History

The construction of the garden pavilion of the Temple of Diana is related to the redesigning of the Belweder Palace (1818-1822) by Jakub Kubicki as well as related garden works. It was erected in the period after the Łazienki Królewskie park was sold to Alexander I, the tsar of Russia. The Grand Duke Constantin, brother of the owner, resided in Belweder. It was for him that Belweder was separated from Łazienki Królewskie along with the garden located below. Three pavilions were erected in the Belweder garden: a Gothic Revival orangery, an Egyptian temple and a Greek temple (of Sybille or, as it is currently named, of Diana). The building might have been inspired by the fully preserved Maison Carre temple in Nimes in the south of France. This type of buildings was introduced most frequently to decorate landscape parks in the second half of the 18th century and the early 19th century.

Description

The Temple of Diana is located in the gardens belonging to the Łazienki Królewskie park, at the back of the Belweder palace. The pavilion was erected on the north-south axis. The temple sits on an elevated area on the north side of the pond. It was designed as a non-lasting structure, a garden pavilion with limited usable life. The building is made completely of wood and consists of a rectangular body (naos) surrounded by a colonnade in the Ionic order, forming a portico crowned with a tympanum on the side of the front façade. Two cast iron lions stylised as Egyptian sphynxes were placed in front of the portico. Inside, there is a room illuminated through rectangular windows positioned in the side walls. The internal walls are decorated by original polychrome with motifs of flowers and fruit (reference to Diana, the patroness, a goddess of, among others, hunting and nature), authored by Adam Byczkowski.

The historic monument is open to the public from the outside; inside it can be viewed during the opening hours of the Łazienki Królewskie museum.

Author of the note Katarzyna Kosior 18-06-2017

Bibliography

• Atlas Zabytków Architektury w Polsce, H. Faryna-Paszkiewicz, M. Omilanowska, R. Pasieczny, Wydawnictwo naukowe PWN. Warsaw, 2003;
• Zychowicz I., Abramowicz J., Muzeum Łazienki Królewskie w Warszawie. Warsaw, Łazienki Królewskie Museum in Warsaw, 2013;
• Kwiatkowski M., Wielka Księga Łazienek. Warsaw, Prószyński i S-ka, 2000;
• Chrościcki J.A., Rottermund A., Atlas architektury Warszawy. Warsaw, Arkady Publishing, 1977.