Tarnów, Muzeum Diecezjalne

Diocesan Museum
in Tarnów

Having been a private city for centuries, Tarnów was turned into an administrative centre by Austrian authorities after Duke Eustachy Sanguszko in 1787 abdicated his authority over the city. It also became the seat of a bishopric, appointed to manage the part of the Kraków diocese that fell within the borders of the Austro- Hungarian Empire after the First Partition of Poland (1772). The Diocese of Tarnów was created in 1786.
The Diocesan Museum, established in 1888 – the oldest museum of this kind in Poland – is located next to Tarnów’s cathedral church. Its establishment was promoted by the Seminary Vice-chancellor at the time, Reverend Józef Baba. Originally, the museum was accommodated in the seminary building. Between the world wars, the museum collection was transferred to the town hall, and today it is displayed in historical 16th-century tenement houses: the Akademiola (the first school building in Tarnów), ‘Mikołaj’s House’ of 1524, the Missionaries’ House and the Scholasteria.
Gothic sculptures and art from the Małopolska region are the most precious pieces in the collection. Most of the exhibits come from the churches and villages of the Tarnów diocese. In many cases, their transfer to the museum saved them from devastation or robbery. The triptych of ‘Lamenting the Christ’, dating to approx. 1470, is one of the most precious showpieces. The original central painting was later connected to (c. 1500) side panels that also originated around Stary Sącz and presenting St Kinga and St Clare dressed in monastic vestments. It is the oldest known panel painting (i.e. on wooden board) representation of St Kinga. Equally precious are the famous Descent from the Cross from Chomranice, and the painting of Virgin Mary with a carnation, brought here from the Church of St Marcin on the Mountain near Tarnów.
Another important collection of the museum contains liturgical robes from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. It boasts a wealth of fine decorated chasubles, stoles, copes, altar cloths and palls.
In the 20th century the Diocesan Museum acquired two new collections. In 1957, Norbert Lippoczy, who was of Hungarian descent, presented his collection of European folk art. In 1988, on the 100th anniversary of its existence, the museum received a collection of early 20th- -century art, mostly paintings by famous artists (Jacek Malczewski, Vlastimil Hofman and others). The museum also gained fine porcelain showpieces and clocks. The latter were donated by Olga Majewska, a Tarnów art collector.

(- Małopolski Instytut Kultury)

Kraków, Rydlówka

Rydlówka Manor
in Kraków

In Bronowice Małe, near Włodzimierz Tetmajer’s manor, is another one named Rydlówka. It is surrounded by a garden–orchard with picturesque shrubbery. Włodzimierz Tetmajer had the manor constructed in 1894 on the grounds leased from his father-in-law, Jacek Mikołajczyk. It was a wooden, single-storey thatched cottage, with a hall in the axis, two pairs of rooms on either side, and a front porch to the east.
This manor witnessed the famous wedding of poet Lucjan Rydel to Jadwiga Mikołajczykówna, sister of Tetmajer’s wife, Anna. That November evening, in 1900, was immortalised by Stanisław Wyspiański in his famous play entitled The Wedding.
In 1902 Włodzimierz Tetmajer bought the manor previously owned by the Franciscans and moved in with his family. He sold his former dwelling to Lucjan Rydel in 1908, and the new owner took upon himself to refurbish the manor. Reconstruction works, conducted according to Józef Pokutyński’s design, were completed in 1912. A two-storey brick section was added, housing a day-room, a library and a cabinet. The entire roof was covered with tiles.
When the first world war broke out, the Rydel family was forced to abandon the house, which had been appropriated by Austrian officers. The owners returned home in 1915, yet Lucjan Rydel passed away only three years later. In 1969, Helena Rydlowa and her daughter Anna signed a contract with the Polish Tourist Organisation PTTK to establish the Rydlówka Museum of Young Poland (Młoda Polska). The Museum was inaugurated on 20th November 1969, on the anniversary of the historical Lucjan Rydel’s wedding. From 1985 to 1989 the building, remaining the property of the Rydel family, underwent renovation.
The Młoda Polska museum is located in the oldest part of the manor, and consists of four chambers. The first, the so-called ‘Wedding chamber’, was reconstructed according to the stage directions of Stanisław Wyspiański to The Wedding – it is an exact reconstruction of the mise-en-scene during the first-night performance. In the dance room, where dances and traditional marriage ceremonies were performed, Rydel family memorabilia can be seen – among the artefacts, a pastel portrait of the former host and the protagonist of the play, Lucjan Rydel, by Stanisław Wyspiański. In the corner room we find photographs and other mementoes of the guests of the famed wedding party more than 100 years ago, and in the day room, a small gallery of paintings from the period. The latter room is part of the extension introduced by Rydel, once housing his cabinet and library, and today lined with works by Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Jan Stanisławski, Wincenty Wodzinowski, Henryk Uziembło.

(- Małopolski Instytut Kultury)

Dołęga, dwór

fot. Marcin Klag

Dołęga
Manor

Amid the flat landscape between the Wisła and Dunajec rivers, surrounded with trees and preceded by a round lawn, stands a country manor. It has the modest and characteristic aspect of a traditional home of Polish gentry: wooden, whitewashed walls, a tall shingle roof, and a front porch supported on two pillars overgrown with vines.
The first manor in Dołęga was built around 1820, when the village was bought by private owners at the auction of former ecclesiastical estates appropriated by the Austrian government. Prior to that, Dołęga belonged to the domain of the Kraków bishopric. The present manor was built on the commission of Maria Pikuzińska-Güntherowa, who as a child saw the tragic events of the 1846 peasants’ uprising. Remembering her childhood experience, she later established a school for peasant children in Dołęga. The daughter of Maria and Aleksander Günther, Maria Güntherówna married writer Ignacy Maciejowski, known as ‘Sewer’. The manor then saw many famous visitors at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries: the poets and painters Adam Asnyk, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Lucjan Rydel, Stanisław Przybyszewski, and the young Stanisław Wyspiański.
The estate escaped dismantling after the second world war, and until the 1970s it remained the property of Jadwiga Tumidajska, née Wolska, who inherited it from her ancestors. In 1973, she presented the manor – intended for a museum – to the Polish State. For the last 20 years the house has been cared for by Irena and Władysław Konieczny on behalf of the Tarnów District Museum.
This single-storey manor was built in larch wood, on a frame structure and the plan of a horseshoe. The main circulation passage, with the porch, dining room, drawing room, and cabinet, was more public, while the wings were private: the eastern wing hid the bedroom, and the western contained the kitchen with the pantry. In the drawing room, furnished in Biedermeier and art nouveau styles, photographs of previous inhabitants and their guests can be seen. The corner study, fitted with a 19th-century a walnut furniture set, contains mementoes of the January Uprising and the Peasants’ Rebellion. Adjoining it is the room of Professor Michał Siedlecki, a famous naturalist and traveller. The last room on display – Jadwiga Tumidajska’s bedroom, with furniture in an art nouveau style – boasts two paintings by Stanisław Wyspiański, a gift of Jan Bartosiński to the hostess. Preserved in the historical interiors are stone and tiled stoves from the mid- -19th century.

(- Małopolski Instytut Kultury)

Lanckorona

(- greenka2000)

theearthinimages:

Koden, Poland.

By bantonbuju