Drove from Sanok to Łańcut Castle, a journey of some 90 kms this morning.

The Castle lies on the fringe of the Carpathian foothills, by an old trade route which linked Western Europe and Ruthenia (Hungary, Ukraine and Poland) from medieval times. The town was chartered in 1349, and its first owners were the powerful Pilecki family. They built the first wooden-defensive manor, in which Poland’s monarchs were frequent guests.  The Pilecki family is associated with the marriage of King Wladyslaw Jagiello with Elzbieta Granowska nee Pilecka, which provoked a scandal in those days (she had been kidnapped twice by different suitors; married a career diplomat, with her husband dying from poisoning 13 years after; she was a middle-aged widow when he married her and she had no political connections).  The years 1568-1628 were a time of ruin for the town. Łańcut Castle belonged to the Stadnicki’s, Stanislaw (the “Devil of Lancut”) Stadnicki and his sons. Adventurism and war against their neighbours led to the burning and levelling of the castle and the destruction of the town, which was overrun and sacked by enemies many times. 

Under the rule of the Lubomirski family from 1628 to 1816, Łańcut Castle came back to life.   The early seventeenth century was a time of Turkish expansion into Europe, for which reason Stanislaw Lubomirski set out to turn Łańcut into a strong fortress to guard against entry into the Republic. In the mid-seventeenth century the castle was considered an unassailable fortress. In 1761 the synagogue which stands to this day was built.

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the fortress was transformed into a palatial residence. The outer ring of fortifications was liquidated, with an English-style park put in its place. The castle interiors were adapted to the fashions of the times. Elzbieta Lubomirska nee Czartoryska, a collector and excellent connoisseur of art, played a large part in this. 

The next and last owners of Lancut were the Potocki’s, who were tied by marriage to all of Europe’s aristocracy.  The palace we see today is the result of their efforts in 1889-1911. They faithfully maintained the grand interiors from the days of the Lubomirski’s, concentrating more on introducing modern conveniences. They put in a water and sewer system, and added luxurious bathrooms to the chambers. The number of bathrooms must have shocked their contemporaries: after a tour of the castle, Roman Potocki’s mother declared that its interior reminded her of Dianabad, the largest public baths in Vienna. 

In 1906, the castle gained an electrical system with its own generator. The last interior to be modernised was the palace theatre, renovated to the designs of Viennese architects.

 

 

 

 

 

The palace surroundings changed as well. The park area nearly doubled. An Italian garden and a rose garden were added, and orchid and palm houses were built, the latter modelled after the palm house in Schonbrunn. 

The Potocki’s remembered the towns people as well. At the turn of the century they completely renovated the parish church. The distillery founded by the Lubomirski’s was modernised and enlarged, producing the quality-famed spirits of Count Alfred Potocki’s Privileged Distillery of Liqueurs, Rosoglios and Rum.   During the occupation, German army staff were stationed in the castle. When the outcome of World War II became obvious to everyone, Alfred III Potocki, the last of Łańcut lords, dispatched about six hundred crates to Vienna by rail, containing the most valuable works of art. Among them were paintings by Bellini, Boucher, Fragonard and Watteau, eighteenth-century tapestries manufactured in Aubusson, sculptures by Thorvaldsen. Alfred III himself abandoned Łańcut a week before the Soviet army crossed into Poland, never to return again. That the residence was spared plunder and destruction at the hands of the Soviets is due to the courage and resourcefulness of the palace staff, and their loyalty to Potocki.