During subsequent reconstructions, it was transformed in an Eclectic style, with elements of neo-Gothic décor. Next to the palace, there are some remnants of farm buildings and an extensive landscape park.

History

The residential complex dates to the 16th century, when Zofia Kościeniówna brought the land of Kobyle as dowry to her husband Mikołaj Rej. In 1547, a town of Rejowiec was established there under a foundation charter granted by King Sigismund I the Old. The first seat, situated in the backwaters of the Rejka River, had the form of a fortress, with a residential house in the form of the so-called townhouse. It is thought that some remnants of that fortress still exist in the palace today. The property was owned by the Rej family and their heirs (with some interruptions) until the end of the 17th century. In 1702, the indebted property was bought by Stanisław Mateusz Rzewuski, Field Hetman of the Crown, and was subsequently inherited by his sons – Wacław and Seweryn. In 1758, Rejowiec was bought by Anna née Mierów, who married Wiktoryn Zaleski from Turośnia in Podlasie in 1759. In those time, the economic situation of the property of Rejowiec improved, which made it possible to repair and renovate the old palace buildings (one of them was remodelled as a residential building for the owner) and new facilities were also erected, including the outbuilding which still exists today. In 1798, Zaleski bequeathed Rejowiec to his niece Marianna Ossolińska, the wife of Count Józef Kajetan Ossoliński, the Castellan of Podlasie, art collector and owner of the first public gallery of paintings in Poland. After the divorce of the couple around 1802, Marianna Ossolińska and her daughter Konstancja remained in Rejowiec. In 1805, she married Tomasz Łubieński and Rejowiec was transferred to the groom as dowry.

The couple lived mainly in Warsaw and in 1832 they sold the Rejowiec estate to Prince Florian, Adam Korybut Woroniecki, general of the Russian army, who probably had the palace remodelled (around 1848?) in its present-day form. In 1867, the son of general Henryk Woroniecki became the owner of the estate. Then (in 1874), his widow - Maria née Orsetti, married again and became the wife of Stanisław Łubieński. According to R. Aftanazy, the flanking wings of the palace were not built until the 4th quarter of the 19th century, when the palace was owned by Stanisław Łubieński. In 1894, Rejowiec was bought by Józefat Budny (who died in 1938), an excellent farmer, co-founder of the “Rejowiec” sugar factory and benefactor of the local church. The wings of the palace were probably remodelled then (the additions included turrets and arcaded decoration of the gable walls). 

Description

The palace complex lies to the east of the town of Rejowiec, in the vicinity of the “Rejowiec” sugar factory. The palace was designed in the Late Classicist style. Its front elevation faces north-east. It is built on a multi-section floor plan, which comprises an earlier, square-shaped, two-storey main body and single-storey flanking wings, which were added later. The palace is partly cellared. As regards the interior layout, there is a tripartite and two-bay main body on the ground floor. On the axis, there is a hall with a staircase and an elongated, octagonal ballroom, with rooms on the sides. The first storey follows a floor plan of a cross, with a six-sided lounge above the ballroom and a four-sided clock tower (belvedere) in the middle. The flanking wings were positioned diagonally in relation to the main body of the palace – southward (in the direction of the park).

They are single-storey, with round, two-storey turrets in the corners. The wings have a two-bay interior layout. In the western wing, there are two oval rooms. The southern one was used as a winter garden. The brick walls of the palace are covered with plaster. The main parts of the building are topped with gable roofs. Over the middle turret, there is a pavilion roof and over the side turrets – metal clad conical roofs. The front elevation of the main body is five-axial, with a four-pillar portico which carries the weight of the terrace encircled by a stone baluster railing with vases. The first floor is topped with a high attic wall. Behind the attic wall, there is a clock tower. The garden-facing elevation is decorated with Tuscan colonnades preceding the three-sided avant-corps of the ballroom and the flanking wings (the western wing is decorated with a false colonnade, filled with the windows of the orangery).

The corners of the main body are adorned with rusticated stonework. The gable walls of the flanking wings are decorated with blind stepped arcades. The blinds contain narrow windows. The attic walls above the ground floor of the main body and the rear elevations of the flanking wings are divided by panels filled with stucco decorations with motifs of garlands, masks and wreaths; the pillars of the portico are topped with masks of lions instead of heads. Some of the rectangular windows are terminated with semi-circular arches. On the ground floor of the main body and in the tower, there are windows and ‘French windows’ in the style of the Palladian architecture. Some of the window openings are filled with decorations imitating Gothic traceries. Inside, the old décor and furnishings have been partly preserved: in the ballroom, there are Classicist cylindrical stoves; the floor is made of several types of wood; in the south-eastern part of the lounge there is a Classicist stone fireplace; in the rooms on the ground floor, the ceilings are decorated with stucco with Classicist motifs; the doors are surmounted with decorative supports with late Classicist and Neo-Gothic motifs.

Classicist outbuilding. The outbuilding follows an elongated rectangular floor plan. It is a single-storey building, with a two-bay, multi-section interior layout. Its brick walls are covered with plaster and topped with a half-hipped roof. The front elevation is divided by frames and lesenes. In the rear elevation, there is an avant-corps. The farm hands' living quarters have a single storey and follow an elongated rectangular floor plan with a two-bay, four-section interior layout. Their stone walls are covered with plaster and clad with a half-hipped roof. The elevations are topped with a profiled cornice. The landscape park was established in the 19th century, replacing the former household gardens. It was designed along the north-south axis, with the remnants of the interconnected garden interiors, a magnificent pond in the north-western part of the park and with clear view links with the surrounding area

The heritage site is partly accessible to the general public 

compiled by Bożena Stanek-Lebioda, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Branch Office in Lublin, 5 February 2016

Bibliography

• Aftanazy R., Dzieje rezydencji na dawnych kresach Rzeczypospolitej, vol. 6, Województwo bełskie, ziemia chełmska województwa ruskiego, Wrocław (…) 1995, pp. 337-342.
• Gawroński L., Chełm i okolice na szpaltach dawnej prasy, “Rocznik Chełmski”, vol. 4, 1998, p. 188.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. VIII: Województwo lubelskie, issue 5: Powiat chełmski, Warsaw 1968, pp. 46-48.
• Kawałko M., J., Rejowiec. jego okolice i właściciele w latach 1531-1869, Lublin 2009, passim.
• Rolska-Boruch I., Siedziby szlacheckie i magnackie na ziemiach zwanych Lubelszczyzną 1500-1700, Lublin 1999, p. 255. 
• Ryszkiewicz A., Zbiory artystyczne Józefa Kajetana Ossolińskiego. Pierwsza publiczna galeria warszawska, [in:] idem, Kolekcjonerzy i miłośnicy, Warsaw 1981, p. 54.
• Zabytki Architektury i Budownictwa w Polsce, vol. 6: Województwo chełmskie, Warsaw 1999, pp. 224-225.
• Żywicki J., Architektura neogotycka na Lubelszczyźnie, Lublin 1998, pp. 293-294