Dobrzyca
The town in Pleszew county. Located about 20 kilometres to the south east of Jarocin.
The palace and park in Dobrzyca was founded for August Gorzeński; an adjutant general and a chief of royal office who was a trustworthy man of the king Stanisław August Poniatowski, a deputy for the four-year sejm, co-creator of the Constitution of May 3rd and also a well-known mason. In the last years of XVIII-th century, at his request, was built a palace and established a park on the area of XVI-th century castle with a moat, according to the projects by Stanisław Zawadzki.
Clear Masonic symbols, which we can notice in the architecture, are also to be found in the park, for example in the pattern of paths, gathering acacias in one place (as a symbol of purity and initiation) or stones – the symbol of a new brother entering the lodge. Opinions whether these elements are really Masonic or not are divided; some people say the are sort of obvious, some say this kind of a park structure is rather accidental and some that it is actually a clear example of a romantic influence on a still classical architecture.
And yet, the park in Dobrzyca is indeed extraordinary. On a quite small area (9 hectares) there are still 3 view axes connected to the palace and structures which diversify the park architecture, adding much beauty to this particular landscape. In the park we can admire few garden pavilions which differ from each other but are all mesmerizing. There are actually 3 types of this kind of buildings:
- a pantheon (a garden pavilion shaped as a round building with a columnar portico in the Doric order),
- a cave (a form of a garden pavilion drilled in a hillside),
- a monopteros (also a garden pavilion with 8 columns, located on an artificial island on so called big pond),
In the past there was actually also a pavilion called kasztelan, perished in the 60’s of XX-th century, and today we only have pictures of it. It was built as 4 castle towers which were plastered and rusticated.
It all truly create the most romantic atmosphere along with all the alleys, glades or gatherings of trees placed all over the place.
Currently in the park we can admire trees like the Norway maple, European ash, Small-leaves lime, European hornbeam and Sycamore as well as the elms, oaks and chestnuts. Among the tress 35 were recognized as natural monuments. The most magnificent of them is the London plane, one of the biggest in Poland (10 metres in circuit). According to tradition it was planted by August Gorzeński himself in 1791 to celebrate the creation of the Constitution of May 3rd , although in reality it was propably planted around 1750. It is also worth to see a wonderful example of the Field maple from 1680 which makes it the oldest tree of this kind in the country. That fact is interesting, since among all kinds from this particular family tree the Field maple is the rarest one growing in Poland.