Pawłowice is a village located in the County of Leszno, circa 17 km west of the town of Leszno.
Pawłowice dates back its history to the Middle Ages. The estate was last owned by the Mielżyński family.
The idea to build a palace was initiated by Maksymilian Mielżyński (1737-1799). The palace has to date remained a textbook case of Polish classicist architecture.
The residence was built after the design by Carl-Gothard Langhans (whose another work is the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin), with the interior developed by Jan-Christian Kamsetzer, the architect to Polish King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski.
Mr. Mielżyński was careful about any slightest deail of his residence-to-be. He would commission the ovens to be placed in the representative interiors from Wroclaw-based potters, importing the more modest ones from Wschowa or Poniec. For the small room called ‘silk parlour’, the tapestries featuring a grotesque motif were imported from Paris; and it was Paris as well as Leipzig where the furniture for use in the palace was purchased.
The new residence, having a regular garden in its rear area, was accessible through so-called avant-cour (fore-yard), connected by a long alley with the cour d’honeur (the yard of honour) in front of the palace.
The sculptures, of which four crown the palace’s break, the other three being placed on the cornices emphasising the central section of each of the two annexes, feature, most probably, allegories of the virtues: Prudence, Penetration, Freedom, and Diligence – all indispensable for a life to be successful. The allegories filling the recesses tell us, among other things, of the duties incumbent upon people with respect to their Homeland, their subjects, and family, and of the penchant for fine arts. The way Maksymilian Mielżyński’s new residence was laid out reflected what was en vogue at the time. To the right, in the basement, a dining room and a few salons or parlours were situated, linked to the central parlour which had a connection with the adjacent garden. Behind it, to the left, residential apartments and a chapel were located. From the hallway, by the time of a 1920s redevelopment, showy stairs led upstairs, to the vestibule. Representative rooms were set across the upper storey, the most pompous of which being the grand dining room and the ballroom - the most wonderful entertainment interior of the time, in Wielkopolska and beyond. The masterly composed ceilings with rosettes and the imposing opulence of the ballroom rank amongst the priceless specimens of classicist stucco decoration in the European scale.
Presently, the Pawłowice palace is owned by the Krakow-based Animals Husbandry Institute’s Experimental Unit. The site can be visited by prior telephone appointment.
Address:
ul. Mielżyńskich 14
64-122 Pawłowice
tel. +48 65 529 91 92
