DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29195#0012
Introduction
Just as the traveller wandering along the excavated streets of Pompeii discovers the re-
mains ofthe houses ofCicero, Sallust, and Diomedes, so too, as we stroll along the streets
ofour own cities and towns, we cannot jput discover the secrets ofpast times. None of the
churches in our land, none ofthe castles, none ofits most ancient houses is without its leg-
ends, its history, without its language ofpast times, without its inscription, “Thus it once
was!”Having over halfa century oflife behind me, much have Iseen, much have I experi-
enced, much have I learnedfrom my seniors; and ifGod has granted me any skills, I have
decided to apply them in the service ofthose who will live after me, preserving for them
what I have seen, what I have experienced, what I have heardfrom my elders.
The expression “Thus it once was!” which Leon Potocki put into his beautiful, if
slightly exalted little book in 1854, and reissued seven years later, acquires a spe-
cial meaning with respect to this Palace, which has preserved its old proportions,
finesse, and noble architectural forms but has had its interiors and the works of art
therein almost completely ravaged and destroyed by the Second World War. Potocki,
a graduate of the University of Warsaw, published his book under the nom de plume
“Bonawentura z Kochanowa” and the title Swifcone, czyli Palac Potockich w War-
szawie, thereby associating his account of the Potocki Palace with the traditional
Polish custom of swifcone, the church blessing of the fare to be eaten at breakfast on
Easter Sunday (Fig. 1). The book is one of the sources, alongside other descriptions
and photographs, which have saved for us the spectacular atmosphere of the erstwhile
residence of the Czartoryski, the Lubomirski, and finally the Potocki families; in
which its proprietors offered hospitality to emperors, kings and princes, distinguished
writers and outstanding artists. Some of these guests, such as the renowned Napo-
leonic Marshal of France Joachim Murat, the well-known Polish painter Zygmunt
Vogel, or the writer Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, resided in the mansion for longer.
The long list of celebrated personages contributing to the story of this house is made
up of its eminent proprietors, August Aleksander Czartoryski and Stanislaw Kostka
Potocki, and Potocki’s guest, Napoleon Bonaparte himself, who was here in 1807.
Its history has also been built up by institutions, such as Gracjan Unger’s art gal-
lery, which flourished here in the 1880s, the highly accomplished weekly magazine
9
Just as the traveller wandering along the excavated streets of Pompeii discovers the re-
mains ofthe houses ofCicero, Sallust, and Diomedes, so too, as we stroll along the streets
ofour own cities and towns, we cannot jput discover the secrets ofpast times. None of the
churches in our land, none ofthe castles, none ofits most ancient houses is without its leg-
ends, its history, without its language ofpast times, without its inscription, “Thus it once
was!”Having over halfa century oflife behind me, much have Iseen, much have I experi-
enced, much have I learnedfrom my seniors; and ifGod has granted me any skills, I have
decided to apply them in the service ofthose who will live after me, preserving for them
what I have seen, what I have experienced, what I have heardfrom my elders.
The expression “Thus it once was!” which Leon Potocki put into his beautiful, if
slightly exalted little book in 1854, and reissued seven years later, acquires a spe-
cial meaning with respect to this Palace, which has preserved its old proportions,
finesse, and noble architectural forms but has had its interiors and the works of art
therein almost completely ravaged and destroyed by the Second World War. Potocki,
a graduate of the University of Warsaw, published his book under the nom de plume
“Bonawentura z Kochanowa” and the title Swifcone, czyli Palac Potockich w War-
szawie, thereby associating his account of the Potocki Palace with the traditional
Polish custom of swifcone, the church blessing of the fare to be eaten at breakfast on
Easter Sunday (Fig. 1). The book is one of the sources, alongside other descriptions
and photographs, which have saved for us the spectacular atmosphere of the erstwhile
residence of the Czartoryski, the Lubomirski, and finally the Potocki families; in
which its proprietors offered hospitality to emperors, kings and princes, distinguished
writers and outstanding artists. Some of these guests, such as the renowned Napo-
leonic Marshal of France Joachim Murat, the well-known Polish painter Zygmunt
Vogel, or the writer Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, resided in the mansion for longer.
The long list of celebrated personages contributing to the story of this house is made
up of its eminent proprietors, August Aleksander Czartoryski and Stanislaw Kostka
Potocki, and Potocki’s guest, Napoleon Bonaparte himself, who was here in 1807.
Its history has also been built up by institutions, such as Gracjan Unger’s art gal-
lery, which flourished here in the 1880s, the highly accomplished weekly magazine
9