DOI article:
Omilanowska, Małgorzata: Projekty Franza Schwechtena, Édouarda André i Stanisława Witkiewicza dla Połągi
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49518#0234
224
Małgorzata Omilanowska
his youngest son, Józef had taken into consideration
the needs of the remaining members of his family,
for whom Palanga as a summer resort was originally
intended. Summer villas thus arose on plots of land
belonging to these other family members with the
intention of spending the holidays each year here,
thus tuming Palanga into a major meeting place and
resort of the Polish aristocracy. The successive event
of key importance to the development of Palanga
was the beginning of the so-called hakata, or organ-
ised hatred towards the Polish minority in the German
Reich as propagated by the Deutscher Ostmarken-
verein, provoking a patriotic boycott of resort towns
along the Prussian Baltic coast in favour of Lithua-
nian, and Polish, Palanga.
In accordance with plans drawn up also by
Edouard Andre, a spa town was thus laid out, but
unfortunately the concepts for this urban design have
never been recovered, and it is impossible to make
out the original intentions from the current spatial
arrangement of today’s Palanga. If it is borne in mind
that Feliks Tyszkiewicz lacked the necessary finan-
cial resources to have such a large-scale investment
carried out, it may be assumed that what did arise
prior to the First World War would not have taken
shape in a consistent fashion. Nevertheless, the pał-
ace owner did set up a ‘Financial consortium’, whose
members, beyond the Tyszkiewicz family, included
Mikołaj Ogiński of Plungiany. Schwechten was se-
lected to design the baths, and in Berlin two varia-
tions have been preserved of the design from 1900
and 1902. At the same time work on the new spa
house (i.e. Kurhauś) continued, for which Stanisław
Witkiewicz had been commissioned to create
a building in the so-called Tatras or Zakopane style
which, having been raised to the level of a virtual
national style, has even been referred to by certain
contemporary Polish art historians as the Jagiel-
lonian style.
Unfortunately, because of Ogiński’s death, nonę
of these designs ever advanced beyond the planning
stage: neither the new spa house nor heated baths
ever came into being; not that this was to prevent
Palanga’s continued growth as a spa town. Residing
in their palatial manor, the Tyszkiewicz couple over-
saw the provincial little town’s transformation into
an elegant seaside resort during the course of little
morę than a dozen years. In order to ensure the car-
rying out of their ideas they employed some well-
known architects, whose ideas including the raising
of a spa house in the Zakopane style, thus no doubt
encouraging Stanisław Karwowski to write in 1913:
‘Let Połąga become in the North what Zakopane
already is in the South’
Translated by Peter Martyn
1. Pałace at Pcdanga, faęade. Phot. 2005
2. Pałace at Palanga, garden elevation. Phot. 2005
3. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, plan of
the ground floor, 1896
4. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, cross
sections, 1896
5. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, plan of
the first floor, 1896
6. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, lon-
gitundinal section, 1896
7. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, faęade
and north-side terrace, 1897
8. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, sketch
of the cartouche to the coat-of-arms to adorn the
side elevation, 1896
9. Pałace at Palanga, cartouche in the faęade. Phot.
2005
10. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, sketch
of decorative scheme for the drawing room
11. Pałace at Palanga, drawing room. Phot. 2005
12. Pcdace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, fire-
place in the drawing-room, 1896
13. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, hall-
way and staircase; view towards the northern wali
14. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, hall-
way and staircase; view towards the Southern wali
15. Pałace at Palanga, wrought iron balustradę of
the staircase. Phot. 2006
16. Pałace at Palanga, design, staircase in the hall-
way. Phot. prior to 1939
17. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, door
leading to the boudoir
18. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, north-
side terrace, plan and view, 1897
19. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten,
chapel; view, plan and longitudinal section, 1907
20. Pałace at Palanga, chapel. Phot. 2005
21. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, ve-
randa, south side, plan and longitudinal section
22. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, plan
of the attic, 1916
23. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten,
faęade, 1916
24. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, South-
ern elevation., 1916
25. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, side
elevations, 1916
26. Palanga, pałace park, design E. Andre
Małgorzata Omilanowska
his youngest son, Józef had taken into consideration
the needs of the remaining members of his family,
for whom Palanga as a summer resort was originally
intended. Summer villas thus arose on plots of land
belonging to these other family members with the
intention of spending the holidays each year here,
thus tuming Palanga into a major meeting place and
resort of the Polish aristocracy. The successive event
of key importance to the development of Palanga
was the beginning of the so-called hakata, or organ-
ised hatred towards the Polish minority in the German
Reich as propagated by the Deutscher Ostmarken-
verein, provoking a patriotic boycott of resort towns
along the Prussian Baltic coast in favour of Lithua-
nian, and Polish, Palanga.
In accordance with plans drawn up also by
Edouard Andre, a spa town was thus laid out, but
unfortunately the concepts for this urban design have
never been recovered, and it is impossible to make
out the original intentions from the current spatial
arrangement of today’s Palanga. If it is borne in mind
that Feliks Tyszkiewicz lacked the necessary finan-
cial resources to have such a large-scale investment
carried out, it may be assumed that what did arise
prior to the First World War would not have taken
shape in a consistent fashion. Nevertheless, the pał-
ace owner did set up a ‘Financial consortium’, whose
members, beyond the Tyszkiewicz family, included
Mikołaj Ogiński of Plungiany. Schwechten was se-
lected to design the baths, and in Berlin two varia-
tions have been preserved of the design from 1900
and 1902. At the same time work on the new spa
house (i.e. Kurhauś) continued, for which Stanisław
Witkiewicz had been commissioned to create
a building in the so-called Tatras or Zakopane style
which, having been raised to the level of a virtual
national style, has even been referred to by certain
contemporary Polish art historians as the Jagiel-
lonian style.
Unfortunately, because of Ogiński’s death, nonę
of these designs ever advanced beyond the planning
stage: neither the new spa house nor heated baths
ever came into being; not that this was to prevent
Palanga’s continued growth as a spa town. Residing
in their palatial manor, the Tyszkiewicz couple over-
saw the provincial little town’s transformation into
an elegant seaside resort during the course of little
morę than a dozen years. In order to ensure the car-
rying out of their ideas they employed some well-
known architects, whose ideas including the raising
of a spa house in the Zakopane style, thus no doubt
encouraging Stanisław Karwowski to write in 1913:
‘Let Połąga become in the North what Zakopane
already is in the South’
Translated by Peter Martyn
1. Pałace at Pcdanga, faęade. Phot. 2005
2. Pałace at Palanga, garden elevation. Phot. 2005
3. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, plan of
the ground floor, 1896
4. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, cross
sections, 1896
5. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, plan of
the first floor, 1896
6. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, lon-
gitundinal section, 1896
7. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, faęade
and north-side terrace, 1897
8. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, sketch
of the cartouche to the coat-of-arms to adorn the
side elevation, 1896
9. Pałace at Palanga, cartouche in the faęade. Phot.
2005
10. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, sketch
of decorative scheme for the drawing room
11. Pałace at Palanga, drawing room. Phot. 2005
12. Pcdace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, fire-
place in the drawing-room, 1896
13. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, hall-
way and staircase; view towards the northern wali
14. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, hall-
way and staircase; view towards the Southern wali
15. Pałace at Palanga, wrought iron balustradę of
the staircase. Phot. 2006
16. Pałace at Palanga, design, staircase in the hall-
way. Phot. prior to 1939
17. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, door
leading to the boudoir
18. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, north-
side terrace, plan and view, 1897
19. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten,
chapel; view, plan and longitudinal section, 1907
20. Pałace at Palanga, chapel. Phot. 2005
21. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, ve-
randa, south side, plan and longitudinal section
22. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, plan
of the attic, 1916
23. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten,
faęade, 1916
24. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, South-
ern elevation., 1916
25. Pałace at Palanga, design F. Schwechten, side
elevations, 1916
26. Palanga, pałace park, design E. Andre