Religious Buildings
Relatively few religious buildings were constructed during the period under discussion. Some of the more significant are presented here. Pride of place goes to the former Evangelical Church (now the St. Andrew Bobola Catholic Church) in Rawicz, built to a design by the previously mentioned K. G. Langhans between 1803 and 1808.
In those days, it was common for both Evangelical and Catholic churches - of all sizes - to feature a central layout and this was frequently crowned with a cupola. The church in Parkowo (Oborniki County), built between 1780 and 1802, has a most peculiar central form as a result of having been precisely built on the plan of a wheel.
Public Buildings
Classicism also had an impact on improving the region's cityscapes. These were in a very poor state following the economic decline of the Saxon era and the damage that had been wreaked by armies in transit. The Good Order Commission, run by Kazimierz Raczyński in Wielkopolska between 1778 and 1786, deserves a special mention here. The Poznań Guardhouse in the old town marketplace symbolises what it achieved. Built between 1783 and 1787 and designed by J. C. Kamsetzer, this rather large and stylish annexe, with its columned front alcove and its sandstone sculptures atop the parapet, served as the headquarters of the town guard and later the police.
The copestone and the upper section of the Poznań Town Hall Tower (designed by A. Höhne) also date from this period (1781-1783), as does the former head office of the General Starosta of Wielkopolska (known as the Raczyński building, this was later used as an archive and presently houses the Museum of Applied Arts) in the castle on Góra Przemysła (Przemysł Hill).
The neoclassical town halls in Dąbie (including its side annexes), Kłodawa, Koło (including the Gothic tower of an earlier building), Konin and Przedecz have all survived.
Art
The brothers Antoni and Franciszek Smuglewicz were the preeminent painters of the period. They came from Lithuania but also worked in Wielkopolska. Their paintings grace the walls of palaces in Dobrzyca, Gułtowy, Lewków, Lubostroń and Śmiełów. The polychrome in the cloister of the post-Carmelite church in Kcynia is most likely the work of Antoni Smuglewicz. Franciszek's works can be found in churches in Trzemeszno (destroyed during the war and later reconstructed) and Osieczna. Varsovian painter Jan Bogumił Plersch completed part of the polychrome in Dobrzyca palace.
