Kozlowka Palace

Kozlowka was built in the 1730s and remodelled around 1900 for the Zamoyski family, and like Pszczyna it is one of the few Polish houses whose furnishing survived - the rooms are shown with their original furniture, stoves, textiles and a very dense hanging of paintings, mostly copies of European masters bought as a set, in the manner of the period. The chapel is modelled on the one at Versailles. The house passed to the state in 1944. What makes Kozlowka unusual is the second museum: in the former coach house is the Gallery of Socialist Realist Art, the largest permanent collection of its kind in Poland, holding paintings and sculpture from the years around 1950 - portraits of leaders, tractor scenes, monumental heads - assembled from stores after 1989 and displayed without commentary of the mocking kind, which makes it more unsettling.

History

The palace was built in 1735-1742 for Michał Bieliński, voivode of Chełmno, to designs by Józef Fontana, as a baroque residence between courtyard and garden. The Zamoyski family acquired it in 1799 and rebuilt it in Neo-Baroque style in 1879-1907, remodelling the chapel on that of Versailles and adding a theatre and an entrance gate; in 1903 the estate became an entail that could not be sold or divided, and in 2007 the palace was named a Historic Monument (Wikipedia, Kozłówka Palace).

What you'll find

• Interiors as furnished - original stoves, textiles and a dense picture hanging.
• A Versailles-modelled chapel - built with the 1900 remodelling.
• The socialist realist gallery - the largest permanent collection of it in Poland.
• A formal park - laid out around the house with an avenue approach.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Things to know

Palace rooms are seen on a timed guided route that sells out in summer. Closed Mondays. The socialist realist gallery is a separate ticket. The village has almost no services.

Nearby

Lubartow is nine kilometres away; Lublin is south.

Key facts