It is a reminder of the family that as the last one owned the Mokotów property from the mid-19th century until expropriation in 1945, and an example of a typical 19th-century family tomb chapel.

History

In 1845, Franciszek Szuster, a burgher and a renown lithographer, purchased the former residence of Izabela Lubomirska from Anna Dunin-Wąsowicz nee Tyszkiewicz. In the next years, he transformed the neglected park and partially divided it into parcels. In 1899, to the order of the Szuster family, a tomb chapel was built in the Upper Garden. The family mausoleum was designed by Wincenty Rakiewicz. In 1900, the wife of the owner, Rozalia primo voto Viver, secundo voto Szuster nee Pieszczyńska was buried there, and in 1901 - Franciszek Szuster himself. Inside, there was a wooden crucifix with a bone figure of Christ and a marble altarpiece. The property was inherited by brother of Franciszek, Antoni, and then the son of the latter, Aleksander. In the 1920s, two residential houses were built over the chapel on the escarpment. In the tomb, in 1941, the son of Aleksander Szuster - Franciszek Junior was also buried. After 1945, the chapel was devastated. The last of the family, Tadeusz Szuster, before his death in 1973, ordered to transfer the remnants of his relatives to the Powązki Cemetery. In the years 1970s and 1980s, ad hoc renovation works were carried out at the building. In 2004, the chapel was restored thanks to a campaign by Gazeta Stołeczna.

Description

The small, brick, plastered chapel is situated on a slope of the escarpment in the southern part of the Promenada - Morskie Oko park. Above it, there are two residential buildings at the edge of Belgijska Street. The Classicist shrine was erected on a central floor plan, characteristic of buildings of such type. The square building is preceded from the east by a terrace with entrance stairs with cast balustrades. The chapel is circumscribed by a fencing with an entrance wicket gate with brick piers and foundation, and metal rails. All four façades are topped with triangular pediments adorned with acroterions. The corners are framed by pilasters with longitudinal panels. The walls are decorated with blind windows with surrounds, with round arches with keystones in top sections. In the upper sections of the blind windows, there are openings with decorative lattices. From the front, the semi-circular arcade is filled with a two-wing door with an openwork top section. The roof is topped with a pronounced plinth with a cross adorned with a wreath motif. Chapel’s interior is covered with a dome-shaped vault. In front of the entrance, there are surviving: stone altarpiece surrounds, heads of puttos at the arch of the arcade of a window opening, and decorative corbels that originally probably supported a table. On the eastern wall, in 1985, a plaque with a copy of grave inscriptions of Rozalia and Franciszek Szuster was placed. In the floor, there are metal doors leading to the crypt.

The monument is accessible.

compiled by Małgorzata Laskowska-Adamowicz, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warszawa, 29-09-2015.

Bibliography

• Leśniakowska M., Architektura w Warszawie, Warszawa 1998, s. 214
• Majewski J. S., Bartoszewocz D., Urzykowski T. Spacerownik warszawski, [b.m.r.w]
• Świątek T. W., Mokotów poprzez wieki, Warszawa, 2009
• Świątek T. W., Śladami mieszkańców dawnej Warszawy, Warszawa 1998
• Zakrzewska M., Mokotów. Pałacyk i założenie ogrodowe, „Kwartalnik Architektury i Urbanistyki", 1962, nr 1, s. 45-69
• Zieliński J. Atlas dawnej architektury Warszawy, t. 1, Warszawa 1995
• Gieroń P., Warszawa-Mokotów- -Pałacyk i założenie parkowe, http://www.sztuka.net/palio/html.run?_Instance=www.sztuka.net.pl&_PageID=853&newsId=282&callingPageId=852&_cms=newser&_CheckSum=748382053- dostęp 11-09-2015 r.
• http://www.um.warszawa.pl/aktualnosci/mauzoleum-szustr%C3%B3w-po-remoncie - dostęp 11-09-2015 r.
• http://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/1,34889,1497252.html - dostęp 11-09-2015 r.