History

The very first mentions of the village in written records appear in 1376; initially the property of the crown, the village then became the property of successive noble families. During the first half of the 18th century, it remained in the hands of Antoni Pociej, the alderman (starosta) of Wołkowyja; it was then inherited by his daughter Ludwika, who married duke Stanisław Lubomirski in 1740, thereby becoming the wife of one of Poland’s most powerful magnates. In 1786, the house of Lubomirski commissioned the construction of an impressive residence, designed in the Baroque style. The palace complex consisted of a number of buildings centering around a closed, square courtyard. Some of these buildings have survived until the present day, while others were either destroyed or underwent alteration works during the 19th century. Shortly after the death of its founders, the fortunes of the grand residence began to wane. The manor remained in the hands of the successors to the Lubomirski family, changing hands on a couple of occasions. In 1840, the palace became home to Zofia Ożarowska née Starzeńska and her husband Adam, who are believed to have made alterations to the palace following a great fire which dealt severe damage to the neighbouring grange. Among other things, the original mansard roof of the palace was replaced by a hip roof after 1836. Since they had no children, the owners passed the ownership of the manor to their more distant relatives. From 1875 onwards, the owners of the manor were Zofia and Ludwik Skarżyński. It is at their request that the palace underwent a partial redesign; it is believed that it was at this point that the front avant-corps received its triangular pediment incorporating the Lis and Bończa coats of arms of the Starzeński and Skarżyński families. A portico made up of two pairs of pillars supporting the balcony was constructed ahead of the entrance, with new architectural detailing being added to the façade as well. The now-defunct side annexes are also believed to have been erected at this stage. After the installation of central heating, most of the original tiled stoves and fireplaces have been removed. In 1896, the land was acquired by Edward Chrzanowski, the owner of the nearby Moroczyn manor, who founded a sugar plant in the vicinity of the palace in 1899. The manor was then inherited by his daughter, Maria Rulikowska. In the 1930s, the greatly diminished manor was purchased by the joint-stock company which maintained the sugar plant. Today, the palace owned by the “Strzyżów” Sugar Plant Company, which has been performing renovation works on the building from 2007 onwards.

Description

The palace complex is located in the eastern part of the village, in the vicinity of the sugar plant. It consists of a palace positioned on a graded escarpment located in the Bug river valley, a chapel and a storage building as well as two outbuildings arranged symmetrically around a courtyard with a representational, formal lawn. Behind the palace itself there lies an observation deck bolstered by a retaining wall; remnants of the former park can be seen around the complex, with the former pond being located to the north-west, outside the complex itself.

The Palace. The design of the palace is a mixture of the Baroque and Classicist styles. The front façade of the palace faces north. It is a two-storey structure with a taller, representational ground floor (the so-called piano nobile) as well as a lower first floor. The building also features a basement beneath its entire structure. The palace was designed on a rectangular floor plan, with middle and side avant-corps projecting out of the front and back façades. The original interior layout was rigidly symmetrical, with the rooms being arranged identically on both levels, following a five-part, two-bay layout. A shallow vestibule is positioned on the axial line intersecting the middle of the palace, followed by an oval (formerly octagonal) ballroom located inside the avant-corps facing the gardens and flanked by purely residential rooms on both sides. The outermost sections of the palace contain square-plan cabinets facing the garden, small rooms with windows towards the front as well as staircases. The building is made of brick, its walls covered with plaster; the hip roof which crowns the entire structure is clad with sheet metal. The front façade follows an eleven-axis layout with two-axial side avant-corps and a three-axial central avant-corps preceded by a portico with four pillars supporting the terrace above. The middle avant-corps is crowned with a triangular, corniced pediment incorporating the coats of arms of the noble families who had once owned the palace. The façade overlooking the garden also follows an eleven-axis design, with a three-sided avant-corps containing the ballroom in the middle and a pair of two-axial side avant-corps topped with decorative roof parapets. All façades are partitioned with a string course running between the storeys and crowned with a lavishly profiled crowning cornice adorned with a dentilled cornice. The ground floor level features a decorative rustication. The windows are rectangular in shape, framed with decorative surrounds, with additional cornices above the ground-floor windows. Some of the more representational rooms still feature period plasterwork decorations incorporating both ornamental and figural motifs.

The pair of nearly identical pavilions - the chapel in the west and the storage building in the east - were erected during the same period as the palace itself. Both buildings are designed on an octagonal floor plan and topped with bell-shaped cupolas with roof lanterns. Both are brick buildings, their walls covered with plaster. The corners of their façades are accentuated by pilasters and topped with cornices; an oval window incorporated into a decorative cartouche can be admired above the entrance into the chapel.

The two side outbuildings were either built from scratch or adapted from earlier buildings during the first half of the 19th century, with further transformations taking place in the 20th century. The outbuildings are two-storey structures built on a rectangular floor plan, with brick plastered walls and hip roofs. The axes of the façades overlooking the courtyard are accentuated by small avant-corps topped with triangular gables.

On the southern side of the palace there is a terrace surrounded by a brick retaining wall with buttresses, its stepped outline emphasising the main axis of the palace.

Limited access to the historic building. The palace houses the offices of the “Strzyżów” Sugar Plant.

compiled by Bożena Stanek-Lebioda, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Lublin, 28-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Record sheet, Palace. Strzyżów, compiled by Studziński J., 1995, Archive of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Lublin, Zamość branch; Archive of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw.
• Aftanazy R., Dzieje rezydencji na dawnych kresach Rzeczypospolitej, Vol. VI, Województwo bełskie, ziemia chełmska województwa ruskiego, Wrocław (…) 1995, pp. 218-219.
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, Vol. VIII: Województwo lubelskie, issue 6: Powiat hrubieszowski, compiled by Chrzanowski T., Kornecki M., Samek J., Warsaw 1964, pp. 48-50.
• Niedźwiedź J., Leksykon historyczny miejscowości dawnego województwa zamojskiego, Zamość 2003, pp. 480-481.
• Omilanowska M., Polska. Pałace i dwory, Warsaw 2005, pp. 98-99.