History

The townhouse was erected in the 15th century; back then, the building was one of the few masonry townhouses of the local patriciate, most of which surrounded the market square. In the second half of the 16th century, its owner was a man named Pirocki, the burgrave of Sandomierz, followed by his son-in-law, Stanisław Bartolon, a physician famous all across the town. In 1635, the erstwhile owner of the house, Jakub Bobola, the cup-bearer (podczaszy) of Sandomierz, donated the townhouse to the Jesuit Order. The monks intended to use the building as a boarding house for impecunious students of the Collegium Gostomianum. The fact of donation was commemorated by an inscription carved in stone, which still exists today. The building, now referred to as the Bobola Boarding House, remained in the hands of the Order right until its dissolution in 1777. During that period, in addition to the transformations made right until the acquisition of the edifice in 1635, the townhouse underwent at least one radical redesign, after the great fire of 1757. After the building was taken away from the Jesuit Order, it was purchased by Józef Salezy Ossoliński; from that moment onwards, the building changed ownership on several occasions but would always remain private property – at least until the mid-20th century. In the year 1800, the house was damaged by fire once again, while the front arcade was removed before the mid-19th century. After World War II came to an end, the townhouse was taken over by the “Społem” General Consumers Cooperative. In the 1950s, the outer surfaces of the Gothic buttresses received a new, brick lining, while in the 1970s the entire building underwent a comprehensive renovation which included the restoration of its façades as well as the transformation of the interior layout.

Description

The townhouse is a two-storey building with a basement and features a wide front façade spanning across a number of old parcels of land formerly owned by the local patriciate. The house stands in the centre of the western frontage of the market square, along the street dividing the said frontage which was named after Stanisław Bartolon, the former owner of the edifice. The townhouse is generally a brick structure, although its lower section is made of stone. The northern façade features exposed brick walls, adjoined by partially preserved, monumental Gothic buttresses. This façade bears the signs of numerous alteration works performed throughout the ages, with even the buttresses themselves being pierced by window openings that were added at a later date. In general, the northern façade allows one to imagine how the building must have looked like back in the 15th-16th century. The appearance of the front façade, facing the market square, was shaped mostly throughout the 18th and the 19th century, with the successive changes being particularly notable on the ground-floor level of the house, where large display windows were added. The entire façade, dominated by Neoclassical features, is adorned with a broad rustication, with the individual storeys separated by a plain strip of wall between narrow cornices. At the top of the façade runs a pronounced, moulded crowning cornice supported by decorative corbels. The slightly projecting middle section is topped with a small, stepped gable. All windows feature profiled, eared surrounds topped with segmental arches embellished with plasterwork keystones in the centre, incorporating both auricular and foliate motifs. Despite the far-reaching transformations that were made throughout the years, the interiors – including, in particular, those on the ground-floor level – have retained some of their original layout. With its vaulted ceiling of the barrel type supplemented by lunettes, the building’s vestibule remains particularly impressive; another notable interior is the room in the south-eastern corner of the townhouse, where a polychromed niche can still be admired. An inscription from the year 1635, referring to the transformation of the townhouse into a Jesuit boarding house, survives on the landing of the staircase, which was most likely added during the alteration works performed in the first half of the 17th century.

The building is open to visitors.

Compiled by Aleksandra Ziółkowska, 05-12-2015

Bibliography

• Record sheet of monuments of architecture, Sandomierz, Kamienica mieszczańska, tzw. „Konwikt Boboli” (Sandomierz, townhouse also known as the Bobola Boarding House), prepared by L. Polanowski, 1994, Archive of the Regional Monuments Protection Office in Kielce, Sandomierz Branch Office.
• Buliński M., Monografia miasta Sandomierza, Warsaw 1879.
• Dzieje Sandomierza, vol. 1-4. H. Samsonowicz (ed.), Warsaw 1993-1994.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. III, issue 11, Warsaw 1962.