Around the manor house itself, visitors can still admire the remains of a landscape park, a complex of manor farm buildings as well as a guardhouse with a gate.

History

The very first mentions of the village in written sources date back to 1383; during the centuries that followed, the land came through the hands of many noblemen, including the Bystrzejowski, Wierzchowski, Iżycki, Wilczopolski, Sługocki families. A brick and stone castle is known to have stood here in the 16th century; after it was lost to the blaze in 1678, however, the subsequent lords of the manor must have resided in manor houses made of wood. From the late 18th century, the land was the property of Jakub Rzewuski and then his daughter, Brygida Kossakowska, who in turn bequeathed the manor to her daughter, Marianna, whose husband was an Imperial Russian officer named Teofil Pustay (Pustowójtow or Pustovoytov). It was here, at the Wierzchowiska manor, that their daughter, Henryka Pustowójtowna, was born; later in life, she would become an aide to Marian Langiewicz, the leader (commonly referred to as “dictator”) of the January Uprising. In the 1870s, the manor belonged to Jan Koźmian (son of Aleksander) of the Nałęcz coat of arms, a member of a noble family which enjoyed a great reputation in the Lublin region; it was him who commissioned the construction of the current manor house. He later died childless in 1901, with the manor being inherited by Jan Koźmian, the son of Wincent - still a minor at that time - who would also become the very last owner of the Wierzchowiska manor and the nearby Bystrzejowice grange. Initially the manor was administrated by his father, who established a prosperous farming operation on the site.

After World War II, the land was nationalised and became a horticultural farm, with the manor house itself serving a variety of different institutions. Having become private property once again, in 1996 the manor house underwent a comprehensive restoration and was adapted to serve new functions. Today, the manor house is used as a restaurant, with the former utility gardens serving as a golf course.

Description

The residential complex is located alongside the junction of the road from Lublin to Zamość and the local road towards Mełgiew, inside a river valley. The complex consists of a manor house with a park, a guardhouse and an ensemble of buildings of the former grange.

The manor house was designed in the Italian Renaissance style and forms an example of a typical country home of a nobleman of average wealth, designs of this type being listed in a number of variants in the erstwhile architectural catalogues. It was built on an elongated floor plan consisting of a single-storey main body (corps de logis) and the perpendicular, two-storey eastern wing taking the form of an avant-corps projecting slightly out of the front façade and out of the façade overlooking the garden; the eastern wing is abutted by a two-storey annex with a three-storey, square turret. Towards the west there is a small vestibule terminating in a structure resembling an apse. The manor house is a brick building, its walls covered with plaster, featuring a basement stretching underneath the entire structure. Inside, the manor house features both wooden and brick infill ceilings, with barrel vaults used for some of the basements. The individual sections of the building are covered by separate gable roofs clad with sheet metal. The interior of the main body of the building follows a two-bay layout, with a small hallway and two rooms in the front suite and two spacious drawing rooms in the suite overlooking the garden; the suites of rooms in the two-storey section of the manor house are separated by a hallway. The front (northern) façade consists of the single-storey main body following a nine-axial design and a two-storey, three-axial wing (avant-corps) above which rises a clock tower with a glazed belvedere on top. A Tuscan portico with two columns at the centre, framed by antæ and crowned with a triangular pediment incorporating a plasterwork decorative motif is positioned on the axial line of the main body of the manor house. All façades are partitioned with string courses that run between the individual storeys as well as at the window sill level; the turret, on the other hand, is crowned with a corbelled cornice. The corners are accentuated by rusticated pilasters. The windows are rectangular in shape, framed with decorative surrounds and topped by pronounced lintels; the balcony doors in the avant-corps façades are framed by an additional plasterwork surround in the form of a tall double arch. The gables are adorned by wooden fretwork decorations, with the Swiss-style veranda projecting out of the garden façade following a similar style. Some of the interiors feature surviving original painted and plasterwork decoration incorporating both geometric, figural and foliate motifs, with the date “1879” appearing in various places. There is also an original fireplace surround in the hall, while the rooms overlooking the garden feature tiled stoves with ornate copings.

The English-style landscape park stretches out on the north-south axial line, with the earlier alleys lined with lime trees framing the former utility gardens. The park consists of a “courtyard garden” with a driveway, stretching ahead of the front façade of the manor house, as well as of the garden behind the building, its individual landscaped sections maintaining visual links with the elaborate system of watercourses in the Stawek river valley.

Guardhouse with gate. The building is designed in the eclectic style, with Renaissance Revival forms playing a dominant role in the design. It is located by the entrance from the direction of the route towards Zamość. The guardhouse is mostly made of limestone, with some brick additions; the walls of the building are covered with plaster. It was designed as a picturesque single-storey pavilion featuring a tower built on a square plan, its upper storey pierced by semicircular arches and topped with a decorative parapet (attic). A gate made up of two massive brick posts adjoins the guardhouse to the west.

Most buildings which form part of the manor farm complex date back to the early 20th century; the complex consists of the former kitchen as well as of a number of utility buildings clustered around the former grange yard. All buildings are single-storey structures made of brick and stone, their walls covered with plaster, with some of their façades still featuring the original lesenes and framing.

The complex is open to visitors, currently serving as the “Palace Restaurant”.

compiled by Bożena Stanek-Lebioda, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Lublin, 18-11-2014.

Bibliography

• Record sheet, Palace and park complex with manor farm. Wierzchowiska, compiled by Maj E., Wasilczyk K. [year not listed], Archive of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Lublin; Archive of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw.
• Record sheet, Manor house and park complex - the manor house, currently adapted to serve as a “Conference Centre”. Wierzchowiska Pierwsze, compiled by Seniuk B., 1996, Archive of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Lublin; Archive of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw.
• Record sheet, Manor house and park complex - the gatehouse (guardhouse). Wierzchowiska, compiled by Maj E., Wasilczyk K. [year not listed], Archive of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Lublin; Archive of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw.
• Świetlicki L., Wierzchowiska i okolice, Lublin-Piaski 2001, pp. 21-30, 71-93