining five-axial façades, there are three-axial central parts featuring projections and decorated with faux porticos with pediments resting on Ionic pilasters in the giant order. The symbolism of tympanum decorations is related to hunting and fishing, whereby decorations from the north tympanum were reconstructed on the non-preserved pediment on the south side. Tall windows of the parterre and panels in the extreme axes of side façades are decorated at the bottom and at the top by cornices on corbels, while the smaller windows feature surrounds with a cornice and an apron at the bottom. In the vestibule of the western façade, above the parterre openings, there are stucco decorations with motifs of cornucopias, masks and ribbons, while the ones above the entrance feature an eagle (originally holding a scroll with an inscription). The cupola tholobate is adorned with a frieze made of eagles and garlands. Half-turn stone stairs leading to the terrace in front of the avant-corps adjoin the east façade. Their platforms are located on the edges of the façades and merge below in a wide flight running towards the terrace on the escarpment. The reconstructed décor of the rotunda, with 8 columns of yellow stucco, white Corinthian capitals and panels with stucco ornaments, draw attention in the interior of the building.

The feature’s interior is accessible during the Museum opening hours, while the park is open from dawn to dusk.

Compiled by Małgorzata Laskowska-Adamowicz, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Regional Branch in Warsaw. 28.09.2017

Bibliography

• Record sheet, Pałac Królikarnia. Warszawa, compiled by Narkiewicz-Siwek J., 2001, Archive of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage.
• Record sheet, Pałac Królikarnia. Warszawa, compiled by Kaczyńska, B., 1959, Archive of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage.
• Jaworski P., Antyk w Królikarni, “Rocznik Historii Sztuki”, 2004, vol. 29, p. 203-329
• Jaroszewski T., Księga Pałaców Warszawy, Warsaw 1985
• Kanczewska A., Królikarnia Muzeum im. Xawerego Dunikowskiego, Warsaw 1981
• Kwiatkowski M., Dzieje Królikarni, “Rocznik Warszawski”, 1970, vol. VIII, p. 59-89
• Kwiatkowski M., Królikarnia, Warsaw 1971
• Lorentz S., Rottermund A., Klasycyzm w Polsce, Warsaw 1984.
• Tatarkiewicz W., Dominik Merlini, Poznań 1955
• Tatarkiewicz W., Tokarz W., Królikarnia analiza i dzieje, Warsaw 1938
• http://www.ipsb.nina.gov.pl/a/biografia/franciszek-ksawery-puslowski - accessed 05-09-2017
• http://www.krolikarnia.mnw.art.pl/ - accessed 28-09-2017