Palace and park complex - Zabytek.pl
Address
Sanniki, Warszawska 142
Location
woj. mazowieckie, pow. gostyniński, gm. Sanniki - Obszar Miejski
The palace was a place where Frederic Chopin spent his holiday in the summer of 1828. The musician spent two months in Sanniki, visiting his school friend, Konstanty Pruszak. During his stay, he was busy composing and giving piano lessons to his friend’s sister. Thus, the facility is the only fully authentic building in Mazovia where Frederic Chopin stayed for sure.The palace is a leading realisation of the Italian villa and an example of work of the outstanding architect Władysław Marconi, author of the reconstruction design of 1910.The palace interior includes paintings on ceilings and walls of the second floor, dating back to the late 18th and 19th century.The landscape park composition was arranged in the first half of the 19th century. In 1908 it was transformed in the naturalist style by an acclaimed garden planner Stanisław Celichowski, who adapted previous alley plantings characterised by high natural values.
History
The historic palace complex in Sanniki was arranged in the late 18th century, in the area of a former manor complex. Its relics include foundations of the manor house and lines of lime trees from the second half of the 18th century preserved in the park. The Pruszak family became managers of the estate in the late 18th century. Aleksander Pruszak bought the property in 1834. The palace was transformed in the first quarter of the 19th century and it could be recognised as the leading example of the so-called Italian villa in the Polish territory. The arrangement of the palace and park complex was shaped in the first half of the 19th century. The complex neighbours on orchards and utility gardens in the north, on a large farm in the east and on two ponds and sugar refinery buildings in the west. The area of former manor garden was expanded and the landscape park, linked with the palace in terms of composition, was established. Two alleys of chestnut trees come from that period: the first one leads to an oval porte-cochère in front of the south façade of the palace, whereas the second, transverse one linked the palace with the sugar refinery. A line of beech trees along the eastern fence and single old tree stands with a monumental platanus at the pond have survived from that period. In 1856 Duke Leon Sapiecha became an owner of Sanniki.
In 1873 the estate, along with the sugar refinery, was sold to Selig Nathansohn and in 1909 the property in Sanniki was bought by Antonina Dziewulska nee Natansohn. The most important alterations, both as regards the palace architecture and the park area, were carried out in the first quarter of the 20th century. The palace was reconstructed in 1910 on the basis of a design prepared by architect Władysław Marconi, while the park was transformed by a garden planner Stefan Celichowski, on the basis of the preserved tree stands with the oldest alley plantings. The Dziewulski family were the last owners of the property, which was partitioned after 1945 and transformed into a State Agricultural Holding. The palace and park complex was taken over by the Sanniki commune in 1993. In the palace’s left wing, the Chopin centre with a concert hall was established in 1981. It has functioned as the Frederic Chopin International Creative Work House ever since.
Currently, the palace and park complex is managed by the Frederic Chopin European Art Centre. Between 2011 and 2013 the entire complex underwent thorough revalorization. The works carried out in the palace preserved its historic values and adapted the feature to new functions; they included, among others, the rebuilding of an orangery. The park reconstruction design prepared by Celichowski remains missing, therefore, the revalorization works adapted the preserved old tree stands to a new arrangement that refers to other works of this outstanding garden planner.
Description
The palace and park complex is situated in the centre of Sanniki village, at the Płock-Sochaczew route, opposite a parish church. The complex is surrounded by a wall on three sides, with an entrance gate along the palace axis in the south and a representative porte-cochère accessible by a chestnut tree alley.
The palace building has the form of a two-storey main corpus with a perpendicular wing, based on the design of an architect Władysław Marconi. A one-storey part abuts on the building in the east, while a wing with a tower and a restored orangery adjoins the building in the west. The house was built of brick, plastered and covered with a multi-hipped roof topped with sheet metal.
The façade of the palace has seventeen axes, is rusticated on the ground floor and crowned with a panelled cornice circumscribing all façades. The main corpus has an accentuated middle part with a three-axis avant-corps housing a porch with the main entrance. Inside the building, relics of a historical underground passage have been discovered, secured and presented in the first storey’s floor. Painted wall decorations deserve particular attention. Wall paintings were uncovered, preserved and partially reconstructed by applying different colours to distinguish the original fabric. They come from different periods - from the late 18th century to the second half of the 19th century. Their discovery and date of origin allowed the researchers to adjust the time of palace construction.
The historic landscape park is linked with the palace in terms of composition. The palace sets main view corridors and divides the park in two parts.
The southern part includes preserved relics of the oldest composition with an oval porte-cochère in front of the palace, lime and chestnut tree alleys and old tree stands: beech, Canadian oak, blue spruce and weeping ash. The northern part includes plenty of tree specimens planted during the reconstruction of the park by Celichowski: gingko, honey locust, multi-trunk silver maple, elm, black pine, spruce, “Fastigiata” English oak and a line of acers. A line of beech trees along the eastern fencing and a monumental platanus at the pond have survived from the earlier phase of park establishment.
As part of the revalorization of the historic landscape park with a total area of 6.8 ha, Celichowski’s naturalist composition was made clearer through the removal of numerous volunteer plants and exposing preserved old tree stands. The present park alleys were linked to the recovered layout of park routes with gravel surface, running along curved lines “as if drawn by callipers”, referring to Celichowski’s well-known works. Granite blocks were laid around the palace, on the porte-cochere and in the access alley. The plant composition was enriched with groups of bushes that mask park crossroads as well as stylised flowerbeds on the porte-cochere and at the palace. Single specimens of gingko and honey locust, to name but a few, were also planted.
The area of the palace complex was expanded from the north by an area neighbouring on the sugar refinery and two ponds, where a recreation part with an amphitheatre, clearing and a group of pitches and courts was established. Abundant relics were discovered in the historic park during preservation works carried out in the years 2011-2012. Archaeological studies unveiled the outline of stone foundations of the wooden manor house from the 18th century, which were secured and labelled in a way that prevents accidental disturbance of the structure. Moreover, remnants of a fountain using the brick foundation of the abovementioned manor house as its material, plus a well and a water pumping station were discovered.
The feature is accessible all year round.
Compiled by Anna Dymek and Bartłomiej Modrzewski, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw, 11-07-2014.
Bibliography
- T. S. Jaroszewski, W. Baraniewski, Pałace i dwory w okolicach Warszawy, Warszawa 1992.
- Ci sami, Po pałacach i dworach Mazowsza. Przewodnik, cz. 1, Warszawa 1997.
- Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, t. 10, Dawne województwo warszawskie, z. 3, Dawny powiat gostyniński, red. I. Galicka, H. Sygietyńska, Warszawa 1975.
- L. Majdecki, J. Wojtatowicz, J. Wojewoda, Dokumentacja ewidencyjna parku Sanniki, gm. Sanniki, woj. płockie, ODZ Warszawa 1983.
- D. Pape, Projekt rewaloryzacji parku w Sannikach, Warszawa 2005.
- D. Zaremba, Pałac w Sannikach w świetle nowych ustaleń naukowych, „Nasze Korzenie”, nr 4 /2013, s. 36-41.
Category: palace
Protection: Register of monuments, Monuments records
Inspire id: PL.1.9.ZIPOZ.NID_N_14_ZE.54876, PL.1.9.ZIPOZ.NID_E_14_ZE.16953