| Wilanów Palace | |
|---|---|
Pałac w Wilanowie | |
 View of the façade from the gardens | |
 Interactive fullscreen map | |
| General information | |
| Type | Palace |
| Architectural style | Baroque |
| Location | Warsaw, Poland |
| Coordinates | 52°9′55″N21°5′25″E / 52.16528°N 21.09028°E /52.16528; 21.09028 |
| Current tenants | Wilanów Palace Museum |
| Construction started | 23 April 1677[1] |
| Completed | 1696[1] |
| Client | John III Sobieski |
| Owner | National Museum, Warsaw |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Augustyn Wincenty Locci |
| Website | |
| www.wilanow-palac.pl | |
Wilanów Palace (Polish:Pałac w Wilanowie,Polish pronunciation:[ˈpawad͡zvvilaˈnɔvjɛ]) is a formerroyal palace located in theWilanów district ofWarsaw, Poland. It was built between 1677 and 1696 for the King of Poland and Grand Duke of LithuaniaJohn III Sobieski according to a design by architect Augustyn Wincenty Locci. Wilanów Palace survivedPoland's partitions and both World Wars, and so serves as one of the most remarkable examples ofBaroque architecture in the country.
It is one of Poland's most important monuments. Thepalace's museum, established in 1805, is a repository of the country's royal and artistic heritage and receives around 3 million visitors annually (2019), making it one of themost visited palaces and monuments in the world.[2] The palace and park in Wilanów host cultural events and concerts, including Summer Royal Concerts in the Rose Garden and the International Summer Early Music Academy.
The palace, together with other elements ofWarsaw Old Town, is one of Poland's official nationalHistoric Monuments, as designated on 16 September 1994. Its listing is maintained by theNational Institute of Cultural Heritage. Since 2006, the palace has been a member of the internationalAssociation of the Royal Residences of Europe.[3]
Wilanów Palace was built for KingJohn III Sobieski in the last quarter of the 17th century and later was enlarged by other owners.[4] It represents the characteristic type ofBaroque suburban residence builtentre cour et jardin (between the entrance court and the garden). Its architecture is original, a merger of generally European art with distinctively Polish building traditions.[4] Upon its elevations and in the palace interiors ancient symbols glorify the Sobieski family, especially the military triumphs of the king.[5]
After the death of John III Sobieski in 1696, the palace was owned by his sons and later by the famous magnate familiesSieniawskis,Czartoryskis,Lubomirskis,Potockis andBranicki family. In 1720, the property was purchased by Polish stateswomanElżbieta Sieniawska who enlarged the palace.[4] Between 1730 and 1733 it was a residence ofAugustus II the Strong, the king of Poland (the palace was exchanged with him for the Blue Palace at Senatorska Street), and after his death, the property came to Sieniawska's daughterMaria Zofia Czartoryska.[6] Every owner changed the interiors of the palace, as well as the gardens and grounds, according to the current fashion and needs. In 1778 the estate was inherited byIzabela Lubomirska, calledThe Blue Marquise.[6] She refurbished some of the interiors in theneoclassical style between 1792 and 1793 and build acorps de garde, a kitchen building and a bathroom building under the supervision ofSzymon Bogumił Zug.[6]
In the year 1805, the ownerStanisław Kostka Potocki, opened a museum in a part of the palace, one of the first public museums in Poland.[4] A most notable example of the collections is Potocki's equestrian portrait made by renowned neoclassical French artistJacques-Louis David in 1781.[7] Besides European and Oriental art, the central part of the palace displayed a commemoration of King John III Sobieski and the glorious national past. The palace was damaged by German forces in World War II,[8] but it was not demolished after the 1944Warsaw Uprising. After the war, the palace was renovated, and most of the collection stolen byGermany was repatriated. In 1962 it was reopened to the public.[9]
The structure was designed by Augustyn Wincenty Locci.[10] The architecture of the palace is a unique example of different building traditions - reminiscent of Polish aristocratic mansions with side towers, the Italian suburban villa and French palacesentre cour et jardin with two oblong wings on each side of thecour d'honneur.[11]
During the first stage of construction, between 1677 and 1680, the building was a typical Polishmanor house with fouralcove towers attached to the one-storeyed square building. Between 1681 and 1688, the building was enhanced and two gallery wings ending with towers were added. This new appearance was probably inspired byPalladio'sVilla Montagnana.[11] Shortly after the King's death the third stage of the reconstruction was accomplished. Between 1688 and 1696 thepavilion above the main building was erected and the towers were covered with baroquespires, all resembling theVilla Doria Pamphili in Rome (especially its initial design byGiovanni Francesco Grimaldi).[11]
The King and hislibrarianAdam Adamandy Kochański took active part in the design and construction of the palace.[12] The latter was responsible for the ideological and artistic programme, where motives and decoration elements played an essential role in glorifying the monarch, his wife and the Republic -busts of king and queen among the effigies of ancient characters, gods and goddesses,Roman emperors andempresses (such as theDioscuri,Zeus-Amun,Sibyl,Romulus,Rhea Silvia,Alexander the Great,Cleopatra,Dido andVespasian among others),Eagle andPogonia,personifications of theCommonwealth regions (Masovia andGreater Poland,Samogitia,Red Ruthenia andRoyal Prussia).[13] They were issued by sculptorsAndreas Schlüter (manyreliefs and other secondary aspects of the façade),[14] Stefan Szwaner and astucco decorator named Antoni ofWilanów. Some of the sculptures were made in theLow Countries byLodewijk Willemsens andArtus Quellinus the Elder' workshop, shipped toGdańsk and then transported to Warsaw.[15] An ornatesundial on the south wall withChronos, together with the opposite composition withUranus on the north wall, were intended to underline the King's patronage of science and orderliness in the Commonwealth during his reign.[16] They were executed by Antoni of Wilanów, according to the design byJohannes Hevelius (astronomical aspect),Adam Adamandy Kochański (mathematical aspect) and Augustyn Locci (artistic aspect).[17][18]
The side wings embracing a courtyard, initiated by the King, were built long after his death byElżbieta Sieniawska. They were constructed in the fourth stage of the enlargement between 1720 and 1729.[11] Sieniawska was very concerned in maintaining the substantial historical residence of theRex victoriossimus (Victorious King), as it was called.[19] Despite that she transformed the palace into a French stylepalais enchanté according to a design by Giovanni Spazzio, with two new wings harmonious with the 17th centurycorps de logis. She employed the most renowned architects and artists for this undertaking, such as previously mentioned Spazzio,Jan Zygmunt Deybel,Józef Fontana,Jan Jerzy Plersch and Giovanni Rossi. While the original royal palace was decorated with reliefs depicting the deeds of John III, the new wings were adorned with battlefield achievements of Sieniawska's husband and father-in-law -Adam Mikołaj andMikołaj Hieronim Sieniawski, Sobieski's comrades.[20]
The most prominent Polish and foreign artists participated in the decoration of the palace interiors. It was entrusted to paintersMartino Altomonte, Jan Rayzner ofLviv,Michelangelo Palloni, sculptor Stefan Szwaner and stucco decorators Szymon Józef Bellotti, Antoni of Wilanów and Abraham Paris.[21] They were supervised by the officialcourt painters Claude Callot and later byJerzy Siemiginowski-Eleuter. The latter, one of the greatest Polish painters of that time, had a significant influence on the palace's subsequent internal aspects (plafonds in thestate rooms,frescoes).[21] Internal decoration was also superintended by Adam Kochański, a great admirer of China, who supported closer economic relations of theCommonwealth with the "Central nation". Due to his influence, Wilanów and other residencies were full of luxury Chinese imports andchinoiserie.[22][23]
The 17th-century palace inventories included the works of the greatest contemporary and ancient masters, likeRembrandt (Portuguese rabbi,The Girl in a Picture Frame,The Adoration of the Magi,Abraham and Hagar,Portrait of an old man in the so-calledDutch Room of the palace),Pieter van Laer, calledBamboccio (Travellers),Anthony van Dyck (Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane),Ferdinand van Kessel (battle scenes,allegorical paintings andstill lifes),Raphael,Caracci brothers,Guido Reni andBernardo Strozzi.[24] The chambers were filled with precious furnishings, like silverfolding screen, silver pyramid with 11 baskets, a three-storeyed silver fountain or a silkbaldachin presented by theShah of Persia.[24] Unfortunately they were scattered by the successive proprietors, appropriated by Frederick Augustus[clarification needed] ofSaxony and transported toDresden[25] or looted by the Germans during World War II (e.g. John III'stortoise-shell cabinet, never retrieved).[26]
Among the artists appointed for decoration of the palace's interiors in the 18th century were Giuseppe Rossi, an Italianfresco painter, who adorned the chambers withtrompe-l'œil paintings and stucco decorators Francesco Fumo and Pietro Innocente Comparetti. Following the example of QueenMarie Casimire Sobieska, who ordered a painting of herself as a goddess on the palace plafonds, Elżbieta Sieniawska embellished the LowerVestibule with a fresco ofFlora. On her initiative, the walls in the royal chambers were covered withGenoan velvet.[27] The walls of the second floor, that is theGreat Dining Room, were covered with frescoes depictingApollo,Minerva andHercules as anallegory ofVirtus Heroica (Heroic Valor),Hebe symbolizingVenustas (Beauty) completed withpanoplies. Sieniawska's daughter,Maria Zofia Czartoryska, furnished the palace with newfireplaces made of white-cherrymarble and crowned with mirrors in richrococo frames.[28]
In the contract with King Augustus II, Maria Zofia obliged him to preserve the palace unchanged. Therefore, his actions were limited to finishing the new dining room, called theWhite Room in the southern wing and to the decoration of some unfinished interiors.[29] The plafonds and other paintings were executed by Julien Poison, Johann Samuel Mock and Lorenzo Rossi, while the decorativelacquer panneaux in theChinese Room were made by Martin Schnell.[30]
An integral part of the palace, almost since its beginning, is the garden. Initially, it had the character of a baroqueItalian garden in a semicircular form surrounding the palace on the east. In its composition this geometric garden fitted in well with the ancient patterns and the palace arrangement. It consisted of an upper garden located on a terrace with twoarbours in the form oflanterns in each corner, and lower garden. During the third stage of the reconstruction of the palace the geometric gardenparterres were replaced withembroidered parterresà la française inspired byAndré Le Nôtre's works.[31] At that time the garden was embellished withgilded lead sculptures by Gaspar Richter of Gdańsk and vases carved in cherry marble fromChęciny.[32] In the beginning of the 18th century the garden was enlarged, the late baroque parterre ornamentation was replaced withRégence motives completed with Sieniawska's coat of armsSzreniawa in the northern parts and her monogram in the southern part.[28] In 1784Izabela Lubomirska transformed neighbouring territories of Wilanówfolwark into ajardin anglo-chinois according toSzymon Bogumił Zug's design. This new garden with rich vegetation, sinuous paths and cascades was inspired by works ofWilliam Chambers,Thomas Whately and August Moszyński.[33]
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