It is distinguished by the rich imaginative form of the palace and a picturesque landscape park.

History

The palace in Wzdów was erected by the Ostaszewski family around 1794 on the site formerly occupied by a manor house, probably from the 17th century, whose walls were incorporated into the new building. Today the palace and the landscape park designed in English style, which is one of the largest landscape gardens from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, form one complex. The next owners of Wzdów were Michał Ostaszewski, then his son Teofil Wojciech, known activist in Galicia and cattle breeder, founder of one of the first rural schools in Sanok region, and people's friend. In 1880, the palace underwent alterations and extensions on the initiative and according to own design by Adam Ostoja-Ostaszewski of the Clan of Ostoja, son of Teofil and later lord of Wzdów, great personality of his era, polyglot, translator of poetry from almost the whole world, inventor of a patented flying top, car builder, and author of many inventions in the field of physics, astronomy and printing technology. The neighbourhood of the palace was equipped with numerous accompanying structures and facilities, including the astronomical observatory existing to this day. After the palace had been damaged during World War I, it was reconstructed in 1917-1918; it was probably at that time that it was extended by the addition of a three-storeyed pavilion in the north-eastern corner and corner towers, except one, were dismantled. The Ostaszewski family ruled over the village of Wzdów until World War II, after which the palace complex taken over the State Treasury was devastated, and the palace was deprived of all movable fittings and most of the interior architectural detail. In 1959, the palace was taken over by the Association of the Polish Fold Universities and adapted for purposes of the Folk University of the Lesser Poland Region operating in the complex. In 1972-1972, the interior underwent full-scale renovations, the orangery was adapted for use as a kitchen and dining room, a boiler room was added, ceilings were replaced, and also façades were renovated, which contributed to the loss of the historic character of a residence.

For several years, the palace has been privately owned.

Description

The palace complex is located in the northern part of the village, at the road from Jasionów to Sanok, adjoins local roads to the west and north, village buildings and arable fields on the other sides.

The neoclassical palace was built in the center of the complex, with its front facing the north. The floor plan of the palace consists of multiple parts and is a result of several alterations; the main body was built on an L-shaped plan with a tower on a plan shaped as a circle in the north-western corner and one-bay corner extension in the north-eastern corner, with a rectangular pavilion added to the west and a part on a plan shaped as one quarter of a circle, the former orangery. The body, which is also composed of multiple parts, covered with multi-hipped roofs, three-storeyed in the main body, with northern corners accentuated by a cylindrical tower with a pyramid-shaped roof and cuboidal three-storeyed corner extension covered with a hip roof, is embellished with a avant-corps with two recesses at the front with an arcaded portico on the ground floor and a loggia surmounted by a wavy gable on four columns on the upper storey. To the south, the body varies in height and is covered with a three-storeyed hip roof, pavilion and mulit-storey body of the orangery topped with a low roof on a plan shaped as a quarter of a cone. The palace was built of brick and stone, partly on vaulted stone basements which are relics of an earlier residence; the roofs were covered with overlapping sheet metal. The front façade of the palace is nine-axial in the main body, framed by a three-axial corner extension to the east and a cylindrical tower with narrow slit holes to the west, with the axis accentuated by a five-axial avant-corps featuring large windows with semicircular arches on the upper storey and a mulit-storey portico with three massive pillars on the ground floor and a loggia with a Serlian motif on the upper storey, surmounted by a gable with volutes. The south-eastern part of the building is distinguished by a semicircular wall of the former orangery with built-in smooth Tuscan columns. The remaining façades feature repeated rows of rhythmically arranged windows. The original façade decorations simplified during renovations include profiled window surrounds, cornices over the windows, simplified cornices between storeys and crowning cornice, loggia columns and wavy gable with two relief escutcheons. The original interior layout was blurred as a result of alterations and adaptations and deprived of most of the detail. The preserved old interior fittings only include two fireplaces in the ballroom, two other fireplaces, one with painted tiles, stucco ceiling decoration in the former reading rooms, and stone staircase with balustrade.

The administrator’s building was erected in the middle of the park around the mid-19th century, on a square plan with a two-bay interior layout as a multi-storey cuboidal building covered with a tented roof. It is a wooden log structure originally covered with boards on the outside, on a low stone foundation, with a roof clad with overlapping sheet metal. The building is abandoned, ruined, and devoid of joinery.

Only one utility building has been preserved, but now lies in ruins and is not used.

The landscape park is one of the largest landscape complexes from the late 18th and early 19th centuries in that region and boasts preserved extensive forest and park communities, wide and long oak alleys, with the main oak-lined access avenue at the top, viewing clearings, compact tree screen, shady avenues of hornbeams, lime gazebo, and viewing mound. The preserved old tree stand is dominated by native trees; the layout development stages are also clearly discernible: free layout from the time when the garden was founded and asymmetrical layout characterised by multiple radii from the late 19th century.

The palace has been privately owned and not open to the public.

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

Bibliography

• Aftanazy R., Dzieje rezydencji na dawnych kresach Rzeczpospolitej, vol. 8, Wrocław, Warsaw, Cracow 1996
• Adamski J., W gminie Haczów, Krosno 2003
• Libicki P., Dwory i pałace wiejskie w Małopolsce i na Podkarpaciu, Poznań 2012
• Polakowski S. Pozostałości założeń dworskich województwa podkarpackiego, Krosno 2012,
• J. Piórecki, Zabytkowe ogrody i parki województwa przemyskiego, Rzeszów 1989
• Record sheet, Pałac Ostaszewskich, prepared by: Czuba M., 1994 r., Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Krosno
• Record sheet, Rządcówka, prepared by: Czuba M., 1994 r., Archives of the Branch Office of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Krosno