WARSAW, Poland—Wilanow Palace, on the outskirts of Warsaw, stands as testimony to Polish patriotism and the country’s hard-won battles for independence.
In 1677, King Jan III Sobieski, monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, made his private home at Wilanow and kept his official residence in the heart of Warsaw at the Royal Palace.
The king commissioned architect Agostino Vincenzo Locci to first build him a manor house that, over a period of nearly 20 years, he expanded into a palace. The main palace expansion happened in 1683, after the king’s victory in the Battle of Vienna against the Ottomans.
Architects and artists combined Baroque and ancient styles throughout the royal estate, creating what many see as Poland’s Versailles. In Wilanow, we can see elements of the Polish manor house, the Italian villa, and the French palace.
Having traveled across Europe, the king was well-versed in war, politics, and foreign diplomacy. His penchant for the arts and science and his successful military leadership can be seen throughout the Baroque palace architecture and decorative themes.
Architects divided the palace into King Jan III’s apartments and Queen Marie Casimire’s apartments, with each of the building’s facades and interiors reflecting masculine and feminine virtues, respectively. For instance, artists created ancient mythological scenes that exemplified the queen’s beauty, such as the Horae (Greek goddesses representing the four seasons) in a meadow. And motifs across the palace facades charted the king’s triumphs and foretold of the fortunes that his reign hoped to bring to the commonwealth.
In 1720, aristocrat Elzbieta Sieniawska purchased the palace and built an orangery and two neoclassical-style side wings, creating the courtyard that we can see today.
Between 1730 and 1733, the king of Poland, Augustus II the Strong, lived at the palace. After he died, Sieniawska’s daughter Maria Zofia Czartoryska inherited the palace, later passing it on to her daughter Izabela Lubomirska. Lubomirska’s daughter Aleksandra and son-in-law Stanislaw Kostka Potocki founded one of Poland’s first public museums at the palace, for everyone to enjoy for free, a tradition that continues every Thursday.
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Lorraine Ferrier
Author
Lorraine Ferrier writes about fine arts and craftsmanship for The Epoch Times. She focuses on artists and artisans, primarily in North America and Europe, who imbue their works with beauty and traditional values. She's especially interested in giving a voice to the rare and lesser-known arts and crafts, in the hope that we can preserve our traditional art heritage. She lives and writes in a London suburb, in England.