Palace complex in Nieborów

The palace in Nieborów in one of the most valuable historic buildings of the Łódź Voivodeship. It was built in the 18th century. It is surrounded by an exceptionally beautiful park.

Description

The palace was designed by Tylman van Gameren. The austere shape of the building is characteristic for the period – the north-west variety of the European Baroque. On the sides there are small corner towers. The building is one of the greatest examples of baroque architecture. The furnishing of the interior, as well as handicraft items, are from the period.

The interiors were redecorated multiple times in rococo, early neo-classical and neo-rococo styles, also in modern times. However, the original historic layout of the rooms, as well as some elements of the furnishing, survived.

The palace is a double-storey building. The ground floor holds a vestibule, a kiosk and a cloakroom. The Roman Corridor leads to the Main Entrance Hall, where the visitors can admire items from Helena Radziwiłłowa’s collection.

The Main Entrance Hall is the only survived room with black oak neo-Renaissance panelling, the authors of which were Józef Trynkowski and Józef Demczyński.

The next room is the Small Cloakroom with the ceiling polychrome dated back to the second half of the 18th century. In this room there is a tile stove made in the M. P. Radziwiłł’s manufacture of majolica. The next chambers are the Guardian’s Room, the Kitchen, the Smoking Room and the Venice Room.

On the first floor there is the Main Staircase, which walls are covered with ceramic tiles made in Harlingen in Netherlands. In addition, the walls are decorated with the royal portraits, some of which were painted by Marcello Bacciarelli.

Moreover, in the palace there are also: the White Room serving as a banquet hall, the Yellow Study, the Voivode’s Bedroom, The Green Study, the Library, the Small Dining Room, the Red Drawing Room, the Duke and Duchess’s Bedroom, the Boudoir and the Library Study.

The palace is surrounded with a beautiful French garden. The park was designed in the sixties of the 18th century by Szymon Bogumił Zug according to the principles of the Le Notre’s gardening school.

The garden consists of three layers of greenery. The first layer are symmetrical flowers beds in front of the palace, the second layer are mazes of boxwood hedges and the third layer are avenues of cropped hornbeams and limes.

Further part of the park, is located on the other side of a channel. It is an English garden, casually planned, resembling more of a natural forest than a designed park.

In the park there is also the manufacture of majolica, built at the end of the 19th century, with the exhibition of products made in the factory. The manufacture was re-opened in 1981 and still produces majolica.

In Nieborów there are also the remains of the old manor farm, the most interesting of which is the old granary built at the end of the 18th century (by the road leading to Bolimów).

Date or time of building

XVIII w.

Date or time of building

The 18th century.

History

The history of Nieborów dates back to the 12th century, when a wooden church and a knight’s manor house was built.

At the beginning of the 16th century, a Gothic-Renaissance manor house was built. It survived to the end of the 17th century, when it was the property of the Nieborowski Family, arms-bearing Prawda.

In 1694 the estates of the Nieborowskis were bought by Michał Stefan Radziejowski, who built the baroque palace designed by Tylman van Gameren.

At the turn of the 17th and the 18th centuries the estates in Nieborów belonged to Konstancja née Niszczycka, Jerzy Hipolit Towiański and the Saxon general Aleksander Jakub Lubomirski and his wife Karolina Fryderyka von Vitzhum. In 1766 Nieborów was bought by Michał Kazimierz Ogiński, the grand Lithuanian hetman. In 1766-1768 he redecorated the interiors in the rococo style.

In 1774 Nieborów became the property of Michał Hieronim Radziwiłł, one of the wealthiest magnates in Poland and Lithuania, whose wife Helena founded Arkadia.

In 1831, after M. H. Radziwiłł’s death, the estates fell into ruin. After several years of arguments between the heirs, the palace in Nieborów was inherited by Michał Gedeon Radziwiłł. The new owner renovated the palace along with the surrounding area. However, the next owner of the estate caused that the palace fell into ruin again. It was restored in its original state by Michał Piotr Radziwiłł, who also established the manufacture of majolica, complemented the furnishing of the palace and collected new library.

Subsequent owners rebuilt the palace several times and in the 20th century they converted it into a very popular residence near Warsaw.

In February 1945 the palace and park complex of Nieborów and Arkadia became a branch of the National Museum in Warsaw.

Type of collection

Polish, English and French furniture, fabrics, handicraft items, silverware, bronzeware, china, glass; the library with the collection of over 10 000 volumes of Polish and foreign works, including the 15th century antique books and several thousand of engravings; paintings of European masters: Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish; sculptures, majolica from the Michał Piotr Radziwiłł’s manufacture; decorative tiles stoves and artistic ceramics.

Curious details

Nieborów was the filming location for the movies:

• Akademia Pana Kleksa,
• Pan Samochodzik i Niesamowity Dwór,
• The TV series Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord,
• The TV series Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy (the park).

Form of legal protection

The entries in the regional heritage register:

• The palace complex in Nieborów – palace, registry number: 116-VI-25 from 1962-01-18
• The palace complex in Nieborów – palace, registry number: 146/83 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – brewery, registry number: 547/84 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – Orangery I, registry number: 548/85 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – Orangery II, registry number: 549/86 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – granary, registry number: 550/87 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – outbuilding, registry number: 551/88 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – Steward’s House I, registry number: 552/89 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – Steward’s House II, registry number: 553 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – stable, registry number: 554/91 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – coach house, registry number: 555/92 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – administration building, registry number: 556/93 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – blacksmith’s workshop, registry number: 557/94 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – pigsty, registry number: 558/95 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – barn, registry number: 560 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – farm building in the park, registry number: 559/96 from 1967-08-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – park, registry number: 98 from 1982-05-19
• The palace complex in Nieborów – park, registry number: 98/561 from 1967-09-12
• The palace complex in Nieborów – park, registry number: 147-P-VI-2 from 1948-10-26

Object location

The palace complex is located by the road leading from Nieborów to Bolimów, around 100 m to the east of the highway 70.

Accessibility

Tickets:

• palace and park: normal – 15 zł, discount – 6 zł,
• to the park: normal – 6 zł, discount – 4 zł.

The museum is open:

• from the 1st of March to the 30th of April, Tuesday - Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• from the 1st of May to the 30th of June, Monday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• from the 1st of July to the 30th of September, Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• from the 1st to the 31st of October, Tuesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• from the 1st of November to the end of February the museum is closed.

The last visitors are let in 30 minutes before the museum is closed.