It is distinguished by a palace of rich history, bearing traces of numerous reconstructions and alterations and picturesque location on the edge of a Vistula valley slope.

History

The history of the palace complex in Dzików dates back to the 15th century, the existence of a stone defensive and residential tower built on the initiative of the Ossoliński family on a hill, in the Vistula river meander. It was probably accompanied by fortified ramparts with board fences and moats. In the 16th century, after the town of Tarnobrzeg was chartered, the town layout coupled with the owner’s fortified complex. In the 1st half of the 17th century, the three-storey tower was extended to the north by adding a transverse multi-storey wing with a basement. Defensive ramparts also underwent extension. Since 1772, probably on the initiative of Jan Jacek Tarnowski, the castle was extended by the addition of an eastern wing, which made the seat a Baroque noblemen’s palace residence with a ceremonial courtyard. At that time, the area was levelled, raising it significantly as a result of the demolition of the defensive ramparts; on the slope to the north of the palace, on the edge of the old river bed, a ramp descent was formed leading to the parterre gardens located lower. The next major changes within the palace complex took place only in the 19th century, during the times of Jan Feliks and Waleria Tarnowski, on whose initiative the palace was altered in the fashionable Gothic Revival style according to a design by Francesco Maria Lanci in 1834-1835. During that time, the parterre gardens were converted into an English park, where a spacious neo-Gothic pavilion was built, serving utility functions, among others as a palace kitchen. At that time, the complex was enriched with other structures: riding hall, stable, carriage house, guardhouse and masonry fence with a chapel. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, on the initiative of Jan Zdzisław Tarnowski, complete renovation to the palace began, which was preceded by development of designs by several architects famous at that time, including, but not limited to, Tomasz Pryliński, Sławomir Odrzywolski, Zygmunt Hendel, Adolf Kuhn, Franciszek Mączyński. The palace underwent complex renovation that involved adding Gothic Revival details; unfortunately, the effect of the work were enjoyed only for 20 years, since the building was destroyed by fire in 1927. The destroyed palace was rebuilt according to a design by Wacław Krzyżanowski a few years later. The reconstruction involved changing the style of the structure and returning to the form and décor of the 18th-century alteration phase, i.e., a moderate Baroque style, and also adding modernist components. The palace has survived in a similar form to this day. In the second half of the 20th century, the palace complex was used by the Agricultural School Complex, stables with a riding hall were converted into a gymnasium with facilities. Currently, the palace is used as the seat of the Historical Museum of the City of Tarnobrzeg.

Description

The palace complex is located in the south-eastern part of the former village of Dzików, administratively within the boundaries of the city of Tarnobrzeg, on a plateau above the former bend of the Vistula River, now a vast river valley. The palace complex, located north of the chartered town, not far from the market square, is coupled with the market square compositionally by an axis — Sandomierska Street. The complex adjoins a road to the south, farm buildings to the west, and arable fields to the north and east.

The palace was built in the middle of the complex, on the extension to Sandomierz route, north of the plateau boundary, with its front facing the south, towards the courtyard with a decorative oval lawn, on a floor plan resembling a horseshoe in shape. The interior layout features a discernible layout of the first seat, which is the western wing of the castle, and later extensions, which gave the castle an almost symmetrical interior layout, with an entrance, hallway and the so-called Great Hall in the middle.

The castle with basement is characterised by a quite compact body, consisting of: cuboidal multi-storey main body covered with a hip roof and eastern and western wings projecting from the central body and covered with gable roofs. The body axiality is accentuated by a massive polygonal avant-corps in the front, forming the base of the tower topped with a cupola, and an avant-corps with a gable roof, facing the garden. Due to a large slope of the area, the basement storey was adapted for use as a direct entrance to the terrace from the north. The palace is built of brick, with its basement storey partly made of stone; the walls are plastered on both sides, the roofs are clad with ceramic roof tiles and the tower cupola with overlapping sheet metal. The front façade is symmetrical, with a tower on the axis, its main body section consisting of eight axes, and a double-axial eastern wing and single-axial western wing. It is decorated with profiled window surrounds, window headers in the form of fragments of cornice, and entrance portal. The upper part of the tower is separated on the fourth storey with a massive string course, above which there is a gallery with a stone balustrade. The axes of side wings are accentuated by oculi in gables. The garden façade faces the north, is symmetrical and nine-axial, dominated by a central avant-corps with three large semicircular glazing units of the Great Hall, and supported by an extensive terrace with a view of the gardens and the valley. It is adorned with four Tuscan pilasters in the avant-corps, supporting the flat frieze with a cornice, the coat of arms of the Tarnowski family on the axis of the pediment and a row of coats of arms of the related families, separating the windows of the Great Hall from the mezzanine windows, semicircular surrounds with keystones over large windows, and also more modest profiled surrounds over the remaining windows and window headers in the form of cornice fragments. The side façades are more modest; the eastern façade is seven-axial and adorned with window surrounds and headers; the western façade is five-axial, symmetrical, and pierced by two outermost windows topped with pointed arches.

The interior of the western wing is characterised by original vaults, including in the two-storey chapel room. The preserved fittings of the palace include eight tile stoves, seven fireplaces, and library furnishings. The remaining components and large library stocks and a vast collection of works of art were dispersed after 1945.

The pavilion once used as an outbuilding and kitchen is located in the south-eastern part of the complex. It was built on a floor plan resembling the letter “L” in shape, with basement underneath some of its sections, and with a body consisting of two components: single-storey structure covered with a gable roof and multi-storey structure topped with an attic with pinnacles in the corners, designed in a neo-Gothic style. It was built of brick, with plasterwork on both sides of walls; the roof was clad with ceramic roof tiles. The front façade faces the north-west, is arranged symmetrically, multi-storey, six-axial, accentuated on the axis with a shallow avant-corps flanked by hexagonal columns, projecting beyond the roof as pinnacles. The remaining façades are characterised by discernible two heights of individual parts and their distinct styling: modest, without decorative elements on the ground floor and slightly richer on the upper storey, in the form of: window headers in the form of bent cornices, crowning cornice with a frieze, and attic with pinnacles.

The stable with a riding hall is located in the southern part, at the entrance to the complex. It was built on a floor plan resembling the letter “U” in shape, now has a redesigned interior and body consisting of five components that create the impression of a symmetrical composition. It was made of brick, with plasterwork on both sides of walls and roofs clad with ceramic roof tiles. Its eclectic nature emphasis the partially preserved details in the form of, among others, deeply carved partitions of the façades, lesenes and pronounced cornices. The process of adaptation to the riding hall for use as a gymnasium involved changing the structure of the roof of the central part and altering the building, blurring its original design.

The carriage house is located at the back of the stable, north of it. This small structure built on an L-shaped floor plan, with a body composed of two cuboids covered with gable roofs, is made of brick, covered with ceramic tiles, and devoid of decorations and distinct style features.

Only remains of the orangery have been preserved in the eastern part of the complex. Only the contour of the building on an elongated rectangular floor plan and built of brick is clearly discernible.

The gatehouse is situated south of the palace complex and separated from the complex by a road. It was built on a rectangular floor plan as a single-storey structure covered with a hip roof, made of brick, with a roof clad with ceramic roof tiles and walls decorated with double pilasters projecting from a massive plinth and reaching the cornice and with simple keystone window headers.

The guardhouse is located at the main entrance to the palace complex, on its east side. It is a small structure built on a rectangular floor plan, consisting of a single storey, covered with a gable roof, made of brick, with roof clad with roof tiles, which is decorated with a wooden porch with ornamental braces. The façades of the guardhouse are embellished with pilasters, single-axial to the north and south, with a window adorned with surrounds with a keystone and the coat of arms of the Tarnowski family (“Leliwa coat of arms”) in the northern gable.

The ice house is located in the south-eastern part of the gardens, in the vegetable garden. It was built as a one-bay structure on a rectangular floor plan, with a pass-through central avant-corps and a cuboidal single-storey body covered with a gable roof, with a gable roof over the two-storey avant-corps running across the main roof. The building was made of brick, the walls were plastered on the inside, and the roof was clad with ceramic tiles. The building is decorated with brick cornices and brick surrounds around the avant-corps windows topped with semicircular arches.

The power plant was built in the north-western part of the complex, on a rectangular floor plan, with a rectangular annex added to the south and with a two-bay room layout in the main part. The cuboidal compact body was covered with a multi-hipped roof, whereas the annex was topped with a shed roof. The building was made of brick, plastered on both sides; its roof was clad with ceramic roof tiles. Flat window surrounds are its only ornament.

In the landscape park, the only surviving traces discovered are the remains of fortifications in the form of a dry moat and ruined bastion wall east of the palace. The main compositional axis leading from the city through the ceremonial courtyard, palace, observation deck, up to a viewing glad and open landscape, and also a free arrangement of avenues are easily discernible. The preserved features of the site include a hornbeam avenue, numerous plantings of native and foreign origin, and a park fence from the mid-19th century, designed in a Gothic Revival style consistent with the then appearance of the palace.

The monument is open to visitors. The palace houses the Historical Museum of the City of Tarnobrzeg.

compiled by Mieczysław Kuś, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Rzeszów, 12-12-2014.

Bibliography

• Kuśnierz K., Tarnobrzeg. Historia rozwoju przestrzennego, Cracow 1999
• Marczak M., Tarnobrzeg, z dziejów miasta i regionu, Tarnobrzeg 2000
• Libicki P., Dwory i pałace wiejskie w Małopolsce i na Podkarpaciu, Poznań 2012, pp. 454-458
• Polakowski S. Pozostałości założeń dworskich województwa podkarpackiego, Krosno 2012, pp. 497-500
• Record sheet, Palace, currently a school, prepared by W. Zych, 1993, Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Tarnobrzeg
• Record sheet, Kitchen, currently a male boarding school in the palace complex, prepared by W. Zych, 1993, Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Tarnobrzeg
• Record sheet, Stable with riding hall in the palace complex, prepared by W. Zych, 1993, Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Tarnobrzeg
• Record sheet, Carriage house in the palace complex, prepared by J. Skrzypczask, 1996, Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Tarnobrzeg
• Record sheet, Guardhouse in the palace complex, prepared by D. Komada, 1990, Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Tarnobrzeg
• Record sheet, Fence and entrance gate in the palace complex, prepared by D. Komada, 1990, Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Tarnobrzeg
• Record sheet, Ice house in the palace complex, prepared by J. Skrzypczak, 1996, Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Tarnobrzeg
• Record sheet, Power plant in the palace complex, prepared by J. Skrzypczak, 1995, Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Tarnobrzeg