Nieborów Palace

Nieborów Castle is a castle in the village of the same name Nieborów in Poland in the region of Łódź. The castle is also known for the important Baroque garden.

History

To 1324 there was a wooden house in the village. Beginning of the 16th century manor house was built in a transitional style between gothic and Renaissance. This farm was used until the end of the 17th century. The goods Nieborów were then in the possession of the noble family Nieborowski. This sold the property in 1694 to the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Michael Stephan Radziejowski, the here by the architect Tylman van Gameren, builder of the Royal Chapel in Gdańsk, baroque palace was built with a garden.

After the death of Cardinal the estate changed hands many times before it was transferred in 1774 to the art-loving Michał Hieronim Prince Radziwill, who later Voivode of Vilna. Prince Radziwill had the castle equip magnificently in period style with furniture and artwork. He established an extensive library with over 10,000 volumes, including incunabula of the 15th century and the oldest printer testimony of Poland. Also put Prince Radziwill an extensive picture gallery: he collected Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish paintings and portraits of Polish and foreign dignitaries. The Gemäldegalerie Affiliate Kupferstichkabinett comprised between ten and twenty thousand leaves.

Prince Radziwill was create by Simon Gottlieb train early seventies of the 18th century a regular French garden in front of the castle. The same architect also records in 1784 responsible for the transformation of some interiors in early classical style ( Yellow and Green Cabinet, Woiwodenschlafzimmer ).

After the death of Michał Hieronim Radziwill in 1831, at first no one took care of the castle, as it was a year-long dispute over the inheritance. Ten years the estate was left to itself, then, in 1841, finally the son Michał Hieronims, Michał Gedeon Prince Radziwill, Nieborów has taken over. Michał Gedeon Radziwill was a general and one of the main commanders of the Polish November Uprising of 1831st After his death, the estate passed into the possession of his son, Prince Radziwill on Zygmund. This proved, however, as arrant wasters and Nieborów has completely ruined by little economically. In order to get money, he had to auction in Paris the best part of the picture gallery and the library. He also sold Arkadia with its valuable works of art on someone else's hands. Luckily Zygmund Radziwill joined the Good in 1879 to his nephew Michał Piotr Radziwill from and emigrated to France. The new owner bought back Arkadia and founded in 1881 a majolica, which also endowed the castle with Zierkachelöfen and art ceramics. Also, a furniture factory was established at that time. Michał Piotr Radziwill was also eager to supplement the library's collections through new acquisitions. He died in 1903 childless. His widow sold Nieborów three years later to a distant cousin, Janusz Radziwill. This was a politician of the interwar period and has made in the years 1922-1929, the interiors in the castle partly rebuilt, including the Venetian room and the smoking room. He made Nieborów a fashionable meeting place, which was visited by politicians and representatives of high society. Until February 1945 Janusz Radziwill remained in the possession of Nieborów. Then the family was deported by the NKVD and taken to a camp in Krasnogorsk, where Janusz Radziwill's wife died. He could indeed return to Warsaw in 1947, the castle and the garden ensemble of Nieborów and Arkadia were but as already nationalized and made available to the public as a branch of the National Museum of Warsaw. Janusz Radziwill died 1967.

Interiors of the palace

Main Staircase

The main staircase was given its present shape in the sixties of the 18th century. At that time the walls were with blue Dutch tiles that had been in 1700 in the manufactory Harlingen, a subsidiary of Delft, prepared disguised. Stanisław August Poniatowski portraits of the kings, John III. Sobieski and his wife Johanna Kasimira with her son Jacob.

Green Cabinet

The current interior dates from 1784 and was designed by Simon Gottlieb train. The room is equipped with English furniture.

Woiwodenschlafzimmer

In the bedroom, especially the portrait of Aniela Radziwill by Elisabeth Vigee -Lebrun catches the eye.

Yellow Cabinet

As the Green Cabinet has the yellow cabinet an early classical features of train in 1784, as well as antique style ceiling painting.

White Hall

The White Hall was the ballroom of the castle, but was also used as a chapel. The fanciful stucco comes from three building phases. . From the last quarter of the 18th century ( reconstruction of the hall by train ), from the mid-19th century and from the conversion phase from 1927 in a corner booth of the altar is from 1784 The altarpiece is by Hans Hoffmann, a famous imitators Dürer.

Library

The library was originally the Picture Gallery of the Castle. Today, there are 13 mahogany bookshelves from before 1817 - certainly made ​​by local masters. Above the fireplace a magnificent portrait of Cardinal Michael Stephan Radziejowski, the builder of the castle. About the bookcases a portrait gallery of European rulers. Of particular note are the Venetian globes Vincenzo Coronelli has created in the 17th century. From the balcony of the library itself offers a beautiful panorama.

Small dining room

The Small Dining received his equipment in the style of Rococo under Michał Piotr Radziwill end of the 19th century.

Library Cabinet

In the Library Cabinet fall Polish furniture from the 18th century into the eye. The chandelier dates from the Saint Petersburg glass factory.

Roter Salon

The Red Salon has kept his equipment in the Rococo style of the sixties of the 18th century. The dominant accent is the portrait of Countess Anna Karolina Orzelska, an illegitimate daughter of King August II with Henriette Renard, which was created by the Prussian court painter Antoine Pesne.

Bedroom of the royal couple, and boudoir

The bedroom was designed in 1886 in the style of Rococo. The neighboring Boudoir has its neo-Rococo equipment received at the end of the 19th century.

Rooms on the ground floor

On the ground floor is initially striking the stately hall. The room comes with its dimensions and the vaulted ceiling of the first phase of the castle. The paneling of black oak in the neo-Renaissance style dates from 1885, as well as the lining of the chimney. In the hall of the famous head of Niobe is kept, which arose in the 1st or 2nd century AD in Rome as a copy of a Greek prototype. The head is immortalized in a poem by the Polish poet Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński. The hall of the neighboring Hellenistic corridor also serves as a repository for ancient sculptures.

Castle Garden

The baroque park was created by Simon Gottlieb train in the French style in the second half of the 18th century. There is a flower parterre and a boxwood maze on the south side of the castle. The park is crossed by a broad avenue of lime trees with grass carpet, which feeds on the center of the castle. The main avenue ends with a Ha -Ha. To the west of the castle lies a channel with angular layout. It connects two ponds and separates the Baroque garden of an adjacent English landscape garden. From 1947 the castle garden was restored by Gerard Ciołek.

The estate also includes several outbuildings, one of which, the Orangerie, the stables and the carriage house and servants houses have survived to this day. North of the castle is still a hunting lodge in the guest rooms are housed. In the factory buildings now houses the Majolikensammlung of Nieborów and management of the museum material.