The Palace in Korczew
Our group after the palace tour in Korczew
We joined a wonderful guided tour organized by our sponsors: the IOM, the Warsaw-based relief foundation that has already provided a lot of assistance to the residents of the hostel of the Ukrainian war refugees in Siedlce. My wife and I had already been to Korczew. Or local friends took us there by car to see the nice festival that was held in front of the Palace of Korchew. This time we took a local bus that brought us to Korchew in half an hour (20 miles away). We had a local guide, Dorota, who was waiting for us at the palace. She spoke clear and understandable Polish, and the tour was very interesting. We were glad we could see the palace, since the last time, two years ago, it had been closed for reconstruction after the fire. Our tour guide Ms.Dorota told us a lot about the palace and its history. She took us to the English Park, and we also walked around the far palace called the Siberia Palace for its distant location. We listened to her story attentively, and I made notes. Then I decided the Palace deserved a special mention in my blog.
One of the entrances to the palace / Our bus to/from Siedlce
Korczew was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1401. In that year, Janusz I, the Duke of Masovia, gave the village in this area to the Pretor of Brzezia. A few years later, another endowment act was issued, this time by Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania. At that time, the Korczew area was located in the borderlands, which often changed hands. The Korczew estates were a settlement located on the left bank of the Bug River. The name – Korczew – came from the dense bushes growing in this area, which were then called "korcze". From 1416 to the beginning of the 16th century, the owners of these estates were the Korczewskis, followed by the Hlebowiczs, the Wiesiołowskis, the Chaleckis, and the Lewickis.
Visiting the Palace in Korczew
Visiting the Palace in Korczew_The Old Gate
In 1712, Wiktoryn Kuczyński (1668–1737) bought the Korczew estate from Stanisław Lewicki and commissioned the construction of the palace.
The palace was completed in 1734 at the place of a wooden manor. The Baroque Palace in Korczew was commissioned by Wiktoryn Kuczyński, the Castellan of the Podlasie region, who made a fortune shipping grain to Gdańsk down the Bug river. Wiktoryn Kuczyński ordered the construction of the palace in Korczew for his younger son Leon. Wiktoryn Kuczyński was nicknamed the King of Podlasie for his wealth, whereas his son Leon was nicknamed the Rabbit of Podlasie for his passion for balls held at the palace.
The palace is a late Classicist structure on a rectangular plan, with central projections: a frontal portico, a recessed portico, and a garden portico. The oldest part of the palace, the ballroom with original rococo stucco, dates back to that time. The Ślepowron (night heron) coat of arms used by the Kuczyński family is depicted next to the coat of arms of Siedlce District – a young lady riding a bear (an old local legend). The coat of arms can be seen above the central entrance to the ballroom – the place where also the meetings of the Bar Confederates, organised by Leon Kuczyński, were held.
The Palace in Korczew was expanded after 1834 according to the design of Franciszek Jaszczołd (1806-1873), a Polish architect working in Podlasie and Polesie, who specialized in the neo-Gothic style.
Approaching the Palace in Korczew
Visiting the Palace in Korczew
During our visit to the Palace in Korczew
The coat of arms of the Kuczyński family/The coat of arms of Siedlce County over the entrance gate to the Palace in Korczew
Our guided tour of the Palace in Korczew
Our group during our palace tour in Korczew
Visiting the Palace in Korczew_The ballroom
The palace in Korczew was known as the "Pearl of Podlasie". However, it was severely destroyed by the Soviet and German invaders, and by the Poles themselves during the communist period.
The Chinese Room 
A niche inside the palace / During our tour of the Palace
The Polish Eagle / Some old furniture is being brought and installed here at the place of the looted furniture
The palace posters inside/This chandelier will soon be hung on the ceiling.
We were privileged to visit the palace before it was officially opened after the reconstruction.
Since 1998, the place in Korczew has been owned by the great-great-granddaughters of the "Lady of Korczew," who live permanently in England, and is being gradually renovated. It is surrounded by a landscape park dating from the first half of the 19th century. The park contains numerous specimens of old trees, a row of lime trees, as well as terraces, a moat, and a clearing on the palace's axis to the north. The reconstruction of the palace, after the death of Renata Ostrowska in 2000, was continued by Joanna Beata Ostrowska-Harris. In 2004, together with her son Aleksander Harris, she founded the "Palace in Korczew" Foundation, which aims to completely rebuild the palace-and-park complex in Korczew.
Visiting the Orangery at the Palace in Korczew
The orangery, as a feature, has always been present at such palace-and-park complexes, so that those who lived in the palace could have contact with plants in bad weather or on rainy days. We do not know for sure that this orangery was present in this location, as it is part of a wing of the palace. The palace was U-shaped. We visited one of those two wings, but the other wing is not complete yet.
The 1840 orangery (formerly a theater) has about 150 different plants. You can spend some time in this orangery, sheltering from the sun and wind for a while, and enjoying nature.
At the Orangery of the Palace: not a count or a duke, simply a guest named Victor
Walking around the Siberia Palace in Korczew
We walked around the Siberia Small Palace, which served as a kitchen in the 18th century. But in the old days, the kitchen could not be in the palace itself because all the cooking smells would disturb guests, and dishes were brought through a secret passage, directly to the dining room. The passage between the building of the kitchen and the palace was excavated from the palace side, maybe 200 meters, so you can enter it when the palace is officially open for visiting. Siberia Palace served as a museum for five years after the palace was closed as a result of the fire. So anyone visiting it could learn about this palace while it was closed. The Palace is surrounded by a 35-hectare historic English park. According to our palace guide, the palace is a two-mile walk from the River Bug.
During our walk around Siberia Palace in the English Park, Korczew
We saw a tree with a large hollow, which you can easily enter and have your picture taken.
The English Oak near the Siberia Palace in Korczew
The forest, which we passed, was called the "Oak Forest," meaning it has a very large collection of oaks and was part of the park. But after the war, this part of the park was taken from its owners and given over to the state. A nature reserve of old oaks was established here. It is now Dębniak Nature Reserve located within the Bug River Landscape Park. Dębniak Reserve is a forested protected area within the Nadbużański Landscape Park, in the Masovian Voivodeship. Established in 1978 on 31.3 hectares, it preserves a fragment of the old-growth oak-lime forest with monumental trees and rich flora. Currently, the most noteworthy are the old small-leaved limes and English oaks, the oldest of which are over 200 years old.
Once part of the palace park, it now offers an educational trail, which leads to a retention reservoir. The reserve is home to rare plant species, such as the golden-headed lily and the broadleaf plantain. The spring season delights with the multi-coloured geophytes, such as yellow archangel, Schultes' bedstraw, black pea, and the partially protected broad-leaved helleborine, lesser butterfly-orchid, and martagon lily. Other protected species include the daphne and the common columbine. In recent years, beavers have become a threat to the reserve's conservation objectives, browsing monumental oaks and lime trees. Therefore, the decision was made to implement the tree protection measures and remove beavers from the reserve. The reserve is not open to traffic. No safety measures are being taken within its boundaries, so entering it may pose a risk.
A view of the English Park when visiting the Palace in Korczew_an old beehive
A service building at the palace. No admission / A historical automobile parked at the orangery
The road from the Palace in Korczew
The English Park during our visit to the Palace in Korczew
The last owners of the palace said that dreams came true at Menhir Stone, if you touch it with your right hand and make a positive wish. Menhir Standing Stone was found in a nearby village and moved to the palace grounds. It was probably an object of worship in pre-Christian times. The most important thing is that there is hope while you make a wish, touching the stone with your right hand, standing next to it.
It must be a cult stone from pre-Christian times. Legend has it that this is a place of power, and anyone who has a dream (just one) and touches the stone will have it come true. Dowsers call such places areas of particularly high and positive radiation.
Our ancestors typically located their centers of worship in such places. A similar role was played by the "holy oak" in nearby Tokary and the "place of power" in the Białowieża Forest. Even in the early Middle Ages, sacred groves surrounded by special religious veneration existed in the vast forests. In those days, altars were built on forest hills, at the foot of old oaks, or near stones, and fires were lit.
The early Slavs were followers of animism – they saw spirituality in natural phenomena, worshipping animals, plants, but also rocks, the earth, and atmospheric phenomena. The cult of the deities involves prayers, sacrifices, communal feasts, and divination. The intermediary between the deity and the people was the priest, the "żerzec." After reciting the prayers, the priest offered a sacrifice called a "moć." Among the earliest sacrifices to the deities were the so-called first fruits, meaning the first slaughtered animal, harvested fruit, or mushrooms.
During our walk in the English Park, Korczew
During our walk in the English Park, Korczew
A chapel in the English Park of the Palace in Korczew
During our walk in the English Park, Korczew
Visiting the Palace in Korczew_The rear side of the palace
The English Oak has a circumference of 380 cm, the height can reach 24 meters, and the age can reach approximately 100 years. We saw a huge hollow that resulted from the conservation treatments the oak underwent. These treatments were intended to inhibit destructive processes within the tree. A specialized company specializing in tree surgery and treatment removed the rot (rotten wood) and chemically protected the tree from further deterioration. The English Oak is a large tree growing up to 50 m tall. The trunk is covered with smooth, grey bark when young, and with dark grey, thick, deeply fissured bark in old age. At a young age, it develops a taproot, which, by the age of 30-50 years, develops into a heart-shaped root system that extends deep into the soil, sometimes up to 5 m. The English oak begins bearing fruit at 40-50 years of age, and the fruit grows on peduncles up to 8 cm long. The tree lives for 400-500 years, and even up to 1000 years.
There is a hotel-and-restaurant complex opposite the palace. Kuźnia Pałacowa ("the Palace Forge") in Korczew has 14 hotel rooms, a restaurant, and a sauna, which we were allowed to visit because we were curious. Our group leader from the IOM, Ms.Lidia, invited us to that restaurant to have tea and coffee while we were waiting for our palace guide. Thanks a lot!
A view of the watchtower from Kuźnia Pałacowa (the Palace Forge) Hotel and Restaurant in Korczew
The hotel sauna
Kuźnia Pałacowa (the Palace Forge) Hotel and Restaurant in Korczew
The hotel restaurant veranda, where we had some coffee and biscuits
Kuźnia Pałacowa (the Palace Forge) Hotel and Restaurant in Korczew/The hotel lobby
Kuźnia Pałacowa (the Palace Forge) Hotel / Kuźnia Pałacowa (the Palace Forge) Restaurant
Constitution Square, Korczew
Eden Store and Bar / Groszek Store
Groszek Store and hotel rooms, Korczew / A place next to the store in Korczew
The Redemption Cross at the intersection of Siedlce Street and Norwid Street in Korczew
A chapel in Korczew
We passed several villages on our way and saw the typical agricultural areas with many fields and forests. The "roller coaster" road in the hilly countryside of the village of Stary Bartkow was very special with its ups and downs. I counted six or seven hills on the way. The first and the highest of them took my breath away on the way from Siedlce.
Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Holubla / St. Bartholomew the Apostle church in the village of Paprotnia
I read about these churches before, and now I think it's about time we visited them. They are a good target for another day trip.
Many thanks to the organizers of this day trip - the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
This featured blog entry was written by Vic_IV from the blog Our Stay in Poland.
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