History

The so-called Chopin manor house is a former manor outbuilding of the Skarbek family. They were the owners of Żelazowa Wola village from the late 18th century. Chopin’s parents - Justyna nee Krzyżanowska and Mikołaj Chopin of French origin - worked at the manor house. The manor house of the Skarbek family and the right outbuilding have not survived. The left outbuilding where the composer was born and where the Chopin family lived for a short spell has been preserved.

The manor house was a place of interest already in the 19th century, as a birthplace of Frederic Chopin, but only in 1928 the building was repurchased and works adapting the feature to a museum began. It was then the outbuilding and its interior were altered to the design of Lech Niemojewski.

At that time, the works on the park complex to the design of Prof. Franciszek Krzywda-Niemojewski were also undertaken (1932-1938). It was established in place of an old, devastated landscape park from the late 18th century. At the entrance to the complex area, there is an administrative building from 1931. After World War II the complex underwent restoration. From 1953 onwards the Frederic Chopin Society took care of the area. In 2005 this function was taken over by the National Frederic Chopin Institute. In 2010, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth, the park underwent modernisation.

Description

The current manor house is a former outbuilding of the manor house of the Skarbek family. The building is made of brick, has one storey and seven axes and was erected on a rectangular floor plan. At the front there is a porch with two thickened columns with a semi-circular panel in a tympanum. Original fittings of the manor house are missing. The entire complex presents a residential decor of the 19th century and was designed by inter-war designers as a synthesis of ideas of the Old Polish culture. The interior includes, among others, a fireplace, a tile oven, a set of furniture, numerous portraits and landscape paintings.

The park that surrounds the manor house was arranged anew in the 20th century and obtained a monumental character. The works were carried out in the years 1932-1938 and this accomplishment is one of the most interesting undertakings in the field of gardening of the inter-war period. A geometric, but at the same time, asymmetric arrangement of the park makes the historical outbuilding a central point of the complex. A long, oblique alley, terminating in a water reservoir immediately in front of the building, leads to the outbuilding. On the eastern side there is a hedge circle terminated by the building’s wall. Additionally, the scope of activities in the area included the shaping of terraces and stairs in the south that make use of a natural lowering of the ground and thus, freely sloping towards the Utrata river. A musical stage, separated from terraces-audience by a pond, is located at the end of the slope. Moreover, gazebos, rain shelters, pergolas, paths, alleys, roads and stairs were shaped and constructed in the park. A bed of the Utrata river was regulated and the place for utility buildings, orchard and vegetable garden was set. Tree stands were composed of numerous specimens of native, continental and non-European trees. Several monuments commemorating Frederic Chopin were also placed in the complex (including an obelisk with a medallion from 1894). The garden also includes a stone dedicated to the park designer, Prof. Krzywda-Polkowski.

the feature can be viewed after purchasing a ticket

Compiled by Bartłomiej Modrzewski, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw, 10-09-2014.

Bibliography

• T. Glinka, M. Kamiński, M. Piasecki, K. Przygoda, A. Walenciak, Mazowsze północne. Przewodnik, Warszawa 1998.
• Historia domu urodzenia Fryderyka Chopina w Żelazowej Woli, Muzeum Fryderyka Chopina [http://chopin.museum/pl/museum/zelazowa_wola/id/216], dostęp: 10-09-2014.
• T. S. Jaroszewski, W. Baraniewski, Pałace i dwory w okolicach Warszawy, Warszawa 1992.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, t. X: województwo warszawskie, red. I. Galicka, H. Sygietyńska, z. 24: powiat sochaczewski, oprac. I. Galicka, H. Sygietyńska, inwen. D. Kaczmarzyk Warszawa 1973.
• L. Majdecki, Historia ogrodów, Warszawa 1978.